Directions: Answer one or more of the questions below thoroughly and intelligently. If you have a point different from the questions below and would like to discuss that instead, go ahead. Just be thorough. Give examples. If you have an opinion, please share it; however, make sure you explain why that is your opinion. Do not repeat what someone else has already said unless you are expounding on their point.
1. There was a good bit of discussion today about the "Nature vs. Nurture" argument. Most people in both classes (11th and 12th) were of the mind that nurturing has a greater effect on us than our own innate natures. However, consider this question: What is it about ourselves that accepts or rejects outside influences? Isn't that nature? If it is, wouldn't nature have to be at least as valid as nurture? Why or why not?
2. Have you experienced God? How? Was your experience real? Would you be able to scientifically prove it? Why or why not? Explain.
3. Freud grew up in a Jewish family surrounded by Catholic influence. Eventually he became an atheist. Explain how this childhood setting may have nurtured his later worldviews. Did his worldview have anything to do with his own intrinsic nature? If you had not been raised in a Christian home, what philosophy sounds the most enticing to you? Would you be Hindu? Agnostic? Confucian? Something else? Why or why not?
4. Freud received schooling from the Torah as a young boy from both his father and tutors. Freud's two favorite Bible stories were the story of Joseph (son of Jacob) and Moses. Explain how these stories may have affected his worldviews later in his life. What is your favorite Bible story and why?
5. We have only glimpsed at the first part of Freud's childhood from that video. However, we can immediately see that he did not have a very easy childhood. Discuss some of the problems with which he had to deal as a young child and how these issues may have affected his worldviews later in life. Discuss some tragedies you may have had as a child and how this has affected your worldview today.
6. In the introduction to the video today two opposing quotes were mentioned in regards to our motivations. Basically Lewis said his motivations came from belief in God--that it is like belief in the sun rising: It's not that you must view the sun to believe in it, but rather that the sun makes everything else viewable. This idea contrasts with Freud's concept that we don't need to believe in God because our beliefs are only motivated by our desires and fears. Does either side (or both) have a point? With which do you agree? Why?
