Assignment #2
Buying Time and Supporting Uncle Sam:
Evaluating how metaphorical reasoning begets moral reasoning and policy agendas.
Purpose:
The first assignment introduced you to the moral and ethical questions central to this course. In the second assignment, we will focus specifically on how moral values are constructed and shape our views on pressing policy concerns. The intent here is to expand your critical thinking from Assignment 1, adding a greater emphasis on the professional sphere of your field. We will continue to focus on the craft of writing, paying particular attention to the ways we appeal to a knowledgeable, professional audience.
Readings:
- George Lakoff Readings from Metaphors We Live By and Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think. (Blackboard).
- Speeches or opinionated articles reflecting distinct sides of your chosen debate.
- Selected non-partisan supplemental readings. This includes position papers on issues by non-partisan groups, such as Common Cause and The Center for Responsible Politics, and reports by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office; these will help you understand the issues in as non-metaphorical a fashion as possible. The Budget Office reports can be particularly helpful, since most political and administrative debates center, at least in part, around spending priorities.
Background:
In everyday speech and thought, we rely upon common sense to guide our worldview. As Lakoff highlights, the notion of common sense is based upon unconscious, metaphorical reasoning. Such metaphorical reasoning requires a metaphorical framework for evaluating the world. Primarily, we rely upon structural or conceptual metaphors that imagine one thing or idea relative to another. We also rely upon orientational metaphors, such as spatial metaphors, provide an experience-based framing of the world. Much of the way we see the world metaphorically–and subsequently form our worldview metaphorically–is indeed unconscious, but it doesn’t have to be. By looking at how we tend to, for example, evaluate time in terms of money or love in terms of conquest, we can begin to understand the underlying morals that these metaphors reflect.
As a professional, however, you will need to understand not only how everyday people think, but also how those in power, who have the ability and responsibility to enact policy, think and therefore act. These individuals–politicians, but also public and private administrators as well as other bureaucrats with decision-making responsibility–not only construct their stance from guiding moral values but also sell their worldviews to the public. In doing so, they appeal to factions of the public that view their worldview as common sense. Problems arise when individuals with such morally reasoned, common sense-based perspectives engage to enact policy.
Occasion for writing:
As a professional in your field, you’re writing to your colleagues on how to improve the policy discussion surrounding a contentious issue in your field. Your hope is to improve the language of the debate, thereby either enabling sounder policy or locating the central disagreements that inhibit consensus.
Writing Task:
Pick a narrow issue in your field that you think is currently being debated and that has a fundamental moral component (i.e. it’s not merely a practical concern). Determine what the opposing moralities relative to this issue are and find a speech or opinionated articles that reflects the central model of each side of the debate. (So, one speech or op-ed for each side.) Write a 6-8 page thesis-driven essay (1500-2000 words) that responds to the following prompt:
What are the metaphorical frameworks present in each side of the debate? What moral stance do these frameworks reflect? In what ways do these frameworks shape policy goals? Do these opposing metaphorical frameworks (and their underlying moralities) prevent compromise? Can we eliminate or change the metaphorical framework to improve the possibility of consensus? Explain why or why not.
Other requirements:
Your style, diction, and tone should be geared towards a professional audience, familiar with the issues of and language in your field. The essay should adhere to proper MLA formatting. Any direct quotations or borrowed ideas should be cited.
Which I am trying to write about the debate of Merijunana legalization in California. For now I only need the thesis for this paper.
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