class tomorrow on Hunger Games (and, yeah, Darwin and Glaucon)

[martasfic]

Originally published at Faith Seeking Understanding. You can comment here or there.

For my class tomorrow, we’re discussing an essay out of “The Hunger Games and Philosophy,” which discusses Darwinian evolution and whether it can explain why we sacrifice ourselves for others. Using Hunger Games examples like Katniss’s volunteering for Prim and Thresh’s sparing Katniss in the arena. I have more than a few Hunger Games fans around here, so I thought you might enjoy them.

Fair warning: these notes are really the jumping-off point for discussion, not the whole picture of what goes on in class. So often a question is meant to push a discussion and we’ll ultimately come around to a more nuanced version of the idea. Still, I thought my fellow Panemaniacs might enjoy looking over this.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jsv5w9d7iolr10c/Sept%2003%20Egoism.pdf

The scene discussed in the mock student presentation is from the Reaping, from the sign-in through just before Peeta’s reaping. And for the interested, here’s the essay. Spoilers for both Catching Fire + Mockingjay, but if you skip the last “Altruism: Real or Not Real?” section they aren’t that major.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/mjw9vr6vaasosye/Mann%2C%20Competition%20and%20Kindness.pdf

(xposted from FB)