The questions in English
Write an essay on a topic of your choosing. Please write
in English, German or French. The language you use should not be your
mother tongue. The essay should be brief and compact.
1. “By developing the intellectual tools to analyze and understand key
concepts such as justice, dignity and freedom, by building capacities for
independent thought and judgment, by enhancing the critical skills to
understand and question the world and its challenges, and by fostering
reflection on values and principles, philosophy is a ‘school of freedom’.”
(UNESCO Strategy on Philosophy, 2006.)
2. “If, then, there is some end in the things we do for its own sake (everything
else being desired for the sake of this) … clearly this must be the good
and the chief of good.” / “… some desires and pleasures relate to things
that are noble and good in kind …” (Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, 384-322
B.C.)
3. ”The first man, having enclosed a piece of ground, bethought himself of
saying ‘This is mine’, and found people simple enough to believe him, was
the real founder of society.” (Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the
Origin of and Basis of Inequality Among Men, 1754)
4. “The main difference between Einstein and an amoeba (as defined by
Jennings)[29] is, Einstein makes a conscientious effort to eliminate
mistakes. He tries to disprove his theories: He is consciously aware of
them and tries to formulate them as precise as possible. The amoeba by
contrast, can not act critically towards its expectations and hypothesis,
because it can not picture them. They are a part of it.” (Karl Popper,
Objective Knowledge, Revised Edition, 1979)
