ESSAYS - POLI 300/PHIL 330
FINAL exam questions and
answers
ESSAY 1:
The word democracy means "rule of the people." Many of the
theorists we have read this semester are optimistic that ordinary
citizens are capable of ruling well. For example, Jefferson writes: "I
am not among those who fear the people. They, and not the rich,
are our dependence for continued freedom." Similarly, in his funeral
oration, Pericles celebrates the greatness of Athenian citizens, who
decide for themselves "what is to be done" in the polis. And we have
seen many theorists recommend different conceptions of civic
(citizen) virtue: Aristotle's conception of excellence; Gutmann and
Thompson's conception of reciprocity; Rousseau's orientation
toward a "general will" and so on. These thinkers are recommending
these virtues not only because they find them attractive but also
because they believe they are possible to develop.
But there is also another, less optimistic strain of thinking about the
role - answer
ESSAY 2:
In democracy, the people are said to rule, but are there limits to
what the people can do? For many democratic thinkers throughout
history, democracy is just as dependent on accidental structural
conditions as it is on the "will of the people." Most often, observers
of democracy have noted important relationships between economic
conditions and democratic institutions. For example, it is a kind of
truism today that, in Samuel Huntington's words, "Economic
development makes democracy possible." In other words, absent a
specific kind of economic structure, the persistence and even the
existence of democracy becomes very unlikely. One especially
important aspect of economic development concerns the
FINAL exam questions and
answers
ESSAY 1:
The word democracy means "rule of the people." Many of the
theorists we have read this semester are optimistic that ordinary
citizens are capable of ruling well. For example, Jefferson writes: "I
am not among those who fear the people. They, and not the rich,
are our dependence for continued freedom." Similarly, in his funeral
oration, Pericles celebrates the greatness of Athenian citizens, who
decide for themselves "what is to be done" in the polis. And we have
seen many theorists recommend different conceptions of civic
(citizen) virtue: Aristotle's conception of excellence; Gutmann and
Thompson's conception of reciprocity; Rousseau's orientation
toward a "general will" and so on. These thinkers are recommending
these virtues not only because they find them attractive but also
because they believe they are possible to develop.
But there is also another, less optimistic strain of thinking about the
role - answer
ESSAY 2:
In democracy, the people are said to rule, but are there limits to
what the people can do? For many democratic thinkers throughout
history, democracy is just as dependent on accidental structural
conditions as it is on the "will of the people." Most often, observers
of democracy have noted important relationships between economic
conditions and democratic institutions. For example, it is a kind of
truism today that, in Samuel Huntington's words, "Economic
development makes democracy possible." In other words, absent a
specific kind of economic structure, the persistence and even the
existence of democracy becomes very unlikely. One especially
important aspect of economic development concerns the
