Ethics

Answer them in essay format. Each answer must be 300 words MINIMUM. You MAY answer ONE extra question for extra credit. You may use outside sources, but if you do you must include separate works cited page. Plagiarism will not be tolerated.

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.  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?

4. 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?

5.    According to Zizek, what is subjective violence and the two kinds of objective violence? What are some examples he provides? Do you think his definition of violence is too narrow, too broad, or just right? Why do you think this?