The role of philosophy and philosophers in society

1. Pick two philosophers from the first half of the course: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Rousseau, Hume, Descartes, Nietzsche, Freud
2. Pick a philosophical topic or issue.You may want to start out by thinking about the two big course questions (what can we know? how should we live?), then pick a more precise area where you think your philosophers could productively disagree. Here are some examples to get you thinking:

True knowledge, how to achieve it
The role of philosophy and philosophers in society
God – who he is, why he is the way he is, how we can know him
Human nature
The role of reason
To what degree we can trust our senses
What constitutes the good life / human thriving
The nature and reliability of the human mind

1. Write a short (300-400 words) dialogue where your two philosophers discuss and debate the philosophical topic you’ve chosen.

Sample Solution