大學(xué)思辨英語(yǔ)教程-精讀4教學(xué)課件Unit-11

1、 Unit 11 Freedom Text A Two Concepts of Liberty Isaiah BerlinLearning ObjectivesReading Skills Critical ThinkingCommunicativeCompetence Intercultural CompetenceScan for main ideasIdentify topic sentences Identify supporting detailsLearning ObjectivesDefine key concepts and ideasIllustrate your point

2、s with appropriate examplesFind counter arguments for authors claimsCommunicative CompetenceReading SkillsCritical Thinking Clarify the meanings of key concepts about freedomEvaluate the validity of the authors arguments in actual social and political livesDiscuss the authors assumptions and critiqu

3、eLearning ObjectivesIntercultural Competence Evaluate Berlins conception of the two concepts of liberty in 21st century Europe and U.S. To what extent are the principles of liberty still cherished?Locate a specific historical period in European, Africa, Middle East or Chinese history.To what extent

4、is freedom important for this period? What are some other concernslooming on peoples mind at that time? How do people weigh the relative importancebetween freedom and other worthy ends of society?Lead in“Give me liberty, or give me death!” Patrick Henry declared in 1775 in Richmond, Virginia, on the

5、 eve of American Revolution. If freedom is something for which people are willing to die, it must surely be important and valuable. What does freedom mean? How can it be achieved? What keeps people from being free? Why is responsibility, according to Elbert Hubbard, “the price of freedom”? These are

6、 questions that we will try to answer in this unit.Lead inIn Text A, Isaiah Berlin, one of the leading political theorist of the 20th century, examines the two fundamental senses of liberty: negative liberty and positive liberty. In Text B, E. B. White, a Pulitzer Prize winner well-known as co-autho

7、r of the English language style guide The Elements of Style, delineates why he values freedom so much, especially in the particular historical context of WWII.Background Knowledge(1) Isaiah Berlin was an influential Russian-British philosopher, historian of ideas,political theorist, educator, and es

8、sayist of the 20th century. Find out more information about him, and note down the important events that might have influenced his thinking.Born in the then Russian Latvia, Isaiah Berlin (1909-1997) and his family moved to England in 1921 after a six years stay in Petrograd where they witnessed firs

9、thand the Bolshevik revolution. Berlin received his training in philosophy and afterwards taught in Oxford, and, when World War Two broke out, worked as diplomat for British Foreign Office in various posts in the United States and Soviet Union. He resumed his teaching and writing career at Oxford wh

10、en the war was over in 1946, where he shifted his focus to intellectual history and, with his powerful essays and witty lectures, explored issues of not only academicconcern but political and social significance. He is best known for his work on liberal theory and value pluralism. In “Two Concepts o

11、f Liberty”, from which this text is taken, Berlin discusses the negative and positive notions of liberty, arguing that positive liberty, though high sounding in theory, is in practice vulnerable target for external manipulation. With his theory of value pluralism, Berlin contends that ultimately, co

12、nflicts and clashes are insoluble between different values and objectives which are equally true, noble, and objective, and people are constantly making choices which cannot be totally explained by a universal standard or principle. So instead of pursuing an illusionary meta-principle to harmonize a

13、ll values, we should respect and acknowledge the existence of a plurality of values.Berlins experience with Russia and then the Soviet Union might have exerted conspicuous influence on his theory of liberty.continuedBackground Knowledge“Two Concepts of Liberty” was a speech delivered in 1958 during

14、the tensioned years of Cold War and is widely viewed as a response to the ideological war between the rival camps. In this fifty-oddessay, Berlin distinguishes two common notions of the concept of liberty, discusses their political implications, and arrives at the conclusion that it is the negative

15、notion that modern societies should adopt as a comparatively safer guard of freedom, though ample consideration should also be paid to positive freedom. In the first two sections, “The notion of negative freedom” and “The notion of positive (2) The text is extracted from Berlins essay “Two Concepts

16、of Liberty.” Search online or in a library for a summary or a review of the essay. Not down the main points of his understanding of liberty.continuedfreedom,” Berlin discusses the definition, philosophical evolution, potential problems, and possible consequences of the two notions of freedom. In the

17、 third section “Liberty and sovereignty”, Berlin uses the French Revolution as an example to show that positive liberty, inheriting its tradition from ancient thinkers, tends to emphasize rational action at the expense of personal will, and might lead to dictatorial regimes if misused. In the fourth

18、 section “The one and the many”, Berlin contends that instead of adopting one notion with total rejection of the other, democracies should appreciate the strengths of both and while embracing the negative notion of freedom as the basis of their system, also endeavor towards positive liberty, thus ac

19、hieving freedom on both the personal and collective levels.John Locke: 1632-1704, English philosopher during Enlightenment, whose theory of social contract influenced later philosophers and revolutionaries in their search for liberty. He advocates religious and political freedom and unequivocally ar

20、gues against government imposition of control over its citizens against their consent. Locke is widely considered founder of liberalism.Adam Smith: 1723-1790, Scottish economist and philosopher, whose Wealth of Nations is a foundational work for classic economics. Smith champions freedom for all as

21、participants of a competitive market, which, through workings of the invisible hand, can lead to efficient production and resource allocation.(3) In the text, Berlin mentions a list of key thinkers who made original contributions to the tradition of Western liberalism. Look for information about the

22、ir ideas and not down their philosophical reflections about the meaning of liberty.Background KnowledgeJohn Stuart Mill: 1806-1873, English philosopher and political economist, most well-known proponent of liberalism, whose On Liberty remains a must read for anyone interested in the topic. Mill sets

23、 the boundary between the private and public spheres and is a staunch defender of personal liberty against encroachment of the private sphere from external forces.Thomas Jefferson: 1743-1826, one of the founding fathers of the United States, main author of the Declaration of Independence and 3rd pre

24、sident of the United States. He is an eloquent champion of American colonists rights before American independence, and carries out reforms that enhance personal freedom in terms of expression, association, and religion after he became governor and later president.continuedcontinuedEdmund Burke: 1729

25、-1797, Irish statesman and philosopher, founder of modern British conservativism. He is outspoken in his protest against English imperialism overseas and is sympathetic with American revolution. He believes good society should be built upon moral principles, of which religion is an essential part, a

26、nd therefore denounces the French revolution on that score.Thomas Paine: 1737-1809, American writer and political activist, whose Common Sense encouraged American colonists to rebel against the tyrannical rule of England and greatly influenced the course of the American War of Independence. He denou

27、nces the exploitive British colonial rule in her colonies, and calls on Americans to take up arms and fight bravely for their independence. He also severely criticizes religion, though that finally cost him his popularity with the Americans. Text StructureText AnalysisDetailed AnalysisEvaluation and

28、 explorationText StructurePartPara(s).Main ideaI1II2-5III6-9Introduction: two concepts of libertyNegative liberty: liberty from external coercionPositive liberty: decision-making by oneself1. What do negative freedom and positive freedom mean respectively according to Berlin? Can you find examples t

29、o illustrate both senses of freedom? Part I Comprehension CheckPart I Part IIDetailed Analysis Part IIINegative freedom means the absence of external interference in ones private sphere, whereas positive freedom concerns ones exercise of control over his own action. These two notions can be viewed a

30、s the two sides of the same coin of liberty, the negative as passive defense against external forces attempting at influence, and the positive as active exercise of ones free will.Part I Part IIDetailed Analysis Part IIIViolations of negative freedom occur when students are forced to answer question

31、s they are not interested in at all, when racial rhetoric are banned from media circulation, and when debtors are locked up by their creditors for unpaid loans. Conversely, when students are determined to study hard, when movie directors sit down to discuss self-regulatory measures for the industry,

32、 and when reformers work hard for a more effective mechanism, they are all exercising their liberty in the positive sense.continued1. coerce (Para. 1, line 1)verb transitiveto force someone to do something they do not want to do by threatening them 強(qiáng)制；脅迫；迫使coerce sb into (doing) sthe.g. The rebels c

33、oerced the villagers into hiding them from the army.Derivative: coercion noununcountablePart I Part IIPart IIIDetailed Analysis Part I Word Study2. deprive sb of sth (Para. 1, line 1) to prevent someone from having something, especially something that they need or should have 剝奪e.g. A lot of these c

34、hildren have been deprived of a normal home life.3. protean (Para. 1, line 5)adjective literary able to keep changing or to do many things 多變的，變化多端的Part I Part IIPart IIIDetailed Analysis 4. overlap (Para. 1, line 17)verb transitive, intransitiveif two subjects, ideas etc overlap, they include some

35、but not all of the same things. (兩種學(xué)科、觀念等)部分交叉e.g. Maxwells responsibilities overlap yours, so you will be sharing some of the work.+withe.g. The study of sociology overlaps with the study of economics. Part I Part IIPart IIIDetailed Analysis Part I Part IIPart IIIDetailed Analysis Part II Comprehen

36、sion Check1. What is the distinction between “coercion” and “inability” (Para. 2)?Berlin argues in Para. 2 that if the private sphere is contracted “beyond a certain minimum” coercion happens. More clearly put, for coercion to happen, there are three preconditions: it should be “deliberate” interfer

37、ence, by “other human beings,” where I could “otherwise” act. Berlin does not explain explicitly the definition of inability, yet from the three examples given, it can be inferred that it might refer to hindrance by the naturally “given” factors such physical and mental limits.Berlin defines politic

38、al liberty as “the area which a man can act unobstructed by others” in Para. 2. He does not specify the specific elements of this concept, yet inference can be drawn from its dictionary definitions. Merriam-Webster defines it as “the state or condition of those who are invested with the right effect

39、ually to share in framing and conducting the government under which they are politically organized,” and the Random House Dictionary as “the right to express oneself freely and effectually regarding the conduct, makeup, Part I Part IIPart IIIDetailed Analysis 2. How does Berlin define “political lib

40、erty” (Para. 2)? Which elements does the concept generally cover? and principles of the government under which one lives.” The above definitions mark out two important features: it is political in the sense that it mainly concerns the workings of the government, its guiding principles, composition,

41、and daily functioning; peoples liberty in this political area mainly lies in their right to think, express and act freely, with no other people or institutions dictating to them what they should or should not think, say or do.Part I Part IIPart IIIDetailed Analysis continuedThe liberals and conserva

42、tives represent the optimistic and pessimistic views about the possibility of harmonizing human interest discussed in Paragraph 3. The human society aspires to multiple objectives, or interest, such as justice, equality, liberty, social progress, public security, etc. which do not always come along

43、hand in hand. The optimistic, or liberal, view believes that people can ultimately find ways to reconcile these conflicting ideals and achieve a better society, such as Smiths idea of the invisible hand that magically harmonizes personal interest and social welfare, so a largePart I Part IIPart IIID

44、etailed Analysis 3. Regarding personal freedom, what is the common ground between liberal thinkers such as Locke or Adam Smith or Mill and conservative thinkers such as Hobbes? What is their main disagreement?area for personal liberty do not have to be sacrificed for other objectives such as social

45、progress. The pessimistic, or conservative, view, on the other hand, is convinced that clashes between objectives are inevitable, and that under particular situations, liberty can be curtailed to achieve greater goals, so they do not hesitate in their advocacy for a large area of centralized control

46、, for safety and order for the whole society is more imminent than personal liberty that is almost sure to lead to chaos and mutual destruction. Yet it is not Berlins intent to emphasize their difference: he is in fact highlighting the fact that despite their fierce disagreement, both the liberals a

47、nd conservative agree that there has to be a minimum preserve in which no external forces such as social control should be allowed.Part I Part IIPart IIIDetailed Analysis continuedPart I Part IIPart IIIDetailed Analysis 4. What do the key concepts of political philosophy mean: natural law, natural r

48、ights, utility, categorical imperative, and social contract? Berlin uses these concepts to give a review of the major philosophical ideas on liberty. Natural law and natural rights denotes certain inalienable and nontransferable rights that are stipulated by nature instead of any humanly instituted

49、state. In ancient Greece, thinkers use the concept of natural rights in their metaphysical discussions, and ancient Rome developed this concept into natural law that is distinct from human law. Utility means happiness according to utilitarianism, which can be statistically measured by carefullydevis

50、ed schemes. Categorical imperative is a key concept for Kant, which, different from hypothetical imperative under which an action is done for a desired goal, dictates that an action should be determined by duty only. Social contract refers to theories that explain the society as a contractarian asso

51、ciation by all members who, for different reasons according to different philosophers, decide to leave the state of nature to enter society.Part I Part IIPart IIIDetailed Analysis continuedPart I Part IIPart IIIDetailed Analysis 5. What does the metaphor of “night-watchman or traffic policeman” (Par

52、a. 3) suggest about the function of law or the State?The night-watchman state was a phrase coined by German socialist Lassalle in 1862 to ridicule liberal partys proposal of a laissez-faire kind of state. It was later used to denote typical capitalist government, which provides the minimum service t

53、o its citizens such as the military, the police and the court, and shies away from more active government intervention into the market and social life.It is Mills firm belief that liberty should be jealously protected so that “a free market in ideas” can be created to encourage spontaneity and origi

54、nality, and thus achieve civilizational development. Otherwise, when peoples right to think or act freely is curtailed by external interference such as mainstream opinion or political correctness, extraordinary ideas of a very talented few might be dismissed with hostility by a large mediocre majori

55、ty simply because they are different, and only those lesser ideas are allowed to circulate since they are easy to understand and accept by the majority. In this way, excellence and creativity of the minority are silenced to make room for mediocrity of the majority.Part I Part IIPart IIIDetailed Anal

56、ysis 6. Why does Mill advocate the protection of individual liberty? How do you understand “collective mediocrity” (Para. 4)?Part I Part IIPart IIIDetailed Analysis Part II Word Study1. interfere with sth/sb (Para. 2, line 2)to prevent something from succeeding or from happening in the way that was

57、planned 妨礙，阻止e.g. Anxiety can interfere with childrens performance at school. Derivative: interference noununcountable; +inPart I Part IIPart IIIDetailed Analysis 2. unobstructed (Para. 2, line 3)adjectivenot blocked by anything 不被阻塞的，沒(méi)有障礙的，暢通無(wú)阻的Synonym: cleare.g. an unobstructed view of the lake 一覽

58、無(wú)余的湖景3. enslave (Para. 2, line 6)verb transitive, usually passiveformal if you are enslaved by something, it completely controls your life and your actions 使受控制，束縛，征服e.g. She seemed enslaved by hatred. 她似乎被仇恨所左右4. attain (Para. 2, line 12)verb transitiveformal to succeed in achieving something after

59、 trying for a long time (通過(guò)長(zhǎng)時(shí)間努力而) 得到，獲得，贏得e.g.More women are attaining positions of power.Derivative: attainable adjective Part I Part IIPart IIIDetailed Analysis Part I Part IIPart IIIDetailed Analysis 5. lack (Para. 2, line 13)noun uncountablewhen there is not enough of something, or none of it 不

60、足，缺乏；沒(méi)有Synonym: shortage Antonym: surplus+ofe.g. new parents suffering from lack of sleep. 缺少睡眠的新爸爸新媽媽們 Too many teachers are treated with a lack of respect.Part I Part IIPart IIIDetailed Analysis 6. compatible (Para. 3, line 3)adjectiveable to exist or be used together without causing problems 可共存的