Personal Vision of a Life Worth Living—Summative Essay: Assignment 3

The summative assessment for this module is a single essay of up to 1,000 words outlining your personal vision of a life worth living in dialogue with at least two of the traditions studied in the module. The aim of this essay is for you to outline the normative ideas and commitments that are central to your current vision of a flourishing life in conversation with aspects of the traditions across history that we have explored in this module.

This essay discusses your normative commitments. It is a first person discourse, a discussion of what you think, believe, and feel about what makes for a life worth living. This essay is not just a description of the historical context from where a tradition came from—though it should include some material to that effect. Neither is it merely a description of key ideas from a tradition, though it should definitely include discussion of those ideas as well. It is not even only a critical analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of a tradition, or why it might be found satisfactory or unsatisfactory by someone, though this sort of analysis will be not merely relevant, but certainly part of an accomplished essay. You should not simply explain what you think are the limitations of Nietzsche’s ideas, for instance explaining why his attitude to moral metamorphosis is a product of its historical circumstances and not entirely adequate to yours. You could however, outline how the idea of the eternal return has helped clarify your own position, offering your critique of its content and then discussing why you have adopted a different approach in your vision of a flourishing life.

This is an academic essay, so it will require you to engage with primary and secondary literature and to reference it appropriately. The aim is for you to locate your ideas in the longue durée of discussion on the topic. Where your ideas resemble traditions we have studied—even if they have not derived directly from them—indicate those connections, citing specific texts that highlight them. Where your ideas constitute a refutation of important views we have studied, make this clear too. And, if you have chosen to adopt part of one of the traditions covered this term, explain why and point to the socio-historical context, primary texts, and secondary source discussions of both that have been instrumental in you reaching this conclusion.

The essay should also indicate your capability to apply the various analytical concepts we will develop in the module. Recall these guiding questions:

1. To whom or what are we responsible for living our lives a certain way?
2. What is a human being and what is their place in the world?
3. What does it mean for life: a) to feel good (affective), b) to go well (circumstantial), c) to be led well (agential)?
4. What is the role of suffering in a good life?
5. What should we do when we fail to live a good life?

The best essays will not only be able to articulate the personal vision, and to locate it within the longue durée, but also to employ these analytical questions and critical concepts to define their content.