week four informal essay 400-500 words

This is a required assignment.

Week Four: Weekly Russell Round Up/Commentary

After completing this week’s assigned chapters of Russell’s The Problems of Philosophy as well as the other required readings for this week, first, summarize what you learned from reading Russell this week. Then, your main goal in this assignment beyond the summary is to tie together any theories, themes, concepts, important ideas, arguments, important observations, etc. you discover in Russell’s work and the particular philosophical views and the general content covered in the other readings. For example, in Week Four, you will be summarizing Chapters XIII-XV in The Problems of Philosophy, and then you will look for how what he says there links up with, adds to, or even conflicts with the philosophical views and ideas of James, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche. Chapter XV will likely be the focus of the comparative part of your commentary. Please take a moment to review the complete Russell Round Up Guidelines before completing this assignment.

This brief, informal essay should be in the 400-500-word range.

Here are the required reading assignments to be completed this week: 

· Russell, 

The Problems of Philosophy  : Chapters XIII-XV [ Russell, Bertrand.The Problems of Philosophy, pp. 68-81]. The entire work can be found online here: Bertrand Russell, The Problems of Philosophy.

. Study Guide: SparkNotes on Russell's Problems of Philosophy: 

Chapter XIII ; 

Chapter XIV ; 

Chapter XV .

· God Arguments: 

Four Classical Arguments for God's Existence  ; Brief Outline: 

Traditional Arguments for the Existence of God  .

. Study Guide: 

"Critics of Religion" (PowerPoint slide lecture).

· James, 

"The Will to Believe"  (entire). [Read the originally published article here: William James, "

The Will to Believe.  "]

. Study Guide: 

Brief Outline of James's "Will to Believe." .

. Study Guide: Read the original 1877 article to which James is responding in "The Will to Believe," entitled, 

"The Ethics of Belief, " by William Clifford.

· Kierkegaard,

 Fear and Trembling  (entire), pp. 1-61.

. Study Guide: 

Themes, Arguments, and Ideas in Kierkegaard's Writings (from SparkNotes).

· Nietzsche,  

Beyond Good and Evil  , Preface, Parts 1, 2, & 3: [§1-62] pp. 3-57.

. Study Guide: 

SparkNotes on Beyond Good and Evil . (Note: These notes cover the entire book; the section that relates to your specific assignment can be found on pp. 1-12; these notes will be very helpful in understanding Nietzsche's thinking, especially for those new to his work.).

. Recent Interview with Nietzsche scholar, Hugo Drochon: "

What Nietzsche's Philosophy Can Tell Us about Why Brexit and Trump Won ."

For general research on any philosophical topic, theme, or major philosopher, here are two excellent online sources:

· Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

· Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy