INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL AND POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
FALL 2020
MIDTERM EXAM
Discuss either IA or IB, and either IIA or IIB. In each case, make sense of the authors/
authors positions and reasoning. Aim for 4-5 pages (double-spaced) for each essay
(approximately 8-10 pages total).
Youre expected to make use of the class lectures, readings, and discussions. Those are
the materials youre being examined on. Support your views of the authors positions
and reasoning with brief quotations; you neednt include a formal bibliography, but you
should refer to sources and page numbers in the text of your essay, e.g., as Rousseau
reasoned in Bk I, Chapt 2 of On the Social Contract or (Rousseau, Bk I, Chapt 2).
Your essays will be due on Monday, November 2 at 5 p.m., your local time. (Canvas will
have a due date of 5 p.m. PST, but Ill take your time zone into account to determine
whether you submitted on time. Submit by 5 p.m. where you are.)
Save both essays as one PDF. The file name should be your last name, a space, and your
first name (e.g., beatty john.pdf). To submit, upload your PDF onto the Midterm Exam
Assignment on Canvas.
Also, please note that we will still have graded discussions this week (Tues, Oct 20
Tues, Oct 27). But then well have a break from graded discussions (Tues, Oct 27 Tues,
Nov 3).
One of the main reasons why were extending the time you have to write your essays is
so that we can be available for more office hours in the interim. See Kinleys recent
Announcement re. our availability next week.
Do not circulate this exam.
Further desiderata:
Your task is to make sense of an authors position and reasoning. What are they saying
and why would they have thought that? To make sense of an authors position, it doesnt
help to portray them as foolish, however wrong or misguided you personally consider
them to be.
Nor does it help to take an authors position and reasoning for granted, as if it there is
no explanation required. Go to as much trouble to make sense of positions and lines of
reasoning that you agree with as you would to make sense of positions you disagree
with.
In making sense of the authors in question, it may help to imagine that youre
addressing an audience that is not already familiar with the subject matter. Imagine, for
example, that youre addressing some of your peers who are interested to hear what
your class is about, what sorts of things youre discussing. You have to be a bit of a
teacher to make the authors viewpoints and reasoning understandable to such an
audience.
As we all know, an explanation can be too short to make sense of the subject matter. As
we also know, an explanation can be exceedingly long and still fail to make sense of the
topic. Extra pages do not guarantee extra credit.
Choose between topics IA and IB:
IA. Discuss Robert Paul Wolffs position, that we should choose autonomy over
authority (from Chapter 1 of his In Defense of Anarchism).
IB. Discuss John Stuart Mills simple principle, and the special case of the simple
principle involving thought and expression.
Choose between topics IIA and IIB:
IIA. Discuss similarities and differences between Hobbess and Rousseaus views of
legitimate political authority.
IIB. Discuss the thesis that views of political authority reflect views of human nature,
focussing on the following: Plato, Hobbes and Rousseau
