Essay Instructions: For this paper, please pick one of the following topics. Please note that the paper topics are very vague. It is expected that you develop a much narrower argument from within the broad scope of the topic.
In this paper, it will be expected to advance some sort of argument or thesis (although in the content of a theory paper, a thesis frequently can take the form of a particular form of interpretation which you wish to advance). Please provide a proper introduction with a thesis statement. The primary focus of the paper will be based on two texts. YOU NEED TO ALSO USE SECONDARY LITERATURE IN SUPPORTING YOUR ARGUMENT. This secondary literature needs to be peer reviewed scholarly journals. Moreover, the term paper must cite every source upon which you rely for quotations, or specific factual material. Please provide a bibliography or list of works consulted. Don't rely on just two or three peer reviewed journals for example. Spread them out. ALL YOUR SOURCES HAVE TO BE CITED AND BE PEER REVIEWED SCHOLARLY JOURNALS. IF THIS NOT FOUND, THE PAPER WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. If you need specific journals, I can access them for you. Just send me a message. Lastly, do not use endless quotations, half or a page long, but rather a few to support your argument. This is an analysis paper, not a summary of the authors writings.
Choose two authors from the list of four:
1) Immanuel Kant-Perpetual Peace and other Essays-An Answer to the question: What is Enlightenment?, On the Proverb: That May be True in Theory, but is of No Practical use", Speculative Beginnings of Human History, Idea for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Intent, To Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch.
2)Karl Marx Selected Writings-Communist Manifesto,Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts, Theses on Feuerbach. On the Jewish Question, Critical Remarks on the Article: ' The King of Prussia and Social Reform, The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, Preface to A Critique of Political Economy.
3) John Stuart Mill-On Liberty and Other Essays
4)Friedrich Nietzsche-On the Genealogy of Morality
Once the two authors have been selected, please pick one of the following topics:
1) One of the major themes of post-enlightenment political thought has been the question of the status of history in the political philosophy in the post-enlightenment period. Do we see 'progress' in history, and if so, towards what and via what mechanism? Discuss the question of history in relation to two of the authors you have chosen.
2) Though the question of human nature has always been of interest to political philosophers, in the post-enlightenment period, for a variety of reasons ( the discovery of evolution, new anthropological research) it takes on a particular importance, as well as new and varied approaches. Compare and contrast the role of human nature in two authors that you have chosen
3) It is in the post-enlightenment period first with the rise of capitalism, and then with the coming of industrialism, that we see the beginnings of what might be terms 'mass society'. At the same time we have the beginnings of sociology, the study of social facts and patterns apart from individual beliefs and intentions. Compare and contrast two of the authors you have chosen on the question of 'society' ( whether in relationship to history, or to politics, or to the individual).
4) In the post-enlightenment period we see the increasing acknowledgment, both for better and worse, of groups ( women, colonized peoples) who had historically been marginalized or ignored by traditional European political thought. Discuss how two of the thinkers you have chose engage with questions of historically marginalized groups.
Thank you
