Essay Two Prompts
Requirements:
1. Your essay should be word-processed, double-spaced, one-inch to one and one-half inch margins. It should be spell-checked. Pages Numbered.
2. You should have a cover page with title, date, and your name.
3. Each paragraph should be numbered. Bold the thesis. After the end of the essay, attach an outline of the essay with the thesis clearly stated and at minimum a line for each paragraph.
4. Each essay should be approximately 3 pages long (not including the Works Consulted or cover pages).
5. You must include a Works Consulted/Cited Page. I will assume that you have read and understood Harvey, Writing with Sources on when and how to cite sources. CAREFUL AND CORRECT CITATION IS REQUIRED. WHEN IN DOUBT, CITE. Remember that simply paraphrasing or changing every third word is not OK. Quote and cite or radically summarize and cite. Use quotation marks when quoting or indent if quote is five lines or longer. Guessing at where your information comes from is not OK. Use page numbers in your in-text citations, footnotes or endnotes. Book or journal titles are italicized or underlined.
6. Your essay should define any key terms used, use examples to illustrate and support your argument where appropriate, and discuss likely alternatives or respond to objections.
Essays will be graded for both form and content as indicated in Points to Consider in Evaluating an Essay.
Choose One of the following questions/prompts:
1. In Kay’s "Concepts of Nature in the Hebrew Bible" how does "choosing life" reflect both the ecology of Palestine in which the texts of the Hebrew Bible were formed and a particular attitude toward nature? Is her exegesis of the texts involved convincing? Why or why not?
2. Why does Kay reject both the despot and steward models as proper interpretations of the Hebrew Bible? Is her interpretation at odds with that of Ehrenfeld and Bentley who see traditional Judaism as advocating a steward model? Be sure to discuss how each essay defines and understands "stewardship".
3. Suppose we think of a definition of "green religion" or "environmental religion" as consisting of a list of elements in the family resemblance mode. Do there seem to be certain elements that in Kay, Ehrenfeld and Bentley, and Schwarzchild would all include? Where do they differ and why?
4. Several of the essays distinguish between Judaism and Christianity. Pick two of the essays. Discuss what distinctions are made, how these distinctions serve to distinguish these two monotheistic religions, and why the distinctions are made.
5. Ehrenfeld and Bentley write: "It is also the Sabbath alone that can reconcile the Jewish attitude towards nature with the attitude of secular environmentalism, of holistic ecology, or of the non-anthropocentric religions such as Jainism." (132) How does the Sabbath and the idea of the Sabbath accomplish this in their view? Do you think it does the work that they think it does? Why or why not?
6. Explain how Neusner's focus on the community and on how the "then and there" relates to the "here and now" both in terms of holidays, life-cycle events, and everyday practices sheds light on any two of the essays.
7. What does Schwarzchild mean by the "unnatural Jew"? How does he outline and deploy this image/concept in his essay? Is his deployment convincing? Why or why not?
8. Schwarzchild criticizes "a wild-eyed ‘ecosophy’" which he contrasts with a "‘humanistic ecology’" (272- 273). What are the criticisms he offers of ecosophy? Are these convincing? Why or why not? Be sure to define the terms you use and note presuppositions involved.
9. Several of the essays refer to "desacrilization of nature" and Judaism’s rejection of paganism. Pick two of the essays and explain how and why they treat either desacrilization or anti-paganism.
10. Kay and Ehrenfeld and Ehrenfeld critique Schwarzchild’s essay. What do you think is the strongest criticism in either piece and how might Schwarzchild respond?
11. Several of the essays stress the importance of morality in understanding a Jewish relationship to nature. Pick two of the essays and show how and why they do this.
12. A number of the essays explicitly mention the Lynn White article we read. Pick two and explain how they understand and respond to that article.
13. White holds in "The Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis" that, "Since the roots of our trouble are so largely religious, the remedy must also be essentially religious, whether we call it that or not". (1207) After reading these articles on Judaism and nature, what are your thoughts on whether White is correct. Be sure to refer in some detail to at least two of the essays.
14. Argument analysis. Pick a main conclusion of either Kay, Ehrenfeld and Bentley, or Schwarzchild. Charitably, show how the author reached this conclusion (presuppositions, reasons, etc.) and offer an assessment of the argument.
15.***Wild Card. Topic of your choice, but get approval of instructor first.
Writing Help
Your textbook - Bedau, Hugo. Thinking and Writing About Philosophy. 2nd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2002.
Jim Pryor of Princeton has a website with some plain words about writing a philosophy paper. It can be found at http://www.princeton.edu/~jimpryor/general/writing.html
J. Cruz of Williams College takes one through the process of an imaginary student writing a paper on "the parallel between the parts of the just soul and parts of a just city" in Plato’s Republic. This is found at a section of his website entitled "Writing papers for introductory moral philosophy courses" located at http://www.williams.edu/philosophy/fourth_layer/faculty_pages/jcruz/moraltutor/index.html
"Philosophy Bootcamp" on my website has many links useful for writing philosophy papers and essays including a Citation FAQ.
Visit the UI Writing Center - The Writing Center is located in Room 323 on the third floor of the Idaho Commons. Tutors help students with writing projects. For more information, the URL is http://www.class.uidaho.edu/english/WritingCenter/