Wednesday, September 11th

Today's Goals:
Analyze Thoreau's views on civil disobedience and what he believes the role of an individual is in creating a just society

Starter:
Trolley Car Dilemma Case #1
(Suppose you are the driver of a trolley car and your trolley car is hurtling down the track at 60 mph.  At the end of the track, you notice 5 workers working on the track. You try to stop but you can’t because your brakes don’t work.  You panic because you know, for sure, that if you crash into these workers, all 5 will die.  You feel helpless until you notice that off to the right is a side track and at the end of that track is just one worker working.  Your steering works so you know that if you turn right, you could avoid killing the five workers but certainly kill the one at the end of the track. What would you do?  Go straight ahead or turn right? These are the ONLY two choices.  Defend your reason.
(The trolley problem is a thought experiment in ethics, first introduced by Philippa Foot in 1967)

Agenda
1. Discuss Trolley Car Dilemma Case #1 and consider case #2
Trolley Car Case #2
This time you are not the driver, you are an onlooker standing on a bridge overlooking the track.  Down the track comes the trolley car, same situation is at hand.  Except, now, you’re not the driver and you REALLY feel helpless until you notice, standing next to you, leaning over the bridge, is a very large man.  And you could give him a slight shove and he would fall over the bridge, onto the track, right in the way of the trolley car, he would die, but he would spare the five.  Now.  How would you push the large man? Explain.

2. Discuss "Civil Disobedience"

• What does Thoreau want us to do as individuals?
  
• What does he want from the government?
• Thoreau believes that people must not participate in injustice, but we don't have to actively work to make the world better/more just.  What is the difference between these two ideas and do you agree?
• Are Thoreau's ideas of Civil Disobedience compatible with Democracy? 
• Why does Thoreau say that "the mass of men serve the state as machines?" (page 2, paragraph 5)
• Why might Thoreau be against materialism in light of his views of Civil Disobedience?  What does he fear happens to men who have money?  (page 5, paragraph 5)
• Where do you see transcendentalist ideals in this essay? (self-reliance?)

3. Act out pages 91-96 in TNTSJ and analyze the symbolism relating to Civil Disobedience and societal perspectives on the Mexican American War.  


4.  Read through my feedback on your TIB essay and complete the survey below with skills on which you want more instruction.


5.  Review Seminar Rubric and tomorrow's seminar groupings

6. Work time

• Finish the play and your annotations (you should have posted 4-5 of your annotations to edmodo)
• Individual Seminar Prep
• Honors: Project proposals