@Roberta,
Roberta wrote:
I remember philosophy class in college. Nobody asked me about cats and dogs.
I may be giving the instructor more credit than he or she is due, but I would like to believe that the assignment has nothing to do with dogs and cats but with how the students choose to concieve of and define "better."
Even at that it's a pretty elementary approach, but somehow I don't think the class is geared towards doctoral candidates, and I suspect it will be more effective, for this class, than if the assignment had been "Which is better? Plato or Kant?"