Tulsa Community College Theories of Sacrifices and Nature

Here is a writing assignment–the aim is to read carefully the assigned texts and understand them by summarizing the key argument of each in short order, and relate one of them to one of the movies assigned.

the reading are: 1- Girard, Social Chaos and Scapegoating Stephen Prince, Horror and Taboo. 2- Hobbes, The State of Nature and Social Contract Kierkegaard, The Present Age. If you cannot follow Girard’s argument, I suggest looking up the description of the action on line–say Wiki–and it should make sense.

Here’s what I want you to do: Write about 1/2 of a page each for the following 3 questions:

What is the nature and function of sacrifice in Girard’s account of primitive social order?

What is Hobbes’ view of the natural condition of human beings? What makes the sovereign power necessary and how does it come about?

What would you say is the main point of Kierkegaard’s The Present Age?

Then pick one of the movies and show which theory you think is most related to it, and why.

The movies are: 1- John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982). 2- The Wicker Man (1973) . 3- The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence(1962)