Week 1 — Examining a Definition and a Translated Line — Traditional alternative (no AI)

Instructors: publish this instead of the adaptive version if you prefer, and unpublish or delete the adaptive one.

Assignment 1 of the term — examine a definition the way Socrates did, credit a translated line to the right people, and explain the work to someone new to philosophy.

This week you learned what philosophy is, the six branches, the facts of the trial of Socrates, how to read Q1 as its translator's English, and the Socratic method. In this assignment you work four short problems, interpret each one, and explain the work to someone who has never studied philosophy. This week's lecture tutorial, quiz, discussion, and Philosophy Workshop practice the same ideas from other angles.

The task

You will work with two things from this week. The first is Q1, the one line the course quotes from Plato's Apology, Socrates' defense speech at his trial: "the unexamined life is not worth living" (Plato, Apology, trans. Benjamin Jowett). Socrates wrote nothing that survives, so the English words are Jowett's. The second is the chapter's illustrative group project of 4 members, where D1, "fairness means everyone gets exactly the same," was tested with a counterexample. You will also run the Socratic method yourself on a fresh, illustrative definition: "a good leader is someone the team always agrees with."

Work these four problems, showing each count and the reasoning behind it:

1. Q1 is cited as Plato, Apology, trans. Benjamin Jowett, with Socrates as its speaker. Counting 1 speaker, 1 author, and 1 translator, how many people stand between the trial and your English page?
2. The course names 6 branches of philosophy, and the chapter's three break-room questions touch 4 of them as a home or second branch. How many branches do the break-room questions leave untouched?
3. In the group project of 4 members, 1 member did none of the work, yet all 4 received the same credit. How many members did the work?
4. You will run 2 rounds of the Socratic method on the definition "a good leader is someone the team always agrees with," writing 1 definition and 1 counterexample in each round. How many definitions and counterexamples will your examination contain in all?

Beside each count, add one brief interpretation:

• Problem 1: name the speaker, the author, and the translator of Q1, say whose English words are on the page, and rewrite the mistaken citation "Socrates wrote, 'the unexamined life is not worth living'" so it credits each person correctly.
• Problem 2: give the home branch and any second branch for each of the three break-room questions, and write one question of your own for each branch the break-room questions leave untouched.
• Problem 3: explain why the group-project case is a counterexample to D1 ("fairness means everyone gets exactly the same"), say whether it shows D1 is too broad or too narrow, and propose a revised definition of your own that differs from the chapter's D2.
• Problem 4: write both rounds (the definition, a counterexample, a revised definition, and a second counterexample), label each counterexample too broad or too narrow with a reason, and say why the examination ends with a sharper question rather than a settled definition.

Explain it to a non-expert

A younger cousin hears that you are taking philosophy and says, "Philosophy is all opinion, so there's nothing to check." Write a 3–5 sentence message that explains in everyday words what philosophy examines and how, uses one example from your two rounds in Problem 4, and names one limit: a counterexample shows that a definition fails as stated, but it does not hand you the right definition, and the course settles no open question for you. Explain any technical term in everyday words. More than one good message is possible.

For a different, ungraded example, imagine a coworker who says a fair weekend schedule is "one where everyone works the same number of weekends." Model answer: "We are not merely trading opinions here; we can test that idea with a case. Suppose one person has a second job every weekend and another asked for extra weekend hours. The rule treats them the same, but most of us would not call it fair, so the definition needs work. That case does not tell us the perfect rule, so we would still have to suggest a better one and test it too."

Use that pattern for your cousin, with your own wording and your own example.

Show each count and the reasoning behind it. A reader should be able to reproduce every number you report, and find every quotation of Q1 word for word in the text printed above, without guessing which values or steps you used.

Deliverables

Submit a single report containing:

• the four counts, each with its reasoning shown and the brief interpretation the task names for that problem;
• your message to your cousin, explaining what philosophy examines and how, using one example from your Problem 4 rounds, and naming one limit; and
• a one-line restatement of the values you used (the three people behind Q1, the branches touched and untouched, the group-project members, and the rounds), so your counts are reproducible.

Keep it to roughly one page. Clear and correct beats long.

Choose how you show it. Present your report as written text, or as a recorded audio or video explanation of about three minutes with a transcript, or as a spoken explanation recorded with a transcript. Every form is graded by the same scoring criteria. Submit in any accessible file type or as a link; a recorded response may be submitted as audio or video with a transcript, or as text.

How you'll be graded

The full analytic rubric is attached to this assignment in Canvas.

Academic integrity and AI use

This version is designed to be completed without AI: do the counts, the interpretations, and the writing yourself, without any AI tool. Quote Q1 only as it is printed here, word for word, with Benjamin Jowett named as its translator. Submitting AI-generated work as your own, or copying another student's work, is an integrity violation under the course policy.

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