Final Paper Prompts

By the end of this course, you will have been exposed to a sampling of political thought from some of the oldest to some of the newest. With that in mind, the goals of this course are not merely to provide a base familiarity with political thinking, though that is important.

Instead, it is important, as a political theorist, to take that familiarity and apply it critically to difficult questions and express that thinking in clear writing. In this assignment, you are tasked with applying the readings and discussions in this course to questions that will require substantial consideration to address in a thoughtful manner.

Chose one prompt and address it to the best of your abilities.

Prompt One:

Hannah Arendt, in The Human Condition, marvels at the technological progress made by homo faber. Part of that technical savvy is increased automation in production. Some argue that automation will eventually make large portions of the labor force redundant, replacing human laborers with robotic or digital ones.

This calls into question the place of labor in society and politics. What are the political implications of automation? In answering this question, you may want to consider whether labor is a good itself or merely a necessity, the generation of value within society, and the role of property in politics. Consider at least three of the thinkers examined in this class.

I recommend considering Arendt, Locke, and Plato at minimum, though Foucault and Crary may also have interesting things to say on the matter.

Prompt Two:

Labor, or work, is a notion that is central to much of the thinking presented in this course. What that labor is, and how much of human time it occupies, is of major concern to political thinkers. For some, labor is merely a necessity, a precondition to politics. For others, there is value to be found within the labor itself.

Labor may even be antithetical to political participation- time spent laboring or working being conceived of as time not thinking or acting politically. What, in your judgement, is the relationship between labor and politics? In answering this question, consider at least three thinkers from this course. All of the thinkers of this course make arguments that could be useful here.

Prompt Three:

Devise a prompt of your own choosing. It should address a question that you find interesting, and can be answered thoughtfully given the technical requirements, addressing at least three authors from the course. In order to pursue this option, draft a 250 word proposal/summary of your prompt and email it to me no later than June 6.

No matter which prompt you choose, the basic technical requirements are the same:

Minimum Length: 7 Pages

Times New Roman Font

Double Spacing

1" Margins