Ms. Avar
Point Value:
/ 15 / Mondalia
Press Conference / YOUR Name: ______Period:______
Date: ______Assign#:______
First and last names of EACH of your group members:
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Part 1: Your group will be assigned a philosopher. Your group will represent him/her in a press conference speaking to the citizens of Mondalia about what they should do. Decide a role for each person:
· Group leader: Makes sure everybody is participating, working together, and that each member is answering the all of the questions (Part 3) AND writing out your group’s press statement (Part 4) on their own individual papers.
Name:______
· Reader: Summarize the situation below to the group. Lead group to determine TOGETHER the major points.
Name:______
· Actor: Will stand in front of the class behind your philosopher’s face (Teacher provided). Will announce your philosopher’s press statement in front of the class.
Name:______
· Teacher(s): Will explain the major ideas and thoughts of your philosopher to the class (at the end):
Name:______Name:______
Part 2: Read the situation and news about Mondalia below.
You are a citizen of Mondalia, a country far, far away. It is the PRESENT (not long, long ago).
Mondalia has been in much turmoil (trouble) under the current leader, Mr. Absolute. Not only is the country being constantly attacked by neighboring countries, the living conditions in Mondalia have become very harsh. Too many people are hungry, without a job, and homeless.
Traditionally, the king has shared powers with a legislative branch, which would vote and make laws that the king would then enforce. This law making body consisted only of wealthy men who owned property, and who were elected democratically (by other wealthy men who owned property). People without property, women, or people who are from another country, have not been able to make decisions about government at all.
Mr. Absolute has decided that it is in the best interest of the country to no longer allow others to make laws and to instead, give all power to him. He explained that he loves Mondalia and its people. He said, “I will protect and improve the country better this way because I can make all of the decisions without others disagreeing with me or each other, which is in their nature to do: NOT what Mondalia needs right now!”
Mr. Absolute said he is comfortable with still having some representatives of the people giving him advice, even now allowing women representatives; however, he is free to take their advice or leave it AND he is ignoring all past laws that he felt were selfishly made by the rich. For example, against the advice from the people, Mr. Absolute made a quick decision to double all taxes of both rich and poor. He said it was an emergency to pay for a bigger army to defend the country from another outside invasion. However, he also spent a lot of that money making his palace bigger, entertaining celebrities and famous international leaders, and buying fancy cars. He claimed this was all to symbolize to the world that despite its reputation, Mondalia is “a strong country” – a statement that is in the interest of national security. Because even the wealthy people were upset about this tax increase, he said that he would pay them double the value of each of their slaves to fight in the war in place of citizens.
Mr. Absolute says he can serve Mondalia’s citizens better than anybody, but he needs everybody to do as he says to get through this difficult time and to once again have peace in the country. Also, to avoid violence between citizens, he also named a new national religion: Buddhism. He said that people didn’t HAVE to follow that religion, but that they weren’t allowed to practice any others.
Part 3: Brainstorm together to answer the following questions. Read back over your philosopher’s main ideas (Enlightenment Lecture + Ch. 6 Sec. 2 Reader + Enlightenment Thinkers Cartoon) to guide you.
1. What is Mr. Absolute asking for from the citizens of Mondalia? (There some major points – put on your thinking hat!)
2. Why? What do they get as a result?
3. What do you think your philosopher’s opinion would be about Mr. Absolute’s requests/demands? Why? (List out things that s/he would agree with, and things that s/he would disagree with)
4. What was the traditional role of citizens in Mondalia’s government before Mr. Absolute took all power?
(Who participated? Who was left out?).
5. How would your philosopher feel about that? (What would s/he keep about that system? What would s/he change?)
6. What does your philosopher feel are the rights, duties and responsibilities of each person in this situation (ie. what should they do??? WHY???) Use the answer to this question to help start off the press statement.
Part 4: Use these answers to prepare a short (2-3 minutes), but complete press statement / announcement that you will use to advise the citizens of Mondalia about what they must do for the safety, security and peace of the nation as well as its people. (Make sure you tell them WHY they should do it!!).
Everybody must write this down, but the actor will be the only one who actually says it to the class.
(The actor may bring this paper when presenting in front of the class, but must practice it with the group first)
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Part 5: As each philosopher speaks, answer this question:
What are they telling you – the citizens - to do?? Why?? Write that in the spaces below:
THOMAS HOBBES –
JOHN LOCKE -
VOLTAIRE -
BARON DE MONTESQUIEU -
JEAN – JACQUES ROUSSEAU –
CESARE BECCARIA -
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT -
Part 6: Answer the following questions:
Which philosopher do you feel had the best ideas for the future of Mondolia? Why?
Which philosopher do you feel had the worst ideas for the future of Mondolia? Why?