Four Great Thinkers of the Past:
- a webquest
concerning political philosophy
By Scott E. Pointon
Introduction - The Tasks - The Process - The Philosophers - Debate Issues - Advice - Evaluation - Closure
This Web Quest challenges you to
investigate four of the most influential political philosophers of the past 400
years and relate their theories to modern times. By gaining an
understanding of the life and times of these four people, you will get a feel
for how and why they put forth the theories that we now associate with
them. In short, you will be putting yourself in the shoes of these great
thinkers and attempting to solve some modern political issues! Once your
research is complete, you will act as spokesperson for that philosopher's
beliefs in a mock debate on modern issues.
Once you are assigned a particular philosopher, your task is to explore the list of web page links concerning your subject. The idea is that you want to get to know how your philosopher thought, or more directly, what type of logic they used to reach the conclusions that they reached. A brief description follows each of the links, and each subsequent web page contains several additional links that enthusiastic students could pursue further. Keep in mind that these web resources are at times written on a college scholar level, so keep plenty of note paper and a good dictionary close by when you begin your research!
Once you have a feel for your subject's way of thinking, prepare a short essay which depicts how your subject might feel about three current issues which plague American politics. With the help of your teacher, your class will choose three topics from the list below.
After writing your short essay, or
position paper, you will conduct a mock debate where you will represent your
philosopher's ideas and speak as he would speak on the chosen issues, and your
classmates will argue their subject's philosophy. Obviously with only
four philosophers to study, your class will be broken into four groups, with
each group member responsible for writing their own position paper, but working
as a group in the mock debate. To see an example of a mock debate between
Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, go here.
The process of completing this exercise should go like this:
1. Choose a philosopher or have your teacher assign one for you. Choices include Niccolo Machiavelli, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and John Stuart Mill.
2. Visit some general political philosophy resources such as The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. It may also be helpful to locate some resources in print, such as encyclopedia entries or recent magazine articles about your subject.
3. Keep in mind that you will need to read enough of your philosopher's writings to be able to generate a list of their rules or beliefs. You will need a big enough list of these philosophies that you can easily apply their beliefs to a modern issue. In other words, you may have to say what Machiavelli would think about welfare, or abortion, or whatever.
4. Once you have a grip on what your philosopher's beliefs are, write your position paper about what your subject would say about the modern issues assigned by your teacher.
5. When everyone in a group has completed their position paper, they must meet, compare notes, and coordinate their debate strategies.
6. Conduct the actual debate. The idea is to know your philosophy so well that you will be able to out think your opponents!
Niccolo Machiavelli - the humanist
http://www.ctbw.com/lubman.htm
http://www.orst.edu/instruct/phl302/philosophers/machaivelli.html
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook.html
http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/philosophers/hobbes.html
http://www.iep.utm.edu/h/hobmoral.htm
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Hobbes.html
http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/l/locke.htm
http://www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/constitution/locke-bio.html
http://www.blupete.com/Literature/Biographies/Philosophy/Locke.htm
http://www.constitution.org/jl/2ndtreat.htm
John
Stuart Mill - the libertarian
http://www.cpm.ll.ehime-u.ac.jp/AkamacHomePage/Akamac_E-text_Links/Mill.html
http://www.utilitarianism.com/jsmill.htm
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/mill/
Although the debate issues will be largely decided upon by your teacher, you may be able to vote on which ones sound the best. Possible choices include:
Gun Control
The Drug War/Legalization
Welfare
The
Death Penalty
Internet Censorship
Immigration
Restrictions
Abortion
The web addresses given are just a sample of what is available on the Internet. There is a good variety of information provided - some give a general biography of the life and times of your subject and others will define what it is to believe what your philosopher believed. Others will provide an online text of one or more original essays by your subject. Many will have a timeline to help you understand how these four individuals fit into the fabric of Western history as we know it. If you follow all of the links and read some of what is available at each, you will have more than enough information to complete this assignment with ease.
Your performance will be graded as follows: 50% of your grade will come from your performance in the mock debate and 50% of your grade will come from the position paper you prepare on the debate issues.
This web quest is an exploration
into the subject of political philosophy. Misunderstood philosophy can
lead to bad government, confusion, arguments, and worst of all, disrespect for
the works of great thinkers of the past. Properly understood political philosophy
helps you to understand the world around you, especially other people's
motivations. Once you understand why people do what they do, life gets
easier to cope with. You will have discovered that your political
understanding becomes a factor in determining your success or failure in life.
Last Updated April 2005 by Trisha Armstrong