2. AGENDA
Essay #1: Due Friday before noon.
Send it via Kaizena in MLA format
Teams
Discussion: Lao-Tzu "Thoughts from the Tao-te Ching”
(19-31).
Bio
Rhetorical Strategies
Questions for Critical Reading
Introduce Essay #2: GOVERNMENT
Suggestions for Writing: Group discussion
Vocabulary
3. Essay Submissions
All out of class essays are to be submitted to me
electronically before the class period in which they are due.
1. Before you submit your essay, please save
your file as your last name and the number 2,
like this: Smith 2. This will help me keep your
essays organized.
Smith 2
4. 2. Submit your essay through Kaizena at
https://kaizena.com/palmoreessaysubmissi
ongmail. Or simply use the link on our class
website home page.
This system allows me to respond to your essay with both voice and
written comments and to insert helpful links.
5. 3. Sign in to your
Google Account,
and allow Kaizena
access to your Google
Drive.
6. 4. Click on the “Ask Dr. Kim Palmore for feedback” link.
7. 5. Choose your document* from your Google
Drive. You will be directed to a new page to
choose a delivery box from a drop down menu.
* Your document must be saved as a Google doc or Kaizena
won’t be able to find it!
8. 6. Add your essay to the appropriate EWRT 2 box
(Essay #1) from the drop down menu. Then,
click the “Ask for feedback” button again.
9. 7. Once I have graded your paper, Kaizena will
automatically email you and share with you the link to
the Google document in the comments section —
located on the top-right corner of the Google
document.
Then you will get the box pictured below. Clicking the link
will take you to your graded paper.
10. 8. Click on the highlighted sections of the paper to
find both audio and written comments concerning
your essay and links to materials that will help you
improve your writing.
11. Teams: If you are not sitting with your new team, please
move. If you are not on a new team, please stand.
1. You must change
at least half of
your team after
each essay.
2. You may never
have a new team
composed of
more than 50%
of any prior
team.
3. Please join a
table; remember,
no more than
four people per
team.
12. The second essay consists of three class
discussions: Lao-Tzu; Machiavelli, and
the application of the two philosophers’
ideas to A Game of Thrones.
15. Three Lao Tzus?
The first Lao Tzu was a man named Li Erh
or Li Tan, who came from the village of
Ch'üjen in the southern Chinese state of
Ch'u. Li Erh served as historian in charge of
the official records in the Chinese imperial
capital of Loyang. He was a peer of the
famous Chinese philosopher Confucius
(551–479 B.C.E. ), and he is reported to
have given an interview to Confucius
when he came to Loyang seeking
information on the Chou ritual.
16. Another man identified as the
.
founder of Taoism was Lao Lai
Tzu, who also came from Ch'u.
He is said to be a person of
the same age as Confucius
and is credited with a fifteen-chapter
book explaining the
teachings of the Taoist school.
Nothing more is known about
the second Lao Tzu
According to a third
account, the original Lao
Tzu lived 129 years after the
death of Confucius. This
man went by the name of
Tan, the historian of Chou.
17. Actually, it is impossible to prove the historical
accuracy of any of these accounts. Lao Tzu is not
really a person's name and is only a
complimentary name meaning roughly "old man."
It was common in this period to refer to respected
philosophers and teachers with words meaning
"old" or "mature." It is possible that a man who
assumed the pseudonym Lao Tzu was a historical
person, but the term Lao Tzu also was used as a
substitute title to the supreme Taoist classic, Tao te
ching (Classic of the Way and the Power).
19. Examples of rhetorical
strategies
Format: resembles poetry, which suggests that
the reader must read metaphorically as well as
literally.
Aphorism (A compressed statement weighty with
meaning).
Paradox (a self-contradictory statement): forces
the reader to consider several sides of an issue.
The resulting confusion yields a wider range of
possibilities than would arise from a self-evident
statement. (It encourages critical analysis).
20. Meet with your teams for 5-7 minutes to discuss
“Questions for Critical Reading” and your QHQs before
we answer them together.
21.
22. 1. To what extent does Lao-tzu
concern himself with individual
happiness?
1. How would you describe Lao-tzu’s
attitude toward the people?
29. Q: What does Lao-
Tzu imply in verse 3
when he states that
“The Master leads by
emptying people’s
mind and filling their
cores”?
Q: How will
practicing “not-doing”
help
everything fall into
place? See Verse 3.
30. Q. Why does the
Master want us to
take a neutral
stance from verse
9?
31. Q: Why does Lao-tzu think
the world cannot be
improved?
Q – Can we truly improve
the world?
Q: What made Lao-Tzu
sure that a principally
hands-off government
would work best to bring
peace?
32. In verse 31 (para. 19-20),
what does Lao-tzu think
about how people use
weapons for themselves?
Q: Why does man always
want to prove they are
powerful, by using
Violence?
Lao-tzu states that
“Weapons are the tools of
violence; all decent men
detest them.” If people
detest them then why are
they constantly using
them for violence?
33. 45-46
Center your country
in the Tao
and evil will have no
power.
Not that it isn’t there,
but you’ll be able to
step out of its way.
Give evil nothing to
oppose
and it will disappear
by itself.
If Lao-tzu’s teachings
were put into
practice, would the
country be peaceful,
be able to prosper,
and survive long?
Q: How does one
“become one” with
Tao?
34. Q: What does Lao-tzu
mean when he says
“All streams flow to the
sea because it is lower
than they are”?
Q: From verse 54, Lao-
Tzu says that if we want
to govern people then
we must put ourselves
in their position, would
this work or will it
backfire?
35. Q: Verse 80 talks about how
“even though the next
country is so close that
people can hear its roosters
crowing and its dogs barking,
they are content to die of old
age without ever having seen
it. This verse seems to
discourage travel, but travel
gives people a greater
understanding of the world
and sets people up to
become more open minded.
Why would Lao-tzu
discourage travel?
36. Q: Despite Master’s trust in
people, is Master’s
inclination to be militarily
passive justified?
38. Essay #2: GOVERNMENT
Essay #2 will be in response to either the excerpt
from Lao-Tzu, Machiavelli, or both.
Choose your topic from "Suggestions for Writing"
on pages 32-33, prompts 1-6, or on pages 50-51
prompts 1-5.
It should be a least two pages long but not longer
than three pages (excluding a works cited page).
It should be formatted MLA style.
It is due next Friday before noon.
39. • Meet in your teams to
discuss prompt questions 1-6.
• If we don’t finish this in class,
please do so on your own at
home.
Essay #2
Suggestions for Writing
Pages 32-33
Divide up the
“Questions for Critical
Reading” for
Machiavelli on page
50
41. Vocabulary
Ad hominem: "against the man"; attacking the arguer
rather than the argument or issue.
Appeal to tradition: a proposal that something should
continue because it has traditionally existed or been
done that way.
Argument: a process of reasoning and advancing proof
about issues on which conflicting views may be held;
also, a statement or statements providing support for a
claim.
Authority: a respectable, reliable source of evidence.
42. Begging the question: the arguer proves his conclusion
while assuming it to already be true. The premise for his
argument is based on the truth of his conclusion. In
other words, the argument assumes to be true what it is
supposed to be proving.
Claim: the conclusion of an argument; what the arguer
is trying to prove.
Credibility: the audience's belief in the arguer's
trustworthiness
Deduction: reasoning by which we establish that a
conclusion must be true because the statements on
which it is based are true
43. Ethos: the qualities of character, intelligence, and goodwill in
an argument that contribute to an audience's acceptance of
the claim.
Euphemism: a pleasant or flattering expression used in place of
one that is less agreeable but possibly more accurate.
Evidence: facts or opinions that support an issue or claim; may
consist of statistics, reports of personal experience, or views of
experts.
Fallacy: an error of reasoning based on faulty use of evidence
or incorrect inference.
False analogy: assuming without sufficient proof that if objects
or processes are similar in some ways, then they are similar in
other ways as well;
44. Homework
Read A World of Ideas: Government: Machiavelli "The
Qualities of the Prince” pages 35-50
Post #19 Questions (TBD based on teams) for Critical
Reading : (page 50)
Post #20 QHQ Machiavelli
Study Vocabulary (Test class 12)
Consider Essay #2: Which of the prompts about Lao-Tzu
would you choose?
