Essays

1. In Plato’s Ring of Gyges how is the concept of good/justice explained? Do you think this is the way good/justice actually is, or do you think it’s something more?

2. According to Max Stirner, the concepts of good, bad and the State are phantasms and are simply determined by power. In detail, what does he mean by this? Do you agree with him? Why or why not? 

3. In Jon Stuart Mill’s On The Freedom of Thought & Discussion, he uses four arguments (and objections and replies) in favor of freedom of speech. What is at least one of the arguments (along with an objection and reply)? How would this argument support allowing a controversial speaker on campus, such as a Neo-Nazi, ISIS, or a member of NAMBLA? Do you agree with this? Why or why not?

4. What does Arendt mean by the “banality of evil”? How did this concept apply to Eichmann and his deeds? Has there been anyone else in history, past or present, that this concept can apply to?

5. In Martin Luther King’s letter from Birmingham Jail, he talks about how the “white moderate” is a bigger stumbling block to the freedom of black people than even the Ku Klux Klan. Explain what he means by this statement. Taking into consideration Arendt’s concept of the “banality of evil”, do you think this concept is applicable to King’s view of the “white moderate”? Why or why not?