TOPIC: Economics
Use Adam Smith, the general concepts of the Enlightenment and current events to support your ideas.
Questions:
-Is Capitalism the best economic model for the world?
-Would Adam Smith approve of some of the recent practices of Wall Street and major corporations?
- Did the current recession begin because Hobbes was right and people are selfish by nature, with the banks and lenders preying on hopeful/uneducated buyers?
-How should or economy be fixed? How should our government continue to deal with the "fiscal cliff", the debt ceiling, etc? Pure capitalism, no intervention, crash and burn? OR should the government intervene in a semi or completely socialist fashion?
-Obamacare: our healthcare system is broken in many ways. Apply these concepts to Obamacare and debate how to fix our healthcare crisis.
You are required to post and must directly engage another student. I am grading based on quality and amount of interaction, so post away! Engage with your fellow AP Worlders and debate! Use as much evidence from the readings and any other research to back your claims!
GO!
REMEMBER: WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE! NO PERSONAL ATTACKS! ANY INAPPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR WILL BE DOCUMENTED AND PUNISHED.
ALSO: IF YOUR IDENTITY IS NOT COMPLETELY EVIDENT IN YOUR SCREEN NAME, YOU WON'T GET CREDIT!
ONE LAST THING: Don't write essays nor address every questions in one post. Spread it out and make your posts short enough that people will actually read them and address them. Remember to use the reply function!
Friday, January 24, 2014
The Social Contract and Civil Society
TOPIC: The Social Contract
The concept of the "social contact" is one that was highly supported by many philosophes of the Enlightenment era, especially America's Founding Fathers. It is loosely defined as the implicit agreement between a government and its people. In this agreement, citizens "give up" certain rights they are "born with" in order to receive the stability of civil society and thus get to enjoy the additional freedoms and privileges that come with living in a stable state.
-How many and what type of rights should the individual "give up" for the security of civil society? Apply this to the recent scandal of the NSA "spying" on the American Public. Should the NSA be able to access our personal means of communication? Is that worth it to protect us from terrorism?
-At what point does the concept of the "social contract" begin the encroach upon your sense of individualism? Should we look at society as one big team? Or every man/woman/child for himself?
-The concept best applies to our current debate on gun control. How should this issue be addressed? How does the concept of the Social Contact play into this?
-How far should the ideals of the Enlightenment extend? Voltaire sure loved freedom of speech, but are pure freedoms dangerous? How does that affect our modern society with the advent of the internet? Should some groups be limited in their use of free speech? Hate groups, creepy NAMBLA type groups?
You are required to post and must directly engage another student. I am grading based on quality and amount of interaction, so post away! Remember to use the reply function when reponses to specific people/topics. Engage with your fellow AP Worlders and debate! Use as much evidence from the readings and any other research to back your claims!
GO!
REMEMBER: WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE! NO PERSONAL ATTACKS! ANY INAPPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR WILL BE DOCUMENTED AND PUNISHED.
ALSO: IF YOUR IDENTITY IS NOT COMPLETELY EVIDENT IN YOUR SCREEN NAME, YOU WON'T GET CREDIT!
ONE LAST THING: Don't write essays nor address every questions in one post. Spread it out and make your posts short enough that people will actually read them and address them. Remember to use the reply function!
I will post addition questions throughout the weekend. Keep an eye out for that!
The concept of the "social contact" is one that was highly supported by many philosophes of the Enlightenment era, especially America's Founding Fathers. It is loosely defined as the implicit agreement between a government and its people. In this agreement, citizens "give up" certain rights they are "born with" in order to receive the stability of civil society and thus get to enjoy the additional freedoms and privileges that come with living in a stable state.
-How many and what type of rights should the individual "give up" for the security of civil society? Apply this to the recent scandal of the NSA "spying" on the American Public. Should the NSA be able to access our personal means of communication? Is that worth it to protect us from terrorism?
-At what point does the concept of the "social contract" begin the encroach upon your sense of individualism? Should we look at society as one big team? Or every man/woman/child for himself?
-The concept best applies to our current debate on gun control. How should this issue be addressed? How does the concept of the Social Contact play into this?
-How far should the ideals of the Enlightenment extend? Voltaire sure loved freedom of speech, but are pure freedoms dangerous? How does that affect our modern society with the advent of the internet? Should some groups be limited in their use of free speech? Hate groups, creepy NAMBLA type groups?
You are required to post and must directly engage another student. I am grading based on quality and amount of interaction, so post away! Remember to use the reply function when reponses to specific people/topics. Engage with your fellow AP Worlders and debate! Use as much evidence from the readings and any other research to back your claims!
GO!
REMEMBER: WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE! NO PERSONAL ATTACKS! ANY INAPPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR WILL BE DOCUMENTED AND PUNISHED.
ALSO: IF YOUR IDENTITY IS NOT COMPLETELY EVIDENT IN YOUR SCREEN NAME, YOU WON'T GET CREDIT!
ONE LAST THING: Don't write essays nor address every questions in one post. Spread it out and make your posts short enough that people will actually read them and address them. Remember to use the reply function!
I will post addition questions throughout the weekend. Keep an eye out for that!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)