Primo Levi homework catch up.

For those of you who haven't yet handed in the Primo Levi homework, please do so by next week. Do not forget that it is school policy to deduct 5% from your mark for each day the assignment is not handed in. 

Social Order

Creating order from chaos: both on a societal level, as well as how it relates to the notes written on the board during Monday's class :)

Social Order: Government

1. How do do people react when group existence has suddenly become a blank slate? In other words, if all of our society's structures, laws, institutions were eliminated, how would people respond to their new circumstances? In class, we discussed this question in terms of being stranded on a deserted island with 1000 other people. 

• What happens first?
• Then what?
• How does this situation pan out in the days, weeks, months, etc. to come?

-Nuez suggested that people will quickly begin a battle of the survival of the fittest. This is an "every man for himself" sort of option, in which people's first priority is self-preservation. In order to ensure their personal security, they will lose no time in constructing weapons with which to attack each other and eliminate any potential threats. 

• An important concept that is present in Nuez's explanation is the concept of anarchy. This is a state of society in which there is no official government. Alternatively, anarchy may refer to general chaos or political disorder.

-Holli countered this idea with her suggestion that people will instead work together, and through unity, teamwork, and cooperation they will rely on each other to ensure their safety and general well-being. In this way, they will essentially go about rebuilding the structure of the society from which they emerged. This will necessarily involve both teamwork as well as conflict, much like we find in our communities at present. 

-Mayah S. modified Holli's suggestion a bit: she suggested that people will self-divide into allied groups, based on the priorities and jobs they held in their previous lifestyle (off the island). 

• Holli's and Mayah's explanations lend themselves to a couple important social structures that we will discuss in the coming week. Perhaps you can begin considering what sorts of structures these might be? 

-Brett's suggestion provided some overlap between the above scenarios: his is one of ambiguous trust, in which people work together during the daytime hours when they can clearly see each other and protect themselves by the light of day, but at night, people will crawl into high trees in order to prevent others from attacking them in secret. So in this scenario, people still do not trust each other, and they sense that at any point other island dwellers pose a threat to their safety, but they overcome this fear during the day to cooperate and attempt some degree of group progress. 

-Noah hinted at a structure that is philosophically similar to Nuez's survival of the fittest idea: people may work together to create a workable structure for survival, but ultimately, they will put the frailer and less useful members of society (for example, the very old, the sick, the disabled, the weak, etc.) in the line of fire when it comes to facing danger. These people will be sacrificed for the greater good. 

• Both Brett and Noah have presented ideas that draw from the concept of utilitarianism. Utilitarianism is when a small part of a community or society is sacrificed in order to provide greater benefit for the majority of the population. 
• For a great short story about the practical and philosophical consequences of utilitarianism, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND reading this piece: http://sites.middlebury.edu/individualandthesociety/files/2010/09/jackson_lottery.pdf It's only 8 pages, and the language isn't very difficult. I think some of you will enjoy it quite a bit! 

We received a lot of great input from many other students, but here I'm listing the main points that were on the board. 

2. The next question is how the island people actually go about putting their plan into effect. For some of the above examples, this question doesn't really apply. But for those that require ordered groupings and structure, how do you decide how to take charge of the situation? 

We discussed one option in particular, which was that a single person will take control of the people, and will be able to do so based on the urgency of the situation. In other words, the island population is so desperate for order and are so scared for their safety, that they will readily allow one person to control their entire society for the sake of achieving some level of security. 

• This government structure is called a dictatorship. A dictatorship is a government in which one person has the ultimate power to make all the decisions for his/her people. 
• Many leaders, not just dictators, use charisma to help them acquire and maintain the support of the people. Charisma is a sort of personal magnetism- it helps inspire people to trust and believe in one's leadership capabilities. 

...To be continued next class!

Some extra notes, part IV

Lesson Four: Autonomy and morality

Purpose: By now, you should have begun to consider autonomy in the context of your personal lives, and explored some of its positive and negative aspects. Today’s lesson will reinforce those different perspectives with a particular focus on how the actions and privileges of one individual or collective may infringe on the autonomy/freedom of another.

1. Read the following quote (in light of the examples given) and come up with an explanation of its meaning. Be prepared to explain the logic behind your reasoning, with reference to the examples.

Example #1: Menachem-Mendl’s parents respect his privacy to use his room as personal space: they will not enter his room, thus granting him autonomy to behave in it according to his own principles. By doing this, they limit their ability to check on his behavior at all times. Outside his bedroom, Menachem-Mendl is expected to behave according to the rules of the household.

Example #2: Shayna-Chaya rides her bike to school every day. To a certain extent, she is allowed to cycle however she pleases- in the middle of the street, at varying speeds, on the route of her choice- but she is also limited by traffic laws for the sake of her own safety and for the safety of drivers, pedestrians, and other cyclists sharing the street.

“The freedom of one individual begins when the freedom of another individual ends.”

– Herbert Spencer (paraphrased), English anthropologist, liberal political theorist, 1820 – 1903.

Recall our explanation of freedom within the context of autonomy:

- Autonomy is a person’s (or collective’s) ability to choose a moral/principled structure that governs behavior and guides decision-making processes. In other words, it is the ability to self-govern, either on an individual level or group level.

Whereas…

- Freedom is the flexibility within that structure to decide which decision to make and when.

In light of this discussion, and in order to frame the coming discussion, the central question for this class is: how do we know when our free actions are moral or not? Who is more important- the individual or the collective?

2. Many students wrote in last lesson’s classwork responses that given all the autonomy in the world, we would actually tend to back down from our moral principles and revert to purely selfish motives.

These responses seem to indicate that although many students consider humans to be either naturally good, or neither good nor evil, they nevertheless feel that given ultimate freedom, humans would be destructive. So is it laws that keep them in place?

Consider: in your homes, in what sorts of ways do your parents limit their autonomy? What would happen if they didn’t do this? Would you still behave “morally”? Would you still commit to maintaining order for the good or the entire family dynamic rather than simply for yourselves? Recall: Hobbes vs. Locke.

-Should we then define “morality” as actions that support the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people?

3. “Greater good” – what benefits the majority number of people in a given situation. For example, I might feel compelled to throw my sandwich wrapper on the ground because it’s convenient for me, but I know that for the sake of the greater good, it is more important that I sacrifice my selfish tendency and put society’s needs before my own. Therefore, I put my wrapper in the garbage because I hope that this will help preserve the environment for the coming generations.

When we consider the positive uses of autonomy, how do we characterize the ideal principles that would structure our behavior: for the greater good, or for personal reward?

-Are there any cases in which an individual’s personal benefit outweighs the greater good?

Those students who handed in their Primo Levi assignments last week tended to argue that standards for morality shift depending on circumstances- that selfishness is “fair” if a person’s survival is at stake, or on an even less urgent level, if their surroundings have caused them extreme physical stress. 

Some extra notes, part III

Lesson Three: Skills catch-up. 

Purpose: After looking over the students’ homework and quizzes, I was concerned that many of you were not yet fully at ease with analyzing of text. This lesson was geared toward reviewing and practicing a basic approach to analyzing text. 

1. Reflect on the following questions based on the quotes below:

• Do you believe that humans are by nature good or evil? 
• How does this affect the amount of autonomy they should have in order to live productively? 
• Explain, based on your answer, whether you conclude that maximum autonomy is a good thing or a bad thing. 

Hobbes: The state of nature is a state of war. No morality exists. Everyone lives in constant fear of his/her neighbors.
Rousseau: The state of nature is one of freedom and equality. Humans are, in their purest state, “noble savages.” 

**The remainder of this lesson centered around how to approach a text and analyze it critically. I have discussed this topic at greater length in a previous blog post. Please read and study it if you have not already done so. 

Some extra notes, part II

Lesson two: limitations to autonomy

Review: Recall the use of critical judgment and decision-making based on personal principles when thinking about the definition of autonomy. Note that autonomy entails self-governance: when we are free from dependence on other people to make behavioral decisions for us, it becomes our responsibility to develop a code of conduct designed to maximize potential for good. You should be able to offer examples of autonomy granted in their personal lives.

1.  Nuez asked an important question in the previous lesson: why did we include the term “democracy” on the list of possible components of autonomy, if a democracy is a system of government that involves laws that curb the autonomy of its citizens? 

This question demands that we examine two sets of distinctions: collective autonomy vs. individual autonomy; and freedom vs. autonomy. 

• Collective autonomy applies to a group of people operating under some degree of shared identity. For example, the ability of a school club to govern itself according to its own principles is a form of collective autonomy because everybody in the club governs themselves together, as a one. 
• Individual autonomy applies only to a single individual. To use the above example, while a school club uses collective autonomy to make decisions for its group goernance, the individuals within the club may still exercise individual autonomy for more personal decisions such as choosing the most strategic way of introducing new ideas to the group for review.     

The discussion of collective vs. individual relates to our understanding of personal identity: it is important that we develop a sense of our personal values and purpose so that we use our autonomy to achieve fullest potential. We may also use this personal understanding to monitor the areas in which our actions are politically, religiously, or economically manipulated by lack of autonomy. To frame it as a question: when is our personal autonomy to act on our values limited? Are our values determined by the extent of autonomy we’re granted? 

2.  In which cases is autonomy limited? (draw as an inverted pyramid)

A. Concrete limitations:

• International: government over another government- eg. colonial control over a different people
• National/provincial/municipal: government over institutions- eg. government establishes curricula in public schools; determines what passes for knowledge
• Institutional: eg. a school will establish rules of conduct, set of objectives, dress code, etc. 
• Religious: ritual laws- restrictions come from the community and from god. 
• Family-based: depending on the family, rules and expectations determined by commitments to relationships.
• f. Personal: decisions related to personal fulfillment, goal-achievement.

B. Abstract limitations:

• Social pressure – sexism/racism
• Emotional dependency
• Cultural/economic influence, insufficient perspective/knowledge

Let us recall the unit’s central question, in light of all of these limitations: Do I control my decisions? (More specifically, how do limitations on my autonomy affect the extent to which my identity can develop?)

3. Do you believe that autonomy is a good thing? Is this always the case?  Respond to the following questions: 

a. Why do you believe limitations to autonomy are necessary, if at all?
b. At what point do these limitations become oppressive? 

Some extra notes, part I

I've decided to post some "lesson skeletons" from the past unit to help you in studying for your quiz and mastering the material- they essentially outline the structure of our past classes. I will post one for each of the four lessons that comprised the unit on autonomy. 

Lesson One: Introduction

Review: In the previous unit we discussed the determinants of identity and how these affect our values and actions. This lesson should reflect these ideas in the following questions: how does the extent of a person’s autonomy affect his/her identity? How do the values associated with identity affect how one exercises his/her autonomy?

The following will be a central question throughout the unit, so keep it in mind over the course of your studies: Do I control my decisions? 

1. How do we define “autonomy”? Try to come up with a working definition based on the following examples of what autonomy is (YES) and isn’t (NO):

YES:
• Legally, parents have the right to raise their children in the way they feel is best, with limited restriction from provincial or federal government. For example, there is no law that specifies how many hours a parent should read to their children per night.
• Twelve students at Bialik High School form a sci-fi club, and as a group, decide what the goals of the club are, how often and where they will meet, and what sort of behavior is expected of club members. The school administration has no input in the club's activities or decisions.
• Judah's parents work late every day, and he takes it upon himself to do the family's grocery shopping. His mother doesn't give him a grocery list, but provides $50 twice a week to buy food for his and his siblings' dinners. Judah selects groceries based on his understanding of nutrition and sense of commitment to his siblings.

NO:
• Katherine can't decide which boy to ask to the dance, so she has her friend Jessica choose for her.

• In North Korea, citizens are bound by law to accept socialist principles. Any behavior that indicates a
rejection of socialism is a punishable crime.

• The Quebec Education Program determines the subject content teachers must cover in the elementary and secondary general studies curricula.

Your final definition of autonomy should be refined: an individual’s capacity for self-governance; the ability to live one’s life based on principles that he or she selects of his/her own personal will, rather than on political, religious, or societal constraints. The concept differs from raw freedom because it implies a code of action rather than arbitrary whim.

2. Examine the following quote and respond to the questions below.

      “Our treatment of both older people and children reflects the value we place on independence and autonomy. We do our best to make our children independent from birth. We leave them all alone in rooms with the lights out and tell them, ‘Go to sleep by yourselves.’ And the old people we respect most are the ones who will fight for their independence, who would sooner starve to death than ask for help.” –Margaret Mead

a. Is there a difference between Independence and autonomy?
b. Re-read the final sentence. What does it say about how an autonomous person behaves in relation to other people?
c. Do you agree that we should “respect most…the ones who…would sooner starve to death than ask for help”? Why or why not?
d. Why do you think we value autonomy so deeply?

Consider the following: Do people value autonomy over security? Which is more important to them?

3.  Personal reflection. Agree or disagree with the following statement and explain your answer: The more autonomy I have, the more responsible I am for my own actions.

Quiz review!

Vocabulary (Be prepared to explain these concepts and use each word in a sentence, as well as compare/contrast concepts if necessary):

*Collective vs. Individual

*Autonomy vs. Freedom

*Human Nature

*Greater Good

*Economy

Review the hierarchy of limitations (fill in inverted triangle and be able to explain how these tiers ultimately affect personal autonomy)

Be able to explain: how does autonomy relate to morality? Consider the need for limitations to autonomy based on how moral or immoral a person is in his/her natural state. This relates to the question we addressed in class: are humans, by nature, good or evil? Etc.

You will be given a brief excerpt from a text, and will be asked to answer questions about it. You will be expected to provide underlining, analysis, and text-supported responses. We spoke about this in class as an important strategy for completing text-based assignments, and I have also provided a note-taking review here on this website (see previous posts).