Type up the three of the four essays below. Use these essays as an opportunity to show me how well you understand the material. In order to do this, imagine that you are trying to explain the subject to your intelligent, but ignorant, roommate. That is, state things clearly enough, explain any technical terminology, offer examples where they are needed for illustration, and expand on any cryptic or compressed remarks, so that a person not already familiar with the material would understand what you mean. By doing this, you'll show me that you understand what you're talking about.

In each of the essays below, I give a number of points that I want you to touch upon. However, please do not simply answer them one-by-one, in a disconnected, "bullet-point," choppy manner. Incorporate your discussion of each of the points within a continuous, coherent, flowing essay on the topic. They do not necessarily need to be treated in order in which I mention them.

Many of the points listed in the paper writing guidelines are also relevant for writing these essays. Make sure that you offer reasons and arguments in support of your evaluations. Maximum length per essay: 3 pages.

1. Consider the lives of the following two people. Lenny, an accountant, successfully embezzles millions of dollars from his company. He flees to the Caribbean, where he spends the rest of his life dedicated to the pleasures of food and drink. He also enjoys carousing with his 'friends,' and a succession of girlfriends, who, unbeknownst to him, really despise him, since he's an obnoxious boor and bore. However, they like sponging off of him. He dies at a ripe old age. Aristo is a pupil of Plato, who admires his virtue and intelligence. He enrolls in the Athenian army at 18 for two years of training. He is called up for military service in his mid-20s, and captured by a group of bandits. They torture him in order to get information about the defense of Athens. He refuses to break, and after several months, he dies in agony.

   Did Lenny have a happy life? Did Aristo? Explain what Socrates and Callicles would say about these two cases, and why. Then evaluate what they say about one of the two cases. Which (if either) is correct, and why?

2. Socrates says that he's one of the few Athenians to practice the 'true political craft' (Gorgias 521d). Explain why he says this, and relate it to his earlier distinction between knacks (like oratory and sophistry) and crafts. Also relate it to Socrates' description of what he does in the Apology and the depiction of him in action in the Euthyphro. Then either evaluate whether his distinction between knacks and crafts is correct, or whether he is right (given that distinction) that what he does can be called the 'true political craft.'
3. Why does Socrates say (in Phaedo 96b-99d) that the explanations given by the 'wisdom they call natural science' are inadequate? What sort of explanations would be more adequate, according to Socrates, and why? And then why does Socrates' turn from explanations in terms of final causes to those in terms of formal causes (and what are final and formal explanations)? NOW: answer either (A) or (B):
   1. Do you agree with Socrates that the explanations of 'natural science' (as Socrates uses the term) are inadequate in the case of (1) natural phenomena like the position of the earth, and (2) human action, like Socrates sitting and talking to his friends in prison? Why or why not?
   2. What do you think of Socrates' turn to explanations in terms of 'formal causes' (like the Beautiful, etc.)?

4. (NOTE: this one is a little more open-ended than the above!) In the Apology, Socrates says that he's wise insofar as he knows that he knows nothing, and the Euthyphro ends in aporia about what piety is. At least initially, the Phaedo seems quite different: in it, Socrates discourses about what true virtue is (as opposed to the bogus virtues of ordinary people), says that the Forms exist, and gives lengthy arguments to prove that the soul is immortal. So consider the following sorts of questions: are the positions Socrates adopts and the practices he engages in in the Phaedo inconsistent with the practices and positions (insofar as he has positions) depicted in the Apology and Euthyphro? Is what Socrates says and does in the Phaedo an intelligible extension or development of his practice in the Apology and Euthyphro? If they're inconsistent, which set of practices and positions (if either) is preferable, and why? If the Phaedo is a development from the Apology and Euthyphro, is it in a desirable direction (and why or why not)? (And with all of the above, you're free to pick and choose certain aspects: e.g., this part of the Phaedo is inconsistent, but that one isn't, this aspect is better, that one worse, etc.)

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