Fear, Faith and Freedom:
[Provide Your
Own Sub-title]
Fear kills. Fear makes people ugly. Fear turns us small. Fear, in short,
is a contraction of the soul. Fear as part of the animal instinct of self-preservation
directs as well as limits most of human behaviours: the fear of loss of
security—one’s life, family, status, self-image, identity, job, love, etc—is
often the socio-psychological motivation behind one’s decisions and actions,
whether one-off or repeated. Classical leaders, thinkers and writers including
religious prophets grappled with this issue of fear that overshadows the
foundation of ethical, political and religious beliefs and lifestyles.
What is fear’s relation to faith and freedom? Are those two moral values
merely or primarily a reaction against fear? Or do faith and freedom have
positive values of their own? Fearless faith and freedom? If so, where does
fearlessness come from? How does one, in life, transcend fear that is part of
life? But is fear, after all, such a negative emotion? Are we all just
terrified animals trapped in numbered caves and moving capsules? Does not the
fear or concern for other sentient
beings, for instance, enable us to live a dignified life? Does it not form, in
a sense, the basis of a good life? If so, in what sense? Am I too fat? Are you
insured enough? Is he lying? Is she doing alright? Am I hurting this little
sheep? Are we free? A beautiful world out there: where is it? Traditionally,
such questions, fuelled and inspired by fear, agitate the “beautiful soul,” a
dialectical being who thinks in and against time.
With such series of questions in mind study at least four out of the following six texts including Kierkegaard’s Eulogy on Abraham and cite all of
them in your essay: in other words, Kierkegaard will be the 4th
thinker you are to write about. An extra credit will be given to an essay that
studies all six figures and does
well.
1 Primary Texts
1. The Jewish Bible
[R139-155]
2.
3. Qur’an [R 192-198]
4. Epicurus, “Letter
to Menoeceus” [R 98-101]
5. Aurelius,
Selections from Meditations [R
132-138]
6. Kierkegaard,
“Eulogy on Abraham” in Fear and trembling:
Repetition [Netlibrary; or a print copy on reserve (BR100
.K500 1983)]
1 Secondary Texts: Use at least two external
sources, either electronic text or printed material – find them on your own.
Fear not; reflective study will guide you.
Cf. If further interested, see “Kierkegaard”
entry in: REF CB415 .E533 2005
Title: Encyclopedia of nineteenth-century thought / edited
by Gregory Claeys. Publication info:
1 Task
And answer the following questions:
1. Summarise or infer
the views of each text relevant to
the introductory questions above: what do they say about human fear, faith and freedom?
Or, if a direct answer is hard to find, what by implication can they say about them? Thou shall not
just mechanically summarise each reading in the style of the Cliff/Spark Notes.
But rather, you must actively infer from each reading the answers you are
looking for. In other words, the focus of reading or questions must come from
you, the active reader. Analyse each text like a detective in search of clues,
leads and evidence.
2. Evaluate the
soundness or reasonableness of those different views by using your own
intelligent (i.e., well-considered and well-justified) thoughts on this matter;
if the strict ranking/categorizing is impossible, show in well-organised
writing the process of your study and reflection.
3. Conclude your
thoughts by articulating a personal, critical position on the issue; towards
the end of your essay, you must be able to come up with a set of propositions
(concise and complete sentences that show the key thesis, cf. examples above in
Dr. Lee’s opening paragraphs) regarding the relationship between fear, faith
and freedom. If you happen to support any of the views offered by the five
authors, explain why.
1 Length: double-spaced; five pages (minimum) to seven
pages (maximum).
1 Citation style: MLA or Chicago;
whichever style you adopt, be consistent.
o
Web-citation: provide the URL address, except when you
are quoting the primary text.
1 Evaluation Criteria: see the evaluation
rubric
o
NB: Be creative by all means, but be so in addition to
being faithful to the instructions; your originality has to be expressed within
the formalized parameters of requirements. If you cannot make up your mind about
the answer you will be giving (“yes or no, this or that”), what you can do is
to show, clearly, the process of your
logical, critical and analytic thinking.
o
You cannot get an A-level grade on this assignment, however
brilliant your thoughts are, without fulfilling the stated minimal criteria
concerning the use of quotations: you MUST show that you have done a reading of both the primary and the
secondary texts.
o
Deadline: extremely firm; you lose one grade point for
the paper per day missed.