Reed College
Reed College

Humanities 110

Introduction to the Humanities

Paper Topics | Fall 2002 | Paper 4

Due Date: Saturday December 7, 2002, 5 p.m.
Length: 1500 words (6 pages double-spaced)

Write on one of the following:

  1. At the end of the Bacchae, Dionysius tells Cadmus and Agave, "Long ago my father Zeus ordained these things." Does the action of the Bacchae represent a transformation in either the Greek concept of fate or the relationship between humans and the gods? In formulating your response, you should consider one or more of the following texts: Herodotus, the Oresteia, Oedipus, Thucydides.

  2. How does Plato define the good citizen in the Republic? How does Plato's citizen compare to the ideal of citizenship presented in one or more of the following texts: The Apology, Lysistrata, Thucydides, Antigone.

  3. In Republic Book II, 368c-369b, Socrates first draws an anology between a city and a soul. How is this analogy developed in his argument about the nature of justice?

  4. Why in Book II of the Republic do the interlocutors abandon their consideration of the healthy city in favor of the unhealthy city? Why is it important for Socrates argument about justice to consider the unhealthy city instead? Could they find justice in the healthy city?

  5. How would Plato describe the relation between polis and individual as it is represented in either the Bacchae or Lysistrata? Illustrate your argument with specific passages from the Republic and the play you choose.

  6. At the beginning of Book 2 of the Republic, Glaucon tells Socrates the story of the ring of Gyges (357c-360d). How much of a threat is the story to Socrates's view that justice is always more profitable than injustice? By the end of the Republic, how does Socrates answer the problem posed by the ring of Gyges? Is his answer a good one?

  7. With the permission of your conference leader, write on a topic of your own choosing.