An Analysis of Nietzsche and Socrates' Philosophical Views

Acceptance and rejection of claims made by cultural relativists

In a paper of no less than 400 and no more than 600 words, answer exactly one of the following two questions.

1) On page 18 of “The Challenge of Cultural Relativism,” James Rachels lists six claims cultural relativists have made. On the basis of your reading of Treatise One of Nietzsche’s Genealogy, do you see evidence that Nietzsche would accept any of these claims, and if so, which? Do you see evidence that he would reject any of them, and if so, which? (This question does not only test your understanding of Nietzsche and the lectures. Much of what Rachels says helps to clarify the differences among the six claims.)

2) Following his First-Things-First Strategy (after a false start in Book I), Socrates eventually settles on a definition of justice in the individual: justice is each part of the soul doing its own work and only its own work. This is a philosophical definition, not a stipulative one. As we’ve seen, to know whether a philosophical definition is correct, we need to test it against our shared, though perhaps rough, grasp of the Form in question. (See 442e and following, where Socrates applies the “everyday tests.”) We worried, though, that to test Socrates’ definition of justice in the individual, we would need to abandon the First-Things-First Strategy. Explain in your own words why one might have this worry. (This should take up the bulk of the paper.) After doing this, say whether you think this is a serious problem for Socrates, and explain why.

If you refer to passages from the readings, give page numbers from the Morgan so the reader can find the passage you are talking about. If you are using a different edition of the Genealogy, and the pagination is not the same, you will need to specify the location of the passage in some other way, e.g as the fourth paragraph of Section 12. For Plato's Republic, you may use either the page numbers from the Morgan or the standardized page numbers in the margins (e.g. 24d-31a).

If you take words or ideas from other sources you must cite them properly. (If you do not know how to cite sources, contact the Academic Skills Centre, Library, 3rd Floor, 905-828-3858.) There is no need to acknowledge Prof. Clark as a source, but you should avoid word for word quotations of class material. You are welcome to write in the first person. I strongly recommend that you limit any outside sources to those available through the U of T Libraries web site: https://onesearch.library.utoronto.ca/. I would not use Google; there is too much sloppy thinking out there, and it is too easy to forget to cite your sources, which as you know is an academic violation.

The quality of your work will depend on whether you can communicate to the reader both what you think and why you think it. Be careful to answer the question, the whole question, and nothing but the question. Do not assume that the reader already understands what you are trying to say.

In general, you want to be sparing with quotations. The reason is that the reader needs to know what you think the quote means and why you think it is important. So you can’t just insert quoted material. You also need to say in your own words what you think it means and why you’ve used it. Sometimes you are better off expressing the idea in your own words and giving a citation so the reader can find the passage you are talking about.

Submit your paper via Assignments in Quercus. Please use .docx About Plagiarism: Plagiarism is representing someone else’s words or ideas as your own. With the exception of lecture material, all sources, including Internet sources, must be acknowledged. All plagiarism cases will be referred to the Dean.

No Late Work: Remember that this course has a no-late-work designation. To receive credit for a paper submitted after the deadline you must file a successful petition with the Philosophy Department. (See the Special Consideration Form on the course site.) Filing a petition is not a guarantee of success. Please have a look at the form in advance so you know your options.