Reference no: EM132625703

Question 1: Explain the concept of Socratic wisdom in your own words. You may want to include a brief quote or two. Explain to your reader that you'll be applying the concept of Socratic wisdom to 2 specific issues regarding capital punishment

Question 2: In about 4-6 sentences, briefly explain your initial assumptions about the first issue you have chosen (of the four listed), and the reasoning behind your assumptions. Simply be honest in your statement of your initial assumptions; you are not being graded on how accurate your assumptions were. However, I will expect to see some thoughtful reasoning to explain your assumptions. Place your assumptions within the context of typical American assumptions about the issue; you can do a little quick research to check that, if needed. If you've already done research on one or both of the issues, for example in another course, you could explain what your assumptions were prior to your research.

Question 3: In about 4-6 sentences, briefly explain your initial assumptions about the second issue you have chosen (of the four listed), and the reasoning behind your assumptions. Place your assumptions within the context of typical American assumptions about the issue; you can do a little quick research to check that, if needed.

Question 4:  In a longer paragraph, explain the facts you have discovered in your research regarding the first issue you have chosen (the same issue you discussed in the first paragraph). Just the facts-at this point, I don't want to hear any reactions or comparisons to your initial assumptions. Work on putting things in your own words to demonstrate your understanding of the material. Use no more than about 10% quotes in the entire paper. Be sure to use quotation marks when taking more than 3 words in a row from the text or any source (unless it's the name of something, such as The United States Supreme Court).

Question 5: In another longer paragraph, explain the facts you have discovered in your research regarding the second issue you have chosen (the same issue you discussed in the second paragraph). Again, work on putting things in your own words.

Question 6: Give your personal reaction to your research and compare the facts to your initial assumptions. Discuss any surprises and the reason why any facts turned out to be different than what you expected. You may also discuss whether the results reflect typical American assumptions regarding the controversy. Explain the importance of checking for facts and avoiding assumptions and bias; for example, what is at stake if individuals and policy-makers vote or make laws based on their unresearched personal biases, or if they only look for data that supports their own pre-conceptions?

Question 7: In your longer final paragraph, move away from the capital punishment debate. Discuss the importance of checking the facts in an unbiased way when it comes to moral, social and political controversies in general. Discuss this in the context of a single current controversy that is NOT related to capital punishment, such as the handling of the covid-19 crisis, the climate crisis, racial justice (apart from the death penalty), economic justice, or gun control. The end of this paragraph will wrap up your findings in the paper regarding assumptions, bias and fact-checking. Use a strong closing sentence, perhaps relating your findings back to the concept of Socratic wisdom.