This is a commentary essay assignment Download commentary essay assignmentthat prioritizes textual analysis. You are required to extract, explain, connect, and evaluate ideas from the assigned texts (see the “Rubric for Argumentative Essays” handout on Canvas, but keep in mind that commentary essays do not require a full argument nor a counterargument).
Answer the question in 3 to 5 pages—it can be done in 4, especially if you don’t rely on long quotations. Keep your introduction concise and avoid fluff throughout the paper. You should use the technical vocabulary from the texts and the lectures and directly connect your analysis and criticisms to key passages from the works. This paper is worth 20% of your final grade.
You must also use an academic style (e.g., Chicago or MLA) for your citations and works cited page. Likewise, quotations must be accompanied by citations. Citations indicate the author, title, and page number of the quote. Keep in mind that citations are distinct from quotations and can be used on their own to back up your claims about the text. Instead of being over-reliant on quotations, use citations to back up your major claims. See USF Library’s “Citing Sources” guidelines: https://guides.usfca.edu/citing-sources.Links to an external site.
This assignment aims to get you to think about the ideas in Equiano’s The Interesting Life, Hobbes’ Leviathan, and Locke’s Second Treatise of Government. I want you to reflect deeply and critically about their ideas, arguments, narratives, and social and political projects. In this essay, you will write about Hobbes’ and Locke’s ideas of the state of nature and war, natural law, and natural rights and relate them to Equiano’s criticisms of slavery. This is a philosophical essay, not a historical or sociological one, so focus on the ideas and their value, coherency, and consistency.
This is a short essay. Don’t overload it. Deliberately select the key ideas that you need and want to discuss. Write a coherent and cohesive essay that smoothly segues from your answer to the first portion of the assignment, which is extractive and explanative, to the second, which is relational, to the third, which is evaluative:
- Extract and Explain
Hobbes, in the Leviathan, and Locke, in the Second Treatise, offer distinct justifications for political power. Their respective ideas of the “state of nature” and what it leads plays a central role in their justifications. Extract and explain their respective views of the state of nature. Pay particular attention to their account’s assumptions, content, and implications.
- Connect
Equiano argued against slavery in chapter 5 of his The Interesting Life. In that argument, he used ideas directly connected to Hobbes’ and Locke’s accounts of the state of nature. Relate their ideas by connecting, contrasting, and comparing them.
- Evaluate
What is your reaction to the ideas discussed above? Draw out the core meaning and values of the ideas they share. Is there something there that has enduring value?