Each task force shall be divided into four sections: happiness, virtue, community, and law. The task force shall elect a chair and a secretary. The chair shall oversee the operations of the task force, and the secretary shall record all assignments, decisions, and agreements. Each task force member shall be assigned to one of the sections, no more than two to a section.
Each section has three sub-tasks: literary, philosophical, and practical. If two students are assigned to a section, one shall adopt the literary task, one the philosophical, and both cooperate on the practical task.
- Happiness
- The Literary Task
• Which characters are truly happy and fulfilled? Which are most miserable? What makes for the difference?
• Does the story suggest anything about human nature? About the relationship between our animal and our rational natures? About the religious or spiritual dimension of life?
• Do any of the characters find meaning in their lives? If so, what meaning? Are they wise or deluded in their understandings?
• Do any of the characters learn about the nature of true happiness and misery in the course of the story? If so, what do they learn, and how?
• Are some characters wiser in their approach to life than others? What are the sources of wisdom and of folly?
• What does the novel reveal about the conditions necessary for true happiness? Are these conditions internal, external, or both?
• Does the novel suggest that happiness is essentially universal, or does the nature of happiness vary from one character to the next? If it varies, what does it depend upon?
• Is happiness as portrayed in the novel essentially solitary or communal?
• What can we learn about happiness from the misery of characters? What are they missing, and why?
• Is some degree of happiness or fulfillment possible, no matter how adverse the circumstances are? Do any characters thrive in the face of determined and malicious opposition?
- The Philosophical Task
• Does the novel offer any implicit arguments or evidence in support of its conception of happiness? If so, what are they? How convincing are they? What are the best objections to them? Can these objections be overcome?
• Can the theses about happiness implicit the novel be defended on philosophical, scientific, or theological grounds? What is the best possible defense? What are the best arguments against these views? Which position is strongest?
- The Practical Task
• Devise specific strategies for re-orienting our lives toward true happiness, in light of the conclusions of the first two tasks. Limit to two or three very concrete, immediate, and specific steps that we can all take.
• What are some daily practices by which we can implement these strategies?
• What changes should we make in our way of deliberating about important decisions? Where do our priorities need adjusting?
• What habits of life do we need to break or to acquire? How can we do so?
• How can we help others in our sphere of influence to pursue fulfilment more wisely and effectively?
• Is there anything we can do to prepare ourselves for the possibility inhuman conditions in the future? What can we do to eke out some degree of happiness, should the world go mad?
- Some texts to consider
C. S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man
Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy, Book IV, Prose 2-6
Plato, The Republic, Book I (excerpts)
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Book I
Aquinas’s Treatise on Happiness (Summa Theologica I-II, Q1-5)
Immanuel Kant, Critique of Practical Reason (excerpts)
Christopher Kaczor, The Gospel of Happiness (UT Library online), chapters 1, 5, 7-9.
Mortimer Adler, Ten Philosophical Mistakes, chapter 6, “Happiness and Contentment”
Robert Nozick, “The Experience Machine,” from Anarchy, State and Utopia
Josef Pieper, Leisure: The Basis of Culture
Michael Sandel, Against Perfection
Leon Kass, Toward a More Natural Science, Chapter 1, “The New Biology”
Deonna and Teroni, “What Role for Emotions in Well-Being?”
- Virtue
- The Literary Task
• What virtues and vices do we see exemplified by characters in the novel? How are these character traits revealed in words and actions?
• Do any of the characters grow in virtue? How and why?
• Do any of the characters undergo moral decline? How and why?
• Are there any true friendships in the novel? Relations of mutual love, respect and trust? Do these relationships survive the trials and tests? Why or why not?
• Were there missed opportunities for the formation of friendship and mutual trust? If so, why were the opportunities missed?
• Do relationships in the novel contribute in any way to the moral strength of any of the characters? If so, how?
• Does the absence of friendship or trust contribute to the novel’s plot? What obstacles to the formation of friendships existed?
• Do any of the characters display notable wisdom or folly in any of their decisions? Courage or cowardice? Fairness or selfishness? Self-control or weakness of will?
Other virtues and vices: patience, humility, generosity, mercy, perseverance
- The Philosophical Task
• Does the novel offer any implicit arguments or evidence in support of its conception of virtue or friendship? If so, what are they? How convincing are they? What are the best objections to them? Can these objections be overcome?
• Can the theses about virtue and friendship implicit the novel be defended on philosophical, scientific, or theological grounds? What is the best possible defense? What are the best arguments against these views? Which position is strongest?
- The Practical Task
• Devise specific strategies for re-orienting our lives toward virtue and true friendship, in light of the conclusions of the first two tasks.
• What habits of life do we need to break or to acquire? How can we do so?
• How can we help others in our sphere of influence to acquire virtue and form better friendships?
• How can we make our friendships and family relationships more meaningful and more supportive of moral growth and development?
• Is it possible to build friendships that will endure under extremely adverse conditions? Can we steel our characters against future challenges? If so, what steps can we take to do so now?
- Some texts to consult
Plato, Republic, Books 4, 7
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Books 2, 3, 8
Anscombe, “Modern Moral Philosophy”
Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue
Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning (online at UT Library), pp. 17-59.
Nicholas Lasch, The Culture of Narcissism
- Culture, Economy, Technology, and Community
- The Literary Task
• How do technical and economic factors affect the characters’ prospects for happiness and virtuous living? Is the world of work and productivity fashioned with human flourishing mind, or is its organization indifferent or even hostile to individual happiness and genuine community? If so, how?
• What impact do particular technologies have on the lives of the characters? Are they neutral forces, or are they biased against happiness, friendship, or virtue? If so, how?
• Does the marketplace have any function in the society of the novel? How much of production and distribution are controlled by private or public bureaucracies? What is the driving force for economic and technical changes?
• What is the condition of marriage and family in the envisioned society? What are the attitudes of adults toward children and vice versa? How is procreation managed? Is it valued, and if so, how and by whom? Where is the primary responsibility for the rearing of children placed? Is family life and the propagation of new generations in a generally healthy state? If not, what is fundamentally wrong?
• What is the condition of religion in the novel’s society? Is it in a healthy state? If not, how and why not? Does the novel treat religion as something essentially and potentially good?
• How do people in the novel use their leisure time? What is the state of art, literature, and music? Do they contribute to genuine happiness, to moral development, or to the formation of genuine communities? What is the actual function of entertainment and recreation? Do people produce art and music, or are they merely passive consumers?
• Are the people depicted in the novel able and willing to form voluntary associations (clubs, societies)? Are these associations in a healthy condition? Do they contribute to happiness, virtue, and friendship? Why or why not?
• How are status and privilege organized in the society? Is authority exercised in a responsible way, for the common good? If not, why not? Do the structures and social hierarchies play any positive role in the novel? Could they?
- The Philosophical Task
• Does the novel offer any implicit arguments or evidence in support of its conception of culture, technology, and the economy? If so, what are they? How convincing are they? What are the best objections to them? Can these objections be overcome?
• Can the theses about culture, technology, and the economy implicit the novel be defended on philosophical, scientific, or theological grounds? What is the best possible defense? What are the best arguments against these views? Which position is strongest?
- The Practical Task
• Devise specific strategies for re-orienting our lives toward participation in better forms of culture, economy, technology, and family life, in light of the conclusions of the first two tasks.
• What habits of life do we need to break or to acquire in order to implement these strategies? How can we do so?
• Is it possible to resist the pressure to conform to the dominant models of technology and economic organization? If so, how, in concrete and practical ways?
• How can we help others in our sphere of influence to opt out of corrupting cultural and economic practices, and to opt into healthier ones? What steps can we take to organize alternative communities?
• How can we make our families, workplaces, places of worship, and voluntary associations more meaningful and more supportive of moral growth and development?
- Some texts to consult
Jacques Ellul, The Technological Society
E. F. Schumacher, Small is Beautiful
G. K. Chesterton, Life on the Land and Outline of Sanity
Wendell Berry, What are People For?
Robert Nisbet, The Quest for Community
Christopher Lasch, The Culture of Narcissism
Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death
- Law and Politics
- The Literary Task
• How is the law defined and enforced in the novel’s society?
• In what ways do the law and political institutions help or harm the pursuit of happiness, the development of virtue and friendship, and the formation of a healthy culture and economy?
• What does the novel tell us about the proper form and function of government?
• Why are the law and other political institutions in a state of disarray? What is the root cause or causes of the disorder?
• In the novel’s world, did the forces of nature and history make the political conditions in the novel inevitable? Was the evolution or devolution preventable? If so, how?
• What does the novel have to say about the right relationship between the individual and the larger community? Between private and public life? Between the political and the non-political?
• What philosophies or theologies are used in the novel to justify the power of the state? Does the novel implicitly indict these ideas?
• How important is the political dimension in the novel’s world? Can it be safely ignored or discounted?
- The Philosophical Task
• Does the novel offer any implicit arguments or evidence in support of its political or legal philosophy? If so, what are they? How convincing are they? What are the best objections to them? Can these objections be overcome?
• Can the theses about politics and the law implicit the novel be defended on philosophical, scientific, or theological grounds? What is the best possible defense? What are the best arguments against these views? Which position is strongest?
- The Practical Task
• Devise strategies for avoiding the creation of a totalitarian, oppressive state in our own country and region.
• What are some practical steps to take for implementing these strategies?
• How can we effectively communicate the need for diligent resistance to tyranny among those in our circle of influence? How do we fight complacency, apathy, and despair?
• How can we form effective coalitions for resisting tyranny, despite the many religious, cultural, and political issues that divide us?
• How do we resist the temptation of using power irresponsibly when it falls into our own hands, and those of our allies?
• What, if anything, can be done to resist the negative effects of tyranny and the surveillance state? Is it possible to remain off the grid and the “radar”? Can networks of trust and free communication be created and sustained under a worse case scenario of totalitarian control?
- Some texts to consult
Plato, The Republic, Book 8
Aristotle, Politics (Book I and VII)
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica I-II, Q90-96
James Burnham, The Managerial Revolution
Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France
John Stuart Mill, On Liberty (Chapter II)
Friedrich Hayek, “Why the Worst get on Top,” from The Road to Serfdom
Erik Voegelin, New Science of Politics
Pierre Manent, “The Return of Political Philosophy”
Alain Besançon, “Moral Destruction”
Chantal Delsol, “The Traces of a Wounded Animal”
Augusto Del Noce, The Crisis of Modernity (available online at UT Library)
