Our upcoming study of the ancient Greeks’ ideas of a “good society” gives us an opportunity to investigate the whole issue of what constitutes a “good society.”
The first thing we ought to do is come to an understanding of what justice
is.
Research what Plato and Aristotle, John Rawls and Robert Nozick had to say about
what justice is. Decide what you think justice is. Rawls says,
"justice is fairness." However, individuals in a society will disagree on
what is social fairness. The group has to decide what the
value system of their utopian society will be - to create their ideal
"good society."
We ought to investigate political thinkers who had ideas on the subject of what constitutes a “good society.” Research the ideas of Plato, Aristotle, Confucius, Thomas More, Jeremy Bentham, Karl Marx, John Kenneth Galbraith, Robert Nozick, Ayn Rand, Robert Bellah and John Rawls, among others.
Consider some of the following topics and issues in considering what you think a “good society” is; and how the society would handle local and world problems.
Liberty
Equality The Environment
Human Dignity Taxation
Individual Responsibility Healthcare
Education Foreign Policy
Social Justice International Human Rights
The
Economy
AIDS Pandemic
Distribution of Wealth
in Society
Senior Citizens
Raising Children And Other issues you might want to address
(A) After the group has done the above research, the group
collectively will write an essay that answers the
questions below. Each student - on the work he or she has done - will
contribute to the written paper. Each individual's work: 3 pages length, 12 point font, double-spaced.
1. What is your idea of what justice is? Explain.
2. Describe, in detail. the value system of your ideal society.
3. What is your idea of what a “good society” is? Explain.
4. How would your "good society" deal with some local, national and world
problems? Discuss.5. Is America a “good society”? Explain.
(B) Another component to the project is that each group will create a model of what they imagine their ideal society would look like physically and architecturally.
(C) Each group will present their ideas and work. Each individual in the group will give an oral presentation that covers his or her contribution to the total project work. The oral presentations should be about 5 minutes in length. The group should create a PowerPoint presentation or a website to assist and support the speakers' presentations.The research for the project will be done in school and at home.
Make sure you document your written work with footnotes or internal parentheses notations and include a Works Cited Page. You cannot “copy and paste.” Stay away from textbooks and encyclopedias when adding quoted materials to your paper.
Written work will be handed in: (Revision) Friday, January 3, 2003. Oral presentations will begin Friday, January 3, 2003.