[Autumn quarter has 10.5 weeks, rather than the usual 10. Usually, I refer to the first half-week of the quarter as “Week 0” — but I see that Professor DiStefano is using Week 1 for this first half-week, so in order to avoid confusion, I’ll do the same.]
This assignment is the first one that you need to post to this blog site. It’s also the first one that you need to tag as “week2blog” — when you’re writing your post, look on the righthand column (you may need to scroll down) to find the Post Tag section. Make sure that you’re posting the tag exactly as I’ve provided it above.
Tags make it easier to sort through posts on a website — clicking on any tag pulls back all the posts that it marks. As we move further into the quarter, you may find tags a useful way of sorting through blog posts to check on assignments, announcements, etc.
Onto the assignment. This week in POL S 201, you’re reading a Platonic monologue (the Apology) and a dialogue (the Crito). Plato is challenging because his language is dense and philosophical — and perhaps above all, it’s simply very different from most of the language you read or listen to today. And yet, it’s important that you find a way through the challenge, and come away from the text with a better understanding of Plato than you started with.* This assignment should help with that by allowing you to break Plato into manageable chunks: single words.
Choose two words from the Apology and/or Crito that you think are important or interesting. Identify them in your post, and explain a) what you think each one means, according to Plato; and b) why you find each word important to the meaning of the text. Make sure that you provide at least one specific example of how each word is used, using the alphanumeric passage markers (e.g., 54a).
Note: this is not a test to see if you can find the “most important” words in Plato’s texts; and I do not have a preset list of right and wrong words. Your job is to show me two words that you think are vital, and by explaining why, convince me that they matter.
This blogging assignment is due by Wednesday, October 5th, at 8 p.m.
* I say “a better understanding” because virtually no one refers to Plato as easy; so while I expect you to work hard at understanding Plato, it’s pointless to imagine that you should be able to read him comfortably within a single week.
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