Heidegger, “Memorial Address” ▪ Heidegger, “Conversation on a Country Path about Thinking” ▪ Orwell, 1984 ▪ McLuhan, excerpts from Understanding Media ▪ Plato, Euthyphro ▪ Plato, Apology ▪ Vaughn, The Power of Critical Thinking, chapter 5

  Assignment Structure:
Write a brief (not fewer than 3- nor more than 4-page, double spaced, intriguingly titled, formatted in
professional-looking 12-point font (like Times New Roman, Arial, Garamond, etc….no cutesy fonts,
please!) with one-inch margins and page numbers on all but the first page) paper that reflects the
current state of your critical thinking skills. The topic for your paper should fully treat the prompt
below. You may draw from any of the readings we will have completed by the time of the due date or
any of our class discussions. Use of external resources (i.e., any resource not specifically assigned
in this course including but not limited to commentaries and interpretations made by others
about the assigned texts…this includes the “Editor’s Introduction” to Discourse on Thinking,
which is not assigned because it is considering questions quite different from ours) is strictly
prohibited. In other words, I am interested in your (not someone else’s) grasp or interpretation of the
readings and ideas under discussion. If you do make use of any sources, whether you borrow ideas or
words, you are responsible for documenting those sources; use of any undocumented source (whether
authorized or not) will result in an immediate and irreversible “F” for the assignment. No late papers
will be accepted.
These are the only texts authorized for this assignment and you should use all of them:
▪ Heidegger, “Memorial Address”
▪ Heidegger, “Conversation on a Country Path about Thinking”
▪ Orwell, 1984
▪ McLuhan, excerpts from Understanding Media
▪ Plato, Euthyphro
▪ Plato, Apology
▪ Vaughn, The Power of Critical Thinking, chapter 5
You may, in addition, use some of the definitions found in the Vaughn textbook if you think it will help,
though I have no expectation that you will use any of that text (except for chapter 5) for this assignment.
Do notice that I did not include the “Translator’s Preface” or “Introduction” to Discourse on Thinking.
These will lead your efforts in the wrong direction, so avoid them. They were after all not even assigned.
Prompt:
Draw a comparison between the moment in the Apology where Socrates asks the jury to “pay no
attention to my manner of speech—be it better or worse—but to concentrate your attention on whether
what I say is just or not, for the excellence of a judge lies in this, as that of a speaker lies in telling the
truth,” (18a 2-5) and the demonstration that Heidegger provides of meditative thinking in the
“Conversation on a Country Path.” Explain what is going on in the conversation,
including waiting and that-which-regions. Are the participants in the “Conversation” exhibiting
“meditative thinking” as the term was defined in the “Memorial Address”? Think about what Socrates is
doing and then ask yourself, “What is the relationship between Heidegger’s manner of speech and the
justice (or truth, or accuracy) of that which his interlocutors are speaking?” What is the relationship
between Socrates’ manner of speech and the justice (or truth, or accuracy) of that which he says? Can the
packaging of the truth ever be removed from the truth? Looking at 1984 and at McLuhan’s famous claim
that “the medium is the message”, would you say that there is any danger involved in the notion that the
truth can be removed from its packaging? Is there any danger involved in believing that truth cannot be
removed from its packaging? If you’re paying close attention, you’ll find that your answer to these
questions will be complicated and will involve a nuanced, i.e., “gray area”, approach. Defend your reply
with short but pointed citations from both texts