World Civilzation Main Page with Index

	PHILOSOPHICAL QUESTIONS - Chapter 6
	(or Ms. Jones has been reading too much about Greek philosophers.)
		Class Discussion or Collaborative Exercise
			20 points participation

1.  The search for balance was a theme in Chinese philosophy and reappears in the work of Greek
philosophers as well as later ideologies and theologies.  It must be important!  But:

	a.  Is balance something worth seeking?  Is it desirable?  

	b.  Isn't balance actually something to avoid?  Isn't it rather mundane?

	c.  Is balance in one's own life possible?

	d.  Isn't balance really unavoidable?

	e.  Do you have any control over balance anyway?  Isn't it all out of our hands?

2,  Why do humans have money?  How has money affected human endeavors?  Who determines
what "money" is?  Do we really need it?  Is this another conspiracy by the elitists?

3.  What is a "Spartan existence"?  Do you have one or want one and why is it called that?

4.   A "Vacuum of power" - Will it always be filled?

5.  What is the "purpose of life on earth'?

6.  What would rule by philosophers be like in the US today?  Who are the leading philosophers
today in the US?  What are their philosophies?

7.  Isn't social history the real history?  Who cares about what the elite
	are doing anyway?  They are few; we are many...

8.  How should the merchant class rank in importance in a society?  Should they have power or
be rewarded with low status and suspicion because they are thieves and manipulators?

9.  Why did Alexander the Great supposedly say, "If I was not Alexander, I would want to be
Diogenes"?  If you were not __________ (your name), would you want to be Diogenes?  Who was
Diogenes?
										2

10.  Play:  "A Day with Diogenes" - six parts for reading; 25 points for the Announcer and
Diogenes; 15 points each for the others.  (Please read the article about Diogenes to understand
the play.)  Sign-up for reading with the instructor
(first come, first served).
	
			"A Day with Diogenes"

	a.  Announcer:_______________________________________________

	b.  Diogenes:________________________________________________

	c.  Plato:__________________________________________________

	d.  Student 1:______________________________________________

	e.  Student 2:_____________________________________________

	f.  Student 3:____________________________________________