Reflection Topics

INSTRUCTIONS:

For this assignment, you are to ponder some reflection questions before listening to the lecture component. These questions aim to stimulate your thinking and focus your concentration on the topics to be explored in the lecture, as a means of provoking you into thinking philosophically while you attentively listen to the lecture. Your responses to these questions are also a means of preparing you to craft your final project for this course, where you will be asked to construct your own philosophical account of what it means to you to live a good life. There will be multiple topics, but do not respond to them all. Rather, pick one topic to respond to that catches your attention or that you otherwise find intriguing. After you have selected your topic, spend 10 minutes pondering the topic’s questions and recording your thoughts. The reason for there being multiple questions within a topic is to assist with developing a response that has depth. For this assignment, do not be concerned about the number of thoughts you have on the topic. Rather, you should be concerned with the quality of your thoughts. In assessing your response, the teaching team will look to see how clearly and precisely you articulate your beliefs and how deeply you explain the reasoning for and assumptions underlying your beliefs. Here are the topics for you to consider:

REFLECTION TOPICS:

Topic #1: If our goal is to achieve peace of mind or freedom from worry, explain the role that you think pleasure and pain and the satisfaction of bodily desires plays in achieving this goal? Do they promote or hinder this goal? How so? As you articulate your position, clearly explain your reasoning for your position, and if appropriate provide a concrete real-life example that illustrates your position.

Topic #2: Why do you think many of us fear death? Should we fear death? How should we respond to our fear of death? To what degree does our fear of death interfere with our ability to enjoy pleasure while alive? Is the fear of death something we should overcome? Or does it play a productive role in contributing to our happiness while still alive? How does it play this productive role? As you articulate your position, clearly explain your reasoning for your position, and if appropriate provide a concrete real-life example that illustrates your position.

Topic #3: When choosing to study science, what should be our motivation? Should science be studied for its own sake? Or for the sake of something else, and if so, what is that something else? Explain why. As you articulate your position, clearly explain your reasoning for your position, and if appropriate provide a concrete real-life example that illustrates your position.

Topic #4: How much of what happens to us in our lives is within our control? How much is beyond our control? What attitude should we take with respect to each of these domains? How often in real time as events are unfolding in our lives do we actually adopt this preferred attitude? As you articulate your position, clearly explain your reasoning for your position, and if appropriate provide a concrete real-life example that illustrates your position.

Topic #5: What does it mean to live a coherent life or to live a life that strives for coherence? Is self-coherence a goal we should strive for? Be sure to define how you understand coherence with respect to a lived life. As you articulate your position, clearly explain your reasoning for your position, and if appropriate provide a concrete real-life example that illustrates your position.

GRADING POLICY:

There will be a total of 12 reflections; the two lowest scores will be dropped when calculating the final grade. This results in 10 reflections, each being worth 4% of your final grade. 6 reflections will be graded as credit/no credit and 6 reflections will be graded according to the rubric. You will not know in advance which reflections will be graded credit/no credit and which reflections will be graded with the rubric; as such, reflections should be completed with the expectation that the rubric could be used.

Use the rubric below to ensure your reflection is complete.