Political Science Essay

Submitted By btown04
Words: 1646
Pages: 7

Project Aristotle
Aristotle said, “All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsion, habit, reason, passion, and desire.” Let’s put this idea to test. By examining your daily activities, see if this argument is supported.

Goals and Purpose
1. This is a warm up exercise. Hopefully, you will get used to the idea of doing assignments on your own and using the course site.
2. I would like you to warm up to the idea of studying and examining human and social phenomena using scientific methods.
3. You will get to try out a deductive way of thinking: Start with a premise (an argument) and test it out using empirical evidence. Most scientists use a deductive way to test different theories and ideas try, but most laymen think using an inductive method.
Hopefully, it will help you discover the beauty of social science.

Instruction
1. Select 20 activities: at least 10 of them should require a decision-making that takes one minute or more
2. Describe 20 activities briefly
3. Determine the motivations of your actions and record them carefully
4. Determine if any of your actions were motivated by any other causes or motivations other than the seven causes that Aristotle mentioned
5. Conclude whether your experiment supports or does not support Aristotle’s arguments

Examples: My day on August 24, 2012
Activity ID
Activities
Description
Motivation
Motivation in detail
Any other?
1
No breakfast but must have coffee
Decided to skip breakfast because I was running late and my car parked on the wrong side of the street
Reason & Compulsion
Don't want to be late. Don't want a ticket. Want to stay on schedule (my personality). the city of Buffalo?
2
Drop by the dept office
Say hello to Jackie, the dept secretary extraordinaire, and make sure everything is okay with the orientation
Compulsion & Habit
I check in everyday, but I check in just in case there is any major problem.

3
Work on curriculum
Class prep and such
Reason
I need to work

4
Listen to radio
I listen to radio when I prep for class and do administrative work
Habit & Desire
It just makes it a little more cheery.

5
Meet new faculty
Say hello to Prof. Ken Roth
Chance
I bumped into him and met him for the first time.

6
Lunch
Decided to eat lunch, so that I can have energy for the orientation
Reason & Desire
Usually skip lunch, but I figured I need it and I am hungry.

7
Transfer Orientation Prep
Decided to prep the room and bring materials to the location
Reason & Compulsion
Want to be well prepared, but also a little of my compulsive personality driving me.

8
Orientation
Transfer students orientation
Reason
I am the FYWOW committee head and I led the orientation

9
Advisement
Transfer students advisement
Reason
the same as above

10
Missed an appointment
I was busying doing transfer advisement and forgot about my 4:30 appointment
Chance
I did not expect that there will be many unadvised students, so it took me longer than I expected to advise everyone

11
Went to the location but missed him
I got to the union but too late. Missed Dr. Gareau
Chance
I did not mean to miss the appointment.

12
Sent an apology email
Sent an apology email and reschedule the meeting
Reason & Habit
I figured I needed to send an email to apologize for being late for the meeting

13
More advisement and clean up
More students and post-advisement clean up
Reason & Habit
For advisement record keeping and such

14
Go home
Went home
Reason, Desire, Passion & Habit
I am a Passionate homebody. I love being at home and being a couch potato

15
Take Out Dinner
Take out dinner from a Burmese restaurant
Reason, Desire, Passion & Habit
I am passionate about food. No energy left to cook. Felt like some Thai and Burmese food. I was hungry.

16
Chit chat with Liesl and my hubby
All of us, including our guest Liesl and hubby, hung