Purpose: To clarify your way of looking at your life.

Audience: Classmates, Teacher, & World @ Large Subject: Philosophy of Life Structure: 1 page, 10 point bulleted list. Please examine your current philosophy of life. Socrates was willing to die rather than compromise his integrity. We will also be looking at how Hamlet views life. Is it OK to seek revenge in a crisis? When we get to read The Catcher in the Rye you will be introduced to Holden Caulfield. Holden feels that many of the adults in his life are phonies. What will you do in your life to prevent yourself from becoming a phony? A phony is a person who does things contrary to what they would assert in their philosophy of life. Potential thought provoking quotations: What I do speaks so loudly that what I say cannot be heard. How do you know what you are going to do until you do it? The answer is, you dont. I think I am, (going to apply myself in school) but how do I know? I swear its a stupid question. from The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, P. 213 Life is a game, boy. Life is a game that one plays according to the rules. Mr. Spencer to Holden, TCitR p. 6 The unexamined life is not worth living. Socrates We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be. from Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Please work together with your discussion groups to help clarify your thinking. Clear thinking leads to clear writing. Discussion and deliberation can help lead you to a better understanding of your response to the material. Please use the Word Action Belief formula for each bullet. Be prepared to use the pronoun I in the action and belief sentences. Your paper should be business edited (no proofreading errors). Feel free to ask your discussion group for editing and revision advice. All papers submitted should represent your best work. The paper will be due at the beginning of class on __________________. We will also be giving a short oral presentation on one aspect of your list on that day. Thank you.