Political paper
Discuss how one’s view of human NATURE is linked to the emphasis on need for authority in The Grand Inquisitor.
The paper should be about two pages in length.
Respond to these three points:
1. If you were to bring charges against the Grand Inquisitor, what might they be? How would you defend him against these charges?
2. What is it about the Grand Inquisitor’s view of human nature that makes it imperative to take away freedom for the sake of happiness?
Hint: Imagining people to be weak and fallible, craving meaning and attachment yet possessed of an overweening pride (hubris) and rebellious spirit, does this contrary
human creature not require “taming” for its own good?
3. Assuming that every society is characterized by a balance between the forces making for order and those making for freedom, what is the logical link between one’s
theory of human nature and one’s choice to emphasize either the need for order or the need for freedom in a society?
