What does WORK mean?.
I am writing to you today, and presenting materials to you, in the hope that you
will start working on your two required Essays. You may ask: What does WORK
mean? To me, and I hope for you, it means, first, weeks of thinking and then
planning. This is necessary in order to complete an essay that you will be proud of
and from which I will learn. Yes, I am here to learn from you. And that is why I
want you to write Essays and, also, learning from you is what I look forward to on
the final examination.
But, first, what IS a suitable essay for this course? And here I quote
from our syllabus:
The Formal Essays:
The formal essays in this course are neither book reports nor research papers. Rather, the
essays are demonstrations of the student’s understanding of how TWO minds have
worked on an idea, problem, perspective, or goal. The essays are designed to enable you
to demonstrate your expertise in asking and answering questions using the techniques that
you have learned in this course. In sum, the essays are selfdirected inquiries. They are
intended to be a presentation of the results of an investigation by you. The length of each
essay is four pages. TO RECEIVE A SATISFACTORY GRADE FOR THIS COURSE,
ALL ESSAYS AND WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS MUST BE COMPLETEDAND
WITH A SATISFACTORY GRADE. TO REPEAT: IF YOU FAIL TO COMPLETE
ALL THE REQUIRED WORK FOR THIS COURSE, YOU WILL RECEIVE A
FAILING FINAL GRADE.
Time is a fundamental obstacle, as always, in carrying out any hope or
plan. So the key hint I can give you is: start now. And what should you be doing
right away? Look again at my Code of Socrates. Despite its highsounding title,
this page is nothing more than the sequence of questions that you must ask and
then answer in order to really “know” anything. This page is, in essence, an
answer to all the years in elementary and high school when reading and
“knowing” meant
