Assignment

Instructions:

1. 1 page per questions.

2. Simple language and thesis and examples in each question answers

3. Should be free from plagiarism

4. Should use, 'Norman Melchert. The Great Conversation: A Historical Introduction to Philosophy, 7th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014, as reference.

Questions:

1. On page 506 Melchert asks, "What does Marx mean when he says that ‘life is not determined by consciousness, but consciousness by life?'" Your answer should show how Marx thinks he has corrected the problems he finds in Hegel. In order to illustrate Marx's idea, I want you to use an example from our daily lives that illustrates how a person's class determines (or might not determine) a person's moral values and explain why you do (or do not agree).

2. Nietzsche argues that Christian morality is an example of Slave Morality. How does Nietzsche make this argument? What do you think are its strengths and weaknesses? In order to make his point clear, use an example of your own that illustrates his concept of ressentiment and explain how this captures the essential features of Nietzsche's concept of Slave Morality.

3. According to Søren Kierkegaard, the aesthetic life is characterized by immediacy, whereas, the ethical life is characterized by choice. Use your own examples to illustrate the difference between these two stages.

(These are from Kierkegaard's Stages on Life's Way. However, since space is limited, do not try to discuss the Leap of Faith one makes at the religious stage. Your answer will be an explanation of the first two stages only).

4. On page 697, Richard Rorty argues that words do not get their meaning from correspondence to reality, but rather, words get their meanings from how we use them in the contingent language games we play. Do you think Rorty is correct to define truth as that upon which we can agree?