Brave New World Socratic Seminar Guide

Brave New World Socratic Seminar Guide Aldous Huxley

GUIDING SEMINAR QUESTIONS: (You must prepare and participate in these graded Socratic seminars; dates announced on Agenda.)

1. How are our minds manipulated by outside sources: the media, government, parents, peers? Is this always "bad" for us? See:

 Propaganda  Propaganda Techniques  Hypnopaedia (sleep learning)

2. What are the ethical issues surrounding human cloning (in Brave New World, it’s called Bokanovsky’s process)? Are there any scenarios where it could be justified? See:

 Not So Brave New World  Stem Cell Research (NIH)  Say No to Genetic Engineering  Should We Be Cloning Around?  Dr. Frankenstein I Presume?  Got a Copyright on Them Genes?  Cloning Timeline  Cloning Ethics  Religious Views on Cloning

3. What steps should a government take to keep order among its people? Where does one draw the line between protection and personal freedom? See:

 The Pro of the Patriot Act (United States Department of Justice)  The Con of the Patriot Act (ACLU)  ACLU Alleges Patriot Act Misuse  If you want the Wiki  Consider, interpret, and react to this Ben Franklin quote: “Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.” 4. Why is it important to conform? Why is it important to be different?

 Conformity (see embedded links about social impact theory, norms) o The Muzafer Sherif Experiment o Asch Conformity Experiments . New rebuttal argument: “Is the Tipping Point Toast?” o Milgram Experiment o Conformity and Obedience o Mores (and Folkways)  The Paradox of Nonconformity - broken, sorry! I’m working on it  Paradox Shifting  What If Einstein Had Taken Ritalin?  Outside the Box (the actual exercise with explanation) – broken, sorry! I’m working on it  Conscientious Objector  Civil Disobedience

5. What is psychological conditioning? See:

 Introduction to Learning  http://www.wittysparks.com/video/222039206/ (Pavlovian conditioning video – for information on Pavlov, see http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/bhpavl.html)  Implicit Association Tests (take 2-3 and consider the HONEST results)

6. What function does a caste system serve? Connect to the roles of Alphas, Betas, Epsilons—notice that each caste has a color associated with them…why? See:

 Law to Segregate Nebraska School System  An Untouchable Subject

7. What has McDonaldization done to society? What has Wal-Mart done to flatten the world?

Adapted from Beth Guthrie, March 2009