Gone
Thus far, we have spent the beginning of the semester exploring numerous questions concerning the relationship between religion and ethics. For this first paper, it will be your job to tie together several of the readings that deal with this relationship. This paper requires you to do several things:
1) Despite the differences that exist between the Dalai Lama’s understanding of the relationship between religion and ethics and Pope John Paul II’s understanding of the relationship between religion and ethics, it is clear that each thinkers’ ethical system has much in common with the other. In the first step of the paper, you need to identify two major similarities between the Dalai Lama’s ethical thought and Pope John Paul II’s ethical thought.
2) In the second step, you will be exploring possible explanations for the similarities that exist between the Dalai Lama and Pope John Paul II. Both the thought of Friedrich Nietzsche and Richard Dawkins provide possible explanations for the similarities that exist between Pope John Paul II and the Dalai Lama despite their differences in background and religious tradition. In step two, you need to identify these possible explanations in the thought of both Nietzsche and Dawkins, in other words how would Nietzsche and Dawkins explain the similarities?
3) Finally, based on these explanations, in step three tell me which explanation (Nietzsche’s or Dawkins’s) is more convincing and why.
Remember: This paper needs to be at least 1500 words. The paper needs to be double-spaced and have one inch margins. The paper will be graded on three criteria: content, grammar, and form. Content consists of serious and original reflection on the topic, and successful integration of terms and concepts presented in class and in the readings; grammar consists of clear and precise writing (sentences should make sense); form refers to the presentation of the paper (name, double spaced, 1” margins, staple, etc.) Note:
1) Despite the differences that exist between the Dalai Lama’s understanding of the relationship between religion and ethics and Pope John Paul II’s understanding of the relationship between religion and ethics, it is clear that each thinkers’ ethical system has much in common with the other. In the first step of the paper, you need to identify two major similarities between the Dalai Lama’s ethical thought and Pope John Paul II’s ethical thought.
2) In the second step, you will be exploring possible explanations for the similarities that exist between the Dalai Lama and Pope John Paul II. Both the thought of Friedrich Nietzsche and Richard Dawkins provide possible explanations for the similarities that exist between Pope John Paul II and the Dalai Lama despite their differences in background and religious tradition. In step two, you need to identify these possible explanations in the thought of both Nietzsche and Dawkins, in other words how would Nietzsche and Dawkins explain the similarities?
3) Finally, based on these explanations, in step three tell me which explanation (Nietzsche’s or Dawkins’s) is more convincing and why.
Remember: This paper needs to be at least 1500 words. The paper needs to be double-spaced and have one inch margins. The paper will be graded on three criteria: content, grammar, and form. Content consists of serious and original reflection on the topic, and successful integration of terms and concepts presented in class and in the readings; grammar consists of clear and precise writing (sentences should make sense); form refers to the presentation of the paper (name, double spaced, 1” margins, staple, etc.) Note: