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The thesis proposal is composed of two parts: a thesis statement and a preliminary description of the project.
First, develop a clear and concise thesis statement. A thesis is not a topic. The word “thesis” comes from a Greek word that means stand or position. Thus, a thesis statement takes a stand or establishes a definite position on a given subject. A “topic” merely indicates the general area of concern.
A topic is vague: “Plato’s style of writing” is a topic. This indicates a general area of concern, but does not present a specific argument. A thesis sets forth a definite position for which the rest of the paper argues. Thus, it serves to give the entire paper a purpose and direction. For example, “Socrates uses specific rhetorical techniques in his critique of rhetoric in the Gorgias” is a good thesis statement. Ideally, a good thesis statement will be the organizing principle of the entire structure of the paper. The second part of the proposal will involve specifically laying out and describing the basic structure of the paper. This description is not rigid and it is meant to be further developed as you do your research. It is a starting point and rough outline of the project.
Finally, I will be reviewing these proposals to ensure that they are neither too broad nor too specific. Please don’t hesitate to see me if you are having trouble developing a thesis.
This speech is made at the end of the first year of the Peloponnesian War (431-404). It is reported by Thucydides (460-400 BCE), but presented as if directly spoken by Pericles (495-429 BCE).
While the Spartans (Lacadaemonians) were a superior land power, the Athenians were a superior sea power.
Pericles advocated a strategy of seclusion in which the Athenians would allow the Spartans to cut up the surrounding area of Attica and the Athenians would remain behind their strong and long walls and use their access to and superiority on the sea to win the war.
The strategy led to plague in Athens, a plague that killed Pericles the year after this speech was said to have been given.
On the surface, the funeral oration might strike us as strange insofar as it praises not so much the men who died in battle as the city for which they died. But for the Greeks, such funeral orations were important moments in which the entire community came together to reaffirm the basic values on which it stood. Pericles' speech, therefore is a strong statement offered in praise of democracy.
In Praise of Democracy
In the speech, Pericles praises the individuals who died by praising the city for which they died. This praise of democracy involves some of the following themes:
Like Athena in the Eumenides, who respects the position and duties of the Furies in order to establish stability in her city, Zeus offers certain members of the generation Titans respect and honor in exchange for their loyalty. Styx, the daughter of Okeanos, who bore Rivalry, Victory, Force and Power (ll.383-5), agrees to fight with Zeus after he agreed to respect the position and privilege of any of the old gods who fought on his side (ll.393-7).
Although force is involved in Zeus's rise to power, his ability to win the Battle with the Titans and, ultimately, to establish a stable order depends not on force, but on this agreement to do justice by respect. Power is never won by force, but only by convincing others that they too will benefit from the order established.
This is a lesson humanity has been slow to learn. Take as an example, the current situation in Burma, whose name was changed to Myanmar by the ruling Junta in 1989. For background information, see the coverage from Truthdig.
A video that chronicles the violent attempts to maintain control can be seen in the following YouTube clip from the BBC:
In his book, Finitude and Transcendence in the Platonic Dialogues, Drew Hyland lays out four dimensions of the tragic with the Oedipus story as the primary example (see, pp. 117-8):
In what ways does Oedipus the King embody these dimensions of the tragic?
Another colleague of mine, Larry Hatab, has suggested that Oedipus the King is not a story about piety, but about the manner in which moral values themselves lead to tragedy. The heart of the tragedy is the moral horror in the face of the oracle's articulation of Oedipus's fate. In order to make this point, Hatab must argue that Oedipus and his parents are worthy and noble. They act well and even so, their fate transpires.
Do you argee with this thesis? What potential problems are there? What textual support can be given to this thesis?
I have uploaded this podcast to orient your reading of the Theogony.
In the podcast, I refer to two secondary sources that might be of interest to some. I include the references immediately below in the order in which they were mentioned:
Marcel Detienne and Jean Pierre Vernant, Cunning Intelligence in Greek Culture and Society, trans. Janet Lloyd (Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Humanities Press, 1978), pp. 62-ff.
Marylin B. Arthur, "Cultural Strategies in Hesiod's Theogony: Law, Family, Society" Arethusa 15:1-2 (1982), p. 77.
The passage to which he refers, of course, is the striking argument Apollo makes in defense of Orestes's killing his mother. In effect, he argues that the mother is no parent:
The mother is no parent of that which is called her child, but only nurse of the new-planted seed that grows. The parent is he who mounts. A stranger she preserves a stranger's seed, if no god interfere (Eum. ll. 658-661).
In what sense can this statement be taken as the founding myth of fatherhood?
We might suggest that it articulates the ideology upon which patriarchal authority is based. If so, what aspects of this ideology can be discerned by Apollo's position? That is, what do his words teach us about the nature of the thinking that operates behind and legitimates patriarchal authority?
I have posted a podcast one of my students from last year, Perri Heller, produced. It focuses on the first book of Plato's Republic and should give you a sense of the sort of podcast that I have in mind for the course.
Also, here are instructions for how to post a podcast to your blog:
Whatever their differences, Electra and Clytemnestra share a common vision of the nature of justice. When the chorus of maidens in the Libation Bearers instruct Electra about what she should say in prayer over the grave of her father, they tell her to ask for someone to kill Clytemnestra and Aegisthus. When she is hesitant, they say:
May you not hurt your enemy, when he struck first? (122).
Convinced by this, Electra prays to her father:
I pray that your avenger come, that they who killed you shall be killed in turn, as they deserve (143-4).
In the Agamemnon, Clytemnestra justifies her actions this way:
No shame, I think, in the death given this man. And did he not first of all in this house wreak death by treachery? The flower of this man's love and mine, Iphigeneia of the tears he dealt with even as he has suffered. Let his speech in death's house be not loud. With the sword he paid for his own act (Ag., 1521-1529).
What is the nature of this conception of justice? What are its social, political, personal ramifications?
In thinking about these questions, listen to the story of Guffran, the nine year old girl in Baghdad whose father was killed in a carjacking:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6043673
How does Guffran's reaction to the death of her father compare with Electra's response to the death of hers?
The Libation Bearers concludes with these words from the Chorus:
Where is the end? Where shall the fury of fate be stilled to sleep, be done with? (1074-76)
Retributive justice perpetuates a vicious cycle of violence ... where is the end? This question finds some response in the Eumenides.
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