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A Complete Summary of Essays on Western Intellectual Tradition & Critical Theory Today (Bachelor in Bhot Buddhist Studies BBBS 326 )

 

A Complete Summary of Essays on Western Intellectual Tradition & Critical Theory Today 

Part I: Essays on Western Intellectual Tradition

Chapter 1: THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN IDEAL SOCIETY

Chapter 2: COMPARISON OF THE MENTAL POWERS OF MAN AND THE LOWER ANIMALS

Chapter 3: THE HUMAN SCAPEGOAT IN ANCIENT GREECE

Chapter 4: EXPRESSIVENESS

Part II: Critical Theory Today (Literary Theories)

Chapter 1: PSYCHOANALYTIC CRITICISM

Chapter 2: STRUCTURALIST CRITICISM

Chapter 3: FEMINIST CRITICISM

Chapter 4: DECONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM

Part III: Questions to Practice 

  1. In Plato’s ideal society, women would flourish based on their nature rather than on their sex. Give an answer on the basis of “The Role of Women in Ideal Society”.
  2. Explain any two from Critical Theory Today.
    1. Deconstructive Criticism
    2. Feminist Criticism
    3. Structuralist Criticism
    4. Psychoanalytical Criticism
  3. Discuss some examples of homoopathic magic or scapegoating that you have observed in your culture or any culture that you have known. Why do you think that the phenomenon of scapegoating is found throughout history and across widely diverse cultures? Why is scapegoating so common? (James Frazer The Human Scapegoat in Ancient Greece)
  4. Interpret Feminism questioning the entire tradition of knowledge and culture as male construction ‘fabrication’ to exploit and misrepresent women.
  5. How does Daisy internalise the patriarchal values? Is she an unconscious victim of male ideology? Explain. 
  6. What does Socrates mean by nature talent and ‘natural aptitudes’? Is he implying that the differences are innate or socially constructed? Explain. (The Role of Women in Ideal Society)
  7. How does Daisy internalise the patriarchal values? Is she an unconscious victim of male ideology? Explain.
  8. Define Structuralism and show its relevancy in literary interpretation.
  9. Define French and Multicultural Feminism and discuss the relationship between them.
  10. Discuss the relationship between gender studies and feminism. 
  11. What do you mean by ideology? How does it affect literature?
  12. In Plato’s ideal society, women would flourish based on their nature rather than on their sex. Give an answer on the basis of The Role of Women in Ideal Society. 
  13. Susan Langer accepts that language is essential for thinking and for knowing things. Do you think this assertion is true? Explain. 
  14. While talking about the differences between men and women Socrates brings the concept of ‘nature talent’ and ‘nature aptitudes’. Is he implying that the differences are innate or socially constructed?
  15. Darwin describes a hierarchy of mental powers, ranging from “lower emotions” to “higher” forms of reasoning. How does this particular hierarchy reflect Darwin’s general theory of evaluation? Explain. (Comparison of Man and The Powers of Man and the Lower Animals)
  16. Interpret the following text using one of the given literary theories:
    Feminism, Structuralism, Psychoanalytical Criticism
    A Slumber did my Spirit Seal (William Wordsworth)
    A Slumber did My Spirit Seal
    I had no human ears
    She seemed a thing that could not feel
    The touch of earthly years
    No motion has she now, no force;
    She neither hears nor sees:
    Rolled a round in earth’s diurnal course,
    With rocks, and stones, and trees. 
  17. Interpret the following text using one of the given literary theories:
    Feminism, Deconstruction, Psychoanalytical Criticism
    The Sick Rose (William Blake)
    O Rose, thou art sick
    The invisible worm
    That flies in the night
    In the howling storm
    Has found out thy bed
    Of crimson joy
    And his dark secret love
    Does thy life Destroy
  18. What is ‘self-expression’ in the view of Susan Langer and how is it related to ‘art’? (Expressiveness)
  19. What are the rhetorical strategies used by Plato in the essay, The Role of women in the Ideal Society?
  20. How does Susanne K. Langer define form? Briefly explain dynamic form, logical form, expressive form and symbolic form with reference to Langer’s essay Expressiveness.
  21. Sir Frazer concludes that scapegoating, is practised with a specific mission, ultimately it is nothing but the search for power or search of the support of a superpower. Elaborate your answer with specific examples that prevailed in our society.
  22. According to James Frazer, the phenomenon of scapegoating is found throughout history and practised in diverse cultures. Why is scapegoating so common? Give suitable reasons from “The Human Scapegoat in Ancient Greece.”
  23. Susanne Langer accepts that language is essential for thinking and for knowing things. Do you think the assertion is true? Explain.
  24. In what sense does Plato think that women are not equal to men? Elaborate your answer with examples.
  25. What is Sussane K. Langer’s definition of Art? What are the analogies used by Langer in her essay Expressiveness?
  26. In psychological terms, the scapegoat is the person or group of people that is singled out, often unwittingly, and the unwanted or undesirable feeling of that person or group is projected upon the “other”. As is the ancient custom, this other person or group becomes then the carrier of the unwanted ills for the entire tribe, country, cultural group etc. Elaborate this statement. 
  27. Evaluate Darwin’s argument that humans share with animals many emotional and mental powers using a family pet as your evidence. (Comparison of Man and the Powers of Man and the Lower Animals)
  28. What is the theory of deconstruction? Elaborate your answer with an example.
  29. “Dreams do have an underlying meaning. By means of dream images and different feelings are manifested.” What are dreams and dreams symbols elaborated on by psychoanalytic critics?


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