Plato Paper. Plato Republic. Plato Apology

Answer ONE (1) of the following prompts in essay form. Your essay should be
a minimum of seven (7) full pages (excluding the bibliography page). You must
use a standard font (e.g. Helvetica Neue, Times New Roman, or Cambria), 12 point,
double-spaced (or single, if you prefer). You must support all of your claims
with quotes, in-text citations, and/or philosophical argument in order to do
well. In general, I tend to favor essays that extensively utilize the primary
text(s) we have read together this semester: Plato’s Apology, Phaedo, Republic,
Symposium, Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy) rather than secondary
sources (i.e. any other source). That said, secondary sources can be very helpful
for understanding the material and, if you use them effectively and sparingly, can
greatly strengthen your essay. If you choose to use secondary sources, you must
use legitimate academic sources [i.e. academic books and journal articles] and
provide a “Works Cited” page listing all of the sources you used (even if they
were not quoted directly). This midterm essay exam is, obviously, open notes
(both yours and mine), open book, open internet, open library, etc., but please
remember: if you plagiarize any part of this essay you will fail the course.
(Please note: If plagiarism is suspected, you will have to meet with me to review
your essay before it is graded).
Your completed essay exam must be submitted in PDF format via email to
grimwadr@stjohns.edu by 11:59pm on Sunday, March 29, 2020. Please put your
name in the title of the document and the number one in the following format:
e.g. “LastFirst1.pdf” e.g. “SmithJane1.pdf” [Do not submit via Blackboard] [Note:
there is no “e” in my SJU email]
Essay Prompts:
(1) In Phaedo and Republic Plato’s Socrates offers us five arguments for the
immortality of the soul. Explain and critically evaluate at least three of these
arguments.
(2) Explain Plato’s middle period ontology and epistemology using Phaedo,
Republic, and Symposium.
(3) In Symposium, Plato presents us with six speeches concerning the nature of
Eros. What is Eros? What do the speeches of Aristophanes, Socrates, and
Alcibiades each reveal about love?
(4) Analyze Plato’s various accounts of the philosopher in Phaedo, Republic,
and Symposium. Who is the true philosopher according to Plato?
(5) In Phaedo and Republic Plato’s Socrates offers us five arguments for the
immortality of the soul and two myths about the afterlife. In Symposium, he
presents us with a vision of mortal immortality. Critically explore the how the
concept of immortality functions in these works. Why is Plato so concerned
with personal immortality?
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(6) Plato provides ostensibly differing accounts of the nature of the soul in
Phaedo and Republic. Are these two accounts of the nature of the soul
ultimately compatible?
(7) Critically examine Plato attitude to the body in Phaedo, Republic and
Symposium. Is Plato an ascetic?
(8) Explore the relationship between reason, image, and myth in Plato’s
Phaedo, Republic and Symposium
(9) Explore the role of doubt and certainty in Descartes Meditations on First
Philosophy.
(10) In the Meditations, Descartes offers (at least) two proofs for the existence
of God. Explain and critically evaluate these proofs and the role of God in
Descartes’ text.
(11) Explain and evaluate Descartes solution to the problem of error.
(12) Defend Descartes against the charge of circular reasoning known as the
“Cartesian circle”.
(13) Descartes claims to demonstrate “the real distinction” between mind and
body. What is this distinction and how successfully does Descartes
demonstrate it? What role does this distinction play in Cartesian philosophy?
(14) Plato and Descartes are traditionally interpreted as mind-body dualists.
Explain and critically evaluate mind-body dualism using the texts we have
read together as points of reference. Is mind-body dualism a tenable
philosophical position?
(15) Create your own topic. If you choose this option, you will need to have
your topic approved by me before you write the essay. The procedure for this is
simple. Email me a topic proposal consisting of a few sentences explaining what
you will be analyzing, exploring, evaluating, or generally arguing about. I will
need this topic proposal by Friday, March 27th so that I will have time to adjust
your topic and develop guiding questions for you. When you are developing
your topic please note that it must be substantially concerned with ideas from at
least one of the texts we have read and discussed in class: Plato’s Phaedo, Republic,
Symposium, Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy. You may focus upon a
specific problem raised in the text, compare, contrast, or synthesize two ideas
from different texts, argue against a specific point raised by one of the
philosophers, or simply explain and evaluate a point raised in one of these texts.
In short, as long as it is directly relevant, complex, sophisticated, and interesting
enough to demonstrate your mastery of the material, I will accept it.
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Online Resources:
The course notes posted on Blackboard
The secondary sources (reader’s guides and commentaries) on Blackboard
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: http://plato.stanford.edu
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: http://www.iep.utm.edu
MLA Handbook: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/