We all hold certain truths to be self-evident, but upon reflection, may come to see how questionable they really are. In this paper, you will draw upon one or more of the texts below to question your own self-evident truths.
First, you must identify a principle, assumption, or narrative about the world that underlies your personal political commitments or behaviors. This principle, assumption, or narrative can be something that you actively believe as a self-evident truth, or it can be something that, upon reflection, you recognize as an unacknowledged premise of your beliefs or actions. Either way, it should not be an assumption, principle, or narrative that you have come to through deep study and reflection, but rather something that has the character of an unexamined prior. (i.e people are NOT inherently good in nature)
Second, you must subject this principle, assumption, or narrative to critical scrutiny by making an argument that one or more of our course texts offers a plausible if not necessarily definitive case against the truth of your principle, assumption, or narrative. Perhaps it is a principle that one of our authors successfully argues against. Perhaps one of their persuasive arguments is built upon a contrary assumption. Perhaps one of the course texts offers a compelling counter-narrative that flies in the face of your narrative.
Third, you must give an account of what it would mean for your political beliefs or actions if you were to abandon or reject or simply call into serious question this principle, assumption, or narrative in light of your critical interrogation. Would it cause you to change your behaviors in a meaningful way? Would it lead you to alter your ideal course of life? How does it make you feel to imagine a future in which you are a person who does not hold to this formerly self-evident truth? How does questioning this truth make you feel about other people who do not hold this to be a self-evident truth? (i.e if people are NOT inherently good, how would that make you feel about voting and elections)
