LitMUSE

As you have read, Norman Mailer, in his book Why Are We at War?, suggests that the real reason for America’s current war with Iraq is to build a global empire. He writes:
Behind the whole push to go to war with Iraq is the desire to have a huge military presence in the Middle East [...]

After reading Norman Mailer’s essay Why Are We at War?, pick a point (out of many that the book argues) that you either agree with or disagree with. Choose any point that he makes that you can argue for or against based on your own understanding and experience — you should not have to cite [...]

How do you see human achievements in computer technology affecting humanity in general? Do you consider technology a boon, something that should be pursued at any cost, or would you like to see limits put on the creation and use of new technologies? Read Bill Joy’s “Why the Future Doesn’t Need Us” and comment on [...]

An airliner is hijacked by terrorists who threaten to blow up the plane and all its passengers if your nation does not release from custody certain convicted criminals. If it was your responsibility to decide how your nation would respond, what would your decision be? Why? (Are there any basic moral principles involved in the [...]

“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, / Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” (Hamlet 1.5.175-6)
Throughout the entire recorded history of humankind, events have been reported that our best scientific minds could not explain. How do you tend to respond to reports of events such as encounters with ghosts, psychic phenomena, UFO [...]

In the beginning was the capitalist, but his ability to make a profit was dependent upon production, which meant that he needed workers. Many more people needed work than there were jobs available, so the owners did not have to pay much salary nor be at all concerned with the working conditions of their employees. [...]

Kate, a liberal and well-to-do holder of a graduate degree in social work, decides that she can do the most good in the social services department of a rural county in a southern state.
In a few years she has established relationships of trust with her clients. Now two of those clients are posing a problem [...]

What importance do you place on competition as a component of the growth of personality and character? Is it an essential experience which should be cultivated in children? Is it an experience which would not exist in a perfect world? Should there be competition in public schools such as band and chorus contests, spelling bees, [...]

Exercising a prerogative provided by law, President Carter endorsed a “Cuban boat lift” which flooded Florida with thousands of refugees — many of whom were already identified in Cuba as “undesirables.” The seldomly disputed result of this decision has been a significant undermining of health and economic conditions as well as jeopardizing the personal safety [...]

Thomas Hobbes claimed that survival is basic in nature and, therefore, should be primary as we consider our relationship to government. To the rhetorical question, “Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?” Hobbes would have responded: “Absolutely — everything is better than being [...]