In a well-constructed philosophical essay answer two of the following essays.  Choose specific point that you are trying to establish - something that you are trying to convince the reader to accept

In a well-constructed philosophical essay answer two of the following essays.  

Choose specific point that you are trying to establish - something that you are trying to convince the reader to accept - together with grounds or justification for its acceptance. 

Before you start to write your paper, you should be able to state exactly what it is that you are trying to show. This is harder than it sounds.  END YOUR FIRST PARAGRAPH WITH A TOPIC SENTENCE. You should be  state in a single short sentence precisely what you want to prove. Systematically present your reasons for supporting your standpoint without making it a research paper.

 1.When someone brought his son as a pupil,(Aristipus) asked a fee of 500 drachmae. The father objected, “For that sum I can buy a slave." "Then do so," was (Aristipus's) reply, “and you will have two." What is the meaning of this ancient passage? 

2.Why should we do the right thing with regard to other people? What obligation do we have toward other people?

3. As a result of what you have learned in this course, you should have experienced many insights Clearly state and explain some of your major insights. These insights may be academic and /or personal, just so long as they are germane and significant. (Note insight is NOT a fact or theory you’ve learned. Rather an insight is an enhanced level of understanding/awareness that you’ve arrived at by studying and thinking about various facts and theories.) What’s especially important about your answer is that it shows me the amount of growth you’ve experienced, the amount of personal and philosophical discovery that you have experienced, and how this growth and discovery will benefit you in practical ways. To that end, you may find it beneficial to include personal examples as a means of clarifying and illustrating your insights.

4. “…Man needs models of dignity and excellence if he is to pursue them. Without any specifications about things worthy to follow, things worth doing when alone, man is thrown back upon the collective myth: he is harangued from all sides “enjoy, enjoy”’ he could only give in. The art of enslaving was gradually refined. So was launched a race for status based largely on consumption of ever-new goods, a pride of ownership alone and not of excellence…”

Ernest Becker

Considering Becker’s statement are we determined to define ourselves as self-absorbed consumers? Is there an opportunity for a higher sense of self-actualization? How is it possible?