Question: 1) Emotional ambivalence, good, or indifferent?
Read the article below and explore any other material you would like to consult (including Nozick) and answer these questions. About 500 words total.
Article: Is Ambivalence Healthy? Researchers Have Mixed Feelings (By Eilene Zimmerman)
A. Do you agree with the conclusions and the use of scientific research in this article? Overall, do you believe one should aim to be less ambivalent over time, or to maintain or allow their current ambivalence to continue in life?
B. Is it possible or desirable to be ambivalent regarding your own happiness? Even if there are other parts of our life that it can add to, it might be that happiness is an exception that does not allow for ambivalence. If you are able to achieve it. On the other hand, since we are generally pretty ambivalent, perhaps we should include that in our conception of a happy life. How would ambivalence fit, if it all, in a happy life?
2) The Human Condition: Allegory of The Cave or Myth of Sisyphus?
About 500 words
Explain the symbolic significance of 3-4 elements in the allegory (the sun, the shackles, the pain of ascent from the cave, etc.) and what you believe Plato is trying to convey as a whole in this Allegory. Compare this to The Myth Of Sisyphus by Albert Camus and explain whether the two have complimentary or contrasting meaning. Here is a link to the Allegory of the Cave (attached).
3) 500-750 words total
Read "Three Metamorphoses Of The Spirit" at the link below, a very short piece by Friedrich Nietzsche. There is a short "Prologue" introducing the Ubermensch. You are encouraged to read this as well, but our focus is on the Metamorphoses from Camel to Lion and from Lion to Child.
Link to selections from Prologue to Thus Spoke Zarathustra and Three Metamorphoses of the Spirit.
Directions: 1. Provide an interpretation of this metaphorical piece by Nietzsche, focusing on the Child. Why is the Child the final stage of the spirit discussed and what kind of spiritual achievement does it represent? What do the Lion, Camel and Great Dragon symbolize? Overall what view of human transformation and transcendence is being expressed by the author - and what personal meaning can you find in it?