Discussion Practice Questions
HUMAN 40 – RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD Humanities Berkeley City College
Discussion Prompt 1: “This [Smith’s previous point that satisfaction of the desire for
worldly success is more substantial than pleasure] does not have to be argued for a
contemporary Western audience. The Anglo-American temperament is not
voluptuous. Visitors from abroad do not find English-speaking peoples enjoying life
a great deal, or much bent on doing so – they are too busy. Being enamored not of
sensualism but of success, what takes arguing in the West is not that
achievement’s rewards exceed those of the senses but that success too has its
limitations – that ‘What is he worth?’ does not come down to ‘How much has he
got?’ (Smith, 15)
Who are these ‘Anglo-Americans’ to which Smith
refers? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-
American
Do you agree with this characterization of Anglo-Americans as not “…enjoying life a
great deal, or much bent on doing so – they are too busy. ”? Explain your view.
Anglo-Americans refers to those people who speak English as their first language
or their mother tongue. These people do not necessarily have to be whites but
those people who move to the English speaking countries and begin to speak the
English language and with time when they have offspring they learn English as
their first or native language. The Anglo-Americans do not seem to be enjoying life
but are viewed to focus much on their worldly success according to Smith. Also,
these people are viewed to focus so much towards success rather than pleasure
since they are mostly viewed be migrants who leave their native countries and
settle in these countries with various reasons. These people also are believed to be
living in those countries either due to job activities or as refugees who later end up
having offspring’s who learn this
language as they grow and become citizens of that state by birth because they
those
werecountries.
born in
Discussion Prompt 2: “What is distinctive in Hinduism is the amount of attention it
has devoted to identifying basic spiritual personality types and the disciplines that
are most likely to work for each. The result is a recognition, pervading the entire
religion, that there are multiple paths to God, each calling for its distinctive mode of
travel.” (Smith, 28)
What do we think about this claim, that there are multiple paths to God?
A. The use of the singular (i.e. god v. gods) and capitalization, as with a proper
name {i.e. (the) God v. (a) god} would seem to imply the same, identical, one
and only one God…would that change your mind?
B. The idea of many paths to the same goal (of union with God) might seem to
discount the worth or value of the path itself, while some religions place more
emphasis on the path than the goal…what do you think?
According to Hinduism, there are many paths to God and these paths are attributed
to the four personality types (Smith, 1994). The paths are such as through work,
HUMAN 40 – RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD Humanities Berkeley City College
Discussion Prompt 1: “This [Smith’s previous point that satisfaction of the desire for
worldly success is more substantial than pleasure] does not have to be argued for a
contemporary Western audience. The Anglo-American temperament is not
voluptuous. Visitors from abroad do not find English-speaking peoples enjoying life
a great deal, or much bent on doing so – they are too busy. Being enamored not of
sensualism but of success, what takes arguing in the West is not that
achievement’s rewards exceed those of the senses but that success too has its
limitations – that ‘What is he worth?’ does not come down to ‘How much has he
got?’ (Smith, 15)
Who are these ‘Anglo-Americans’ to which Smith
refers? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-
American
Do you agree with this characterization of Anglo-Americans as not “…enjoying life a
great deal, or much bent on doing so – they are too busy. ”? Explain your view.
Anglo-Americans refers to those people who speak English as their first language
or their mother tongue. These people do not necessarily have to be whites but
those people who move to the English speaking countries and begin to speak the
English language and with time when they have offspring they learn English as
their first or native language. The Anglo-Americans do not seem to be enjoying life
but are viewed to focus much on their worldly success according to Smith. Also,
these people are viewed to focus so much towards success rather than pleasure
since they are mostly viewed be migrants who leave their native countries and
settle in these countries with various reasons. These people also are believed to be
living in those countries either due to job activities or as refugees who later end up
having offspring’s who learn this
language as they grow and become citizens of that state by birth because they
those
werecountries.
born in
Discussion Prompt 2: “What is distinctive in Hinduism is the amount of attention it
has devoted to identifying basic spiritual personality types and the disciplines that
are most likely to work for each. The result is a recognition, pervading the entire
religion, that there are multiple paths to God, each calling for its distinctive mode of
travel.” (Smith, 28)
What do we think about this claim, that there are multiple paths to God?
A. The use of the singular (i.e. god v. gods) and capitalization, as with a proper
name {i.e. (the) God v. (a) god} would seem to imply the same, identical, one
and only one God…would that change your mind?
B. The idea of many paths to the same goal (of union with God) might seem to
discount the worth or value of the path itself, while some religions place more
emphasis on the path than the goal…what do you think?
According to Hinduism, there are many paths to God and these paths are attributed
to the four personality types (Smith, 1994). The paths are such as through work,
