Essay Four - Buddhism Prompts

Don't forget to define key terms, use examples to support and illustrate (including textual examples where relevant), and discuss likely alternatives or respond to objections!

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.

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.

Choose One of the following questions/prompts:   

1.  Harris sees Buddhism both in its early literary materials and in the early Buddhism practiced by peasants and forest dwelling monks as having implicit (but not explicit) resources for the development of an "authentic" Buddhist environmental ethic.  However, he sees the evidence as ambiguous and provides an "appraisal of the evidence for and against Buddhism as an ecologically aware tradition." (115)  Pick one of the pieces of positive and one of the pieces of negative evidence that Harris offers that you find most telling.  Discuss and evaluate these two pieces of evidence in terms of Harris' goal of appraisal.

2.  Harris sees Buddhism both in its early literary materials and in the early Buddhism practiced by peasants and forest dwelling monks as having implicit (but not explicit) resources for the development of an "authentic" Buddhist environmental ethic.  However, he sees the evidence as ambiguous and provides an "appraisal of the evidence for and against Buddhism as an ecologically aware tradition." (115)   Describe and evaluate at least two assumptions of Harris' approach.  Is the question of whether Buddhism is or is not an "ecologically aware tradition" a well-founded question or are there problems with the question itself?  

3. Pick one of the key concepts of Buddhism such as no-self, interdependent arising, non-attachment, emptiness, samsara (cycle of rebirth), karma, right mindedness, etc. and  compare and contrast how two of the pieces we read utilize the concept.

4. Select one of the key illustrations Cook uses and explain what it is meant to illustrate and whether this point is useful in developing a Buddhist environmental philosophy/theology. The illustrations include but are not limited to the following:

a. Indra’s net (p.2)

b. Ten Coins (pp. 2-3, 9)

c. Western portrait vs. Asian landscape paintings (pp. 5-8)

d. Nose and body (pp. 9-10, 11)

e. yogi and tiger (pp. 9 - 11)

f. lice and horse’s piss (pp. 11, 16)

g. tripod (p. 13-14)

h. chop stick in a drain (pp. 18-19)

4. Both Harris and Swearer discuss the importance of the forest and the relation between the forest and "civilization" . What are the issues involved and how do they bear on a Buddhist environmental ethic?

5. Briefly describe the Hua-yen view of interdependence and causation as outlined by Cook. Then explain why Harris in the article we read (p. 125) finds it problematic. Finally, discuss whether Harris’ s response is well-taken.

6.  To what extent are Macy's views on the Self compatible with the deep ecological views expressed by Naess in the piece we read "The Deep Ecological Movement: Some Philosophical Aspects" (see especially, p. 80).  Would the same positives and negatives attach to both?  (See, for example, Palmer's discussion of the critique of the deep ecologists' extension of self on p. 31 of "An Overview of Environmental Ethics").

7.  Since at least Lynn White, Jr. scholars and others have debated whether various religious and philosophical traditions are anthropocentric and whether they value nature intrinsically or instrumentally.  Show how these concerns emerge in at least one of the pieces we read and evaluate the approach taken.

8.   What is one key similarity and one key difference between Buddhadasa and Phra Prayudh as described by Swearer?  How significant do you find these?  Why?

9.  First:  What are Harris' main criticisms of eco-Buddhism according to Swearer and how does Swearer think Buddhadasa and Phra Prayudh might be expected to respond to these criticisms? (pp. 39-40)  Second:  Do the responses Swearer imagines satisfactorily deal with the criticisms?

10   Argument analysis. Pick a main conclusion of any of the authors we read for the  section of the course focusing on Buddhism. Charitably, show how the author reached this conclusion (presuppositions, reasons, etc.) and offer an assessment of the argument.

11.  ***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

"PhilosophyTools" 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/