Human Nature
Directions: Read and take notes on the background information below for the texts on our course syllabus for next week. (Pay careful attention to your own beliefs on what defines human nature so that you can apply personal philosophies to your readings.) Then, read each of these texts ("The Shaft of the Dead Man," Plato's "The Speech of Aristophanes," Mencius's "Man's Nature is Good," and Hsün Tzu's "Man's Nature is Evil") in our textbook while taking diligent notes; these texts will be the topics of our next Discussion Seminar in class, so read closely and critically...