Exam Topics B - REL 407 Narrative
Selves
The exam will be the readings and lectures. If you will not be
here on Tuesday, February 25 to take the exam, you must make prior
arrangements by Tuesday, February 18. You must receive prior
permission for absence as well as to take the exam separately. Only
exceptional cases will be allowed.
The exam will be multiple choice, and as covered in the syllabus,
will count 10% of your grade. There is only one right answer per
question. If there appears to be more than one right answer, pick the
best answer.
If you have any questions about the exam or the topics included in
the exam, please ask. You can come in during office hours, make an
appointment or inquire by email.
Week 4: Memories of the Self: Christian and Freudian
- According to Mark Freeman in Rewriting the Self, what
makes Augustine's The Confessions the prototype for the
modern Western autobiographical narrative self?
- According to Freeman, what are recognition, distanciation, and
appropriation? (44-45).
- According to Freeman, why was the idea of the story inherent in
clinical case histories so troubling for Freud (231).
- According to Marin Conway in Autobiographical Memory, what
is Freud's notion of "past as dictator"? (23-24).
Week 5: Zhuangzi's Daoism: Narrative, Perpectivalism, and the
Dao.
- The story of how the Zhuangzi was compiled
- Who was Zhuangzi - lifestyle, family, contradictions in his story
- The relation between perspectivalism, illusion, and oneness in
CT's view of language, truth, and reality
- The narrative significance of figures like Cook Ting and
Woodworker Ch'ing
- The narrative significance of figures like the Woman Crookback,
Crippled Shu and the Madman of Ch'u
- Four uses of language in the Zhuangzi
- Usefulness and uselessness as Taoist themes in Zhuangzi
- Zhuangzi's view of death
Week 6: Shin Tradition of Pure Land Buddhism: Narrative Oceans of
Karma and Light.
- What does "Coffinman" refer to?
- What does Aoki experience when he prepares his former girlfriends'
father's body for the funeral? How does this change his life?
- What does mizore, a Japanese word for a mixture of snow
and rain, have to do with life and death?
- According to Unno, historically what are the differences between
Buddhism and psychotherapy regarding the relation between practical
needs and the larger theoretical (narrative) framework?
- According to Unno, what is the significance of deep listening in
eliciting the narrative of the self?
Week 7: Spiritual Autobiography: Jewish, Christian, Jungian, and
Beyond
- For Etty Hillesum in An Interrupted Life, what is the
significance of her keeping her journal?
- For Etty, what is the meaning of death in the larger scope of her
story?
- According to Alasdaire MacIntyre, where has the modern/postmodern
self broken down?
- According to Tom Kasulis, what is the significance of integrity
and intimacy concerning the self as generally defined by Asian and
Western cultures?