Final

Answer one of the following prompts with an essay of 6-7 well-developed paragraphs, citing specific evidence from the texts in question for support.

1. Explain how ideas of individual rights and justice apply and/or do not apply in the works we have read by King, Jefferson, and Freud. How does each author define these two terms and the relation between them?

2. In paragraph four of Chapter III of Civilization and Its Discontents, Freud discusses the proposition that the technological advances of civilization have made people happier. He then gives what he calls the “pessimistic criticism” of this proposition. Compare what Freud says about science and technology to what Lightman says in “Our Place in the Universe” and what Isaacson says in “The Great Connectors.” How might Freud respond to these writers? How might they respond to him?

3. Compare and contrast Freud and Peter Singer on the origins of conscience, the role of religion, and the principle of ethical action.

4. In “Believe Me, It’s Torture,” Christopher Hitchens describes his experience of being voluntarily water boarded by U.S. Special Forces. At the end of the article he summarizes both what he sees as the strongest defense of the practice and what he sees as the strongest condemnation of it. How might Freud critique the logic of both the defense and condemnation of water boarding. What principles of psychoanalysis would he see at work in this practice?

5. How would Freud’s and King’s explanations of the expansion of civil rights differ. What principles would they appeal to in order to explain why this expansion should happen?

6. What does Freud mean when he writes in Chapter V, paragraph 10: “It is always possible to bind together a certain number of people in love, so long as there are other people left over to receive the manifestations of their aggressiveness”? Do the articles by Coates and Appiah support Freud’s idea?

7. How might Freud respond to Steven Pinker’s claim that, in the words of his title, violence has been vanquished? In your response you might want to consider what Freud says concerning the eternal battle of Eros and Thanatos as well as his assessment of communism’s prospects of putting an end to human aggression.

8. How does McKibbin describe the problem of responding to the global climate catastrophe now unfolding? What explanation might Freud provide to this problem? What hope might Freud’s explanation offer? Consider, among other things, what Freud says about Eros, Thanatos, and the cultural super-ego.