Term Paper 2: Nicomachean Ethics

Here's the link to your second term paper assignment. Let me know if you have questions as you're working on it, and have fun! (I know, I know.)

Your paper is due on Thursday, October 29. I'll give you the take-home midterm that Thursday, as well.

Discussion Questions

Please post a comment on one of the questions below. Post your answer by Saturday morning at 8 a.m.

Please respond to two of your colleagues by Tuesday morning at 8 a.m.

Make sure your answers are substantive and that you've given them plenty of thought, and elaborate on your answers. Good answers will be at least two generous paragraphs long.

1. Do you think Father Gabriel showed courage in the movie? What do you think made him courageous, or not? Do you think Father Rodrigo (Mendoza) showed courage? What do you think made him courageous?
2. Do you think violence is ever an appropriate response? Why or why not? What did you think about the divisions over the use of violence in response to the closing of the missions in the movie?
3. Do you think Cardinal Altamirano ought to have refused to carry out the terms of the treaty? What would it have accomplished? Does it matter that it wouldn't have stopped the closing of the missions? Why or why not?
4. The Waunana Indians of Columbia portrayed the Guarani in the film; rather than paying them individually for their roles, the director arranged to fund a trust for the entire village (the trust was used, in part, to lobby the government of Columbia for certain land rights for that group). Do you think that arrangement is at all problematic? Would you imagine Roland Joffe sugggesting that he fund a trust for the city of New York, in lieu of paying Robert DeNiro for his work?