In starting to answer these questions, you will choose 2-3 texts from Unit 1 to guide your thinking and one example from our contemporary world. Which topics or themes interest you most?
In thinking about political theory today, you can briefly reference current-day events, debates, problems and how we imagine and theorize about them.
You do not need to try to cover or mention all the themes and ideas discussed during Unit 1. The goal is not to definitively answer the question by the end of the response, but to explore some possible answers to the question, and why they make sense to you.
Tips
- Imagine you are at a party, where the thinkers we read and discussed are in attendance; everyone is hanging out and talking. Choose 2-3 people we read or heard from and ask them the research question above – how would they respond?
- Choose the texts and thinkers based on your personal curiosity – who do you want to talk to more? Think about more?
- When in doubt, go for depth, over breadth: include fewer texts, authors, or themes than you might initially think you need.
- Balance between your own thoughts and ideas, and the thoughts and ideas of your chosen authors and texts. If you were having a live conversation with these writers and thinkers, is everyone getting a somewhat-equal say? Or is someone dominating the conversation?
- Use your notes from your own original reading and our live class discussions
- Reference your notes from the Week 2 lecture on the Origins of Political Thought
Rubric:
A successful Unit Response…
- engages directly with your chosen research question
- Includes at least one of the readings from Weeks 1-2, including at least one direct quote
- Directly discusses and cites 2-3 texts from Unit #1, weeks 2-5. Include at least two direct quotes from each source.
- briefly references one contemporary example of politics or political theory
- includes 2-4 questions you are still left with in the concluding paragraph
- is edited, with few typos or grammar errors.
Everything that needs to be cited I have attached, can only really focus on those documents.