UNIT 2: PERSPECTIVES: Discussion Questions #1 Confucius: In Analects 2.5, 3.11, and 10.

7 8, is Confucius stressing the importance of following the actual ritual or the inner attitude one attains through following it? Analects 8.2 is a good saying to look at carefully in discussing the meaning of li. What examples from life can you think of that could illustrate the shading of difference between caution and timidity, and so on? Judging from the selections in the book, is li better understood as ritual or as an internal quality? In what way are both of these meanings involved in the full understanding of Confucius s concept of li? #2 Confucius: Analects 6.28 suggests that Confucius s guidelines for conduct could be compared with the Golden Rule of Christianity. How do the two notions resemble each other? How do they differ? #3 Confucius: Vclav Havel, playwright and former president of the Czech Republic, has remarked that Confucius described what it means to wield genuine authority. His standards have very little in common with those who rule today by the whip. For Confucius, authority whether for the father of a family or the ruler of a state is a metaphysically anchored gift whose strength derives from heightened responsibility, not from the might of the instruments of power that the ruler may wield. Think of the world politics of the past hundred years: Soviet totalitarianism, the Nazi Blitzkrieg, the many small dictatorships of terror (how many of them have survived?), the constant threat of military destruction. Can you think of any examples of any political leaders having wielded true authority as Havel describes it? What would Confucius s comment be on the world of today? #4 Dao de Jing: The first line of chapter 20 is believed to originally be the last line of chapter 19. Many scholars print it in both places, since it is difficult to be sure where it belongs. Based on careful reading of chapters 19 and 20, and on the conclusions of these chapters, where do you believe this line, Give up learning, and put an end to your troubles, belongs? #5 Dao de Jing: What are the different forms in which dao is presented? How is it personified? #6 Dao de Jing: How does Laozi contend with the difficulties and limitations of language? What does he identify as the problems of language? #7 How are the teachings of Buddha and Confucius similar? Do they have similar goals? #8 Upanishads: Radhakrishnan has said of the Upanishads, They give us knowledge as a means to spiritual freedom. Discuss the idea of freedom as it emerges in the Upanishads. What are its characteristics? From what and for what is it? #9 Aeneid: What does Aeneas really think about Dido? Does he love her? Why or why not? #10 Aeneid: Think about the issue of gender in Book 4 of The Aeneid. What generalizations can be made about the female characters, both human and divine, in the poem? The charge of sexism is frequently made against Virgil. Based on your reading, do you think this is this justified? Why or why not? #11 Aeneid: Think of a character from literature or contemporary popular culture who, while heroic in some ways, is undermined and imperfect in a way similar to Aeneas. Challenge yourself to find the closest fit, and defend your comparison.

#12 Catullus: What are the main themes of Catullus s poetry? How would you describe his emotions? Is he angry, sad, passionate, or a combination? What are the words that tell you this? #13 Catullus: What are the different roles of the sparrow? How does Catullus really feel about the sparrow in the sparrow poems? How do his emotions turn on the sparrow? #14 Catullus: The pain of being in love can be as sharp as the pain of being rejected in love. Compare poems 51, 76, and 85. How have the physical symptoms changed? Who does each of the poems address? Why? What might that say about the author? #15 What are the differences between Catullus s version (poem 51) of Sappho s poem He is more than a hero (p. 796) and the original? #16 Catullus: At the end of poem 11, Catullus speaks of a plow that knocks over a flower. Who is the flower, and who is the plow? Compare this poem with Sappho s Lament for a Maidenhead (p. 795). #17 Catullus: Compare and contrast the themes and emotions, in particular the physical manifestation of love, in Egyptian Love Poems (p. 121) with Catullus s love poetry. #18 Medea: Unlike other plays where the gods make themselves present by either being on stage or by bringing on plagues or other disasters, in Medea, the gods are curiously absent. In the final scene, Medea appears from the top of the skene (above the stage, over the backdrop), where gods should traditionally appear. What is the meaning or significance of this? What does this imply about the condition in which Medea finds herself? What gods, if any, are appealed to and why? #19 Medea: In one of the odes (p. 1015), the chorus describes how power was taken from women and now returns to women. They also see the princess of Corinth as someone who possesses power over Jason. Elsewhere, the nurse also claims that Jason is a prisoner of the princess s bed (l. 128). How is the princess granted power throughout the play? In what ways is she seen to be someone who is powerful? Over whom does she hold this power? #20 Medea: Much of Medea is concerned with oratory and being clever at speaking. During the same period of time, a group of philosophers known as the Sophists (who were not from Athens) offered lessons in how to speak cleverly. In the Athenian legal system, where one could be constantly sued by any Athenian citizen, it was useful to know how to speak cleverly. What tricks of speech are used by Medea and Jason? How can we tell that they are involved in an oratorical contest? #21 Sappho: What are Sappho s feelings about motherhood? What kind of mother does she think she is? In Don t ask me what to wear, how does she compare the relationship between her and her daughter with that between her and her mother? #22 Sappho: Sappho often compares things to plants. What are the characteristics she uses most? What is particular about plants and nature that makes her think of love?