ENG102/ Mlady

March 21, 2011

Assignment #3.1: Reading Pinker

Our focus of study for the next unit is a New York Times article by Steven Pinker entitled “The Moral Instinct.” The text is now available on the Resources section of the class website in PDF format. Please download and print the file right away. If you run into any problems accessing or opening the file, contact me immediately.

Read the essay once through to get a sense of it as a whole, underlining or hi-lighting anything that strikes you as important. Don’t worry if parts of it are confusing or don’t make sense – you will have the opportunity to address any problematic sections later.

Then, please completethe followingtwo tasks forWednesday, March 23rd:

  1. Pinker presents a theory about morality over the course of the whole text and, to present and explain his theory, he works his way through sub-ideas or sub-arguments. Choose and record three sub-arguments from Pinker that confuse you, raise concerns for you, or that you find controversial in some way. By recording, I mean picking out specific passages from the essay that presented a new or difficult idea for you.
    Then, in response to each sub-argument, please: A) explain what your confusion or point of concern is in relation to this passage, and B) explore what you think Pinker may mean. In other words, what is your current understanding of Pinker’s idea? You can use the double-entry notebook format to complete this task, or respond in prose.

Please keep in mind that I am not looking for a specific answer or for you to come to a conclusion about his thesis. These notes are an opportunity to start your thought process regarding Pinker’s essay by identifying the key points that catch your attention and by resistingsurface-level interpretation.

  1. List the five moral spheres that Pinker presents in the reading.

Thesenotes are due at the beginning of class on Wednesday, March 23.To earn full credit (3 points) for your work, you will have to provide specific details regarding why a particular idea caught your attention and caused you to choose it above others. Feel free to refer to your own experience and knowledge as you compose these responses.