JohnLocke 约翰·洛克学会论文比赛介绍 -- 牛津大学与普林斯顿大学联办

（牛津大学与普林斯顿大学联办的）约翰·洛克学会致力于培养年轻人的独立思考、逻辑辨析、批判性、有说服力的论证写作能力。

学会每年举办的论文比赛涵盖了人文社科各大领域：经济、法律、政治、历史、哲学、神学、心理学，邀请学生们深入探索与讨论有挑战性、有意思的话题。

论文比赛不仅培养了学生的写作能力，给学生深入了解知识的机会，还让学生们的作品得到知名学者、教授的关注评比。所有的论文奖项都由以牛津大学为主的学者团体评定，国际知名度、学术认可度很高。

The John Locke Institute encourages young people to cultivate the characteristics that turn good students into great writers: independent thought, depth of knowledge, clear reasoning, critical analysis and persuasive style. Our Essay Competition invites students to explore a wide range of challenging and interesting questions beyond the confines of the school curriculum.

Entering an essay in our competition can build knowledge, and refine skills of argumentation. It also gives students the chance to have their work assessed by experts. All of our essay prizes are judged by senior academics from the University of Oxford. The judges will choose their favourite essay from each subject category and an overall 'best essay' across seven subjects: Philosophy, Politics, Economics, History, Psychology, Theology and Law.

1.     官网：

https://www.johnlockeinstitute.com/2020-essay-competition

2.     去年的比赛结果以及获奖范文：https://www.johnlockeinstitute.com/2019-essay-prize-results

3.     参赛要求：

Open Category（公开组）：参赛者须在截止日期时18周岁及以下（也就是还没过19周岁的生日）。

Junior Category（青年组）：参赛者须在截止日期时14周岁及以下（也就是还没过15周岁的生日）。

4.     截止日期：2020.7.15 星期三(2020 round)

5.     比赛奖励：

每个学科将选出一名最佳，奖励￡100。获奖者的论文将在官网公开展出。

所有学科的论文中将选出一名最终胜者，奖励￡500。

颁奖仪式将在牛津大学举行，入围者都可获邀参与。

除了颁奖仪式外还有一系列的学术活动，将为入围者提供与知名学者、教授交流的机会。

6.     提交要求：

字数少于或等于2000，不包含图示、注解、引文。

以pdf形式在官网相关的平台链接填写个人资料并且上传文件。

Pdf文件的标题：SURNAME（姓氏-大写）, First Name（名字） (e.g. POPHAM, Alexander).

7.     时间线

Wednesday, 15 July 2020: Submission deadline （截止日期）

Friday, 31 July: Short-listed candidates notified （通知入围者）

Winners will be announced at the award ceremony in Oxford （颁奖仪式在牛津大学举行，时间另行通知）

8.     评选标准与写作要求

论证的严谨缜密与说服力，对学科知识的深入了解与个人独特见解，对问题的准确剖析与扣题。

Entry Requirements

Entry is open to students from any country and any school. Candidates must be eighteen years old, or younger, on the date of the submission deadline, 15 July 2020. (Candidates for the Junior Prize must be fourteen years old, or younger, on the date of the submission deadline.)

Each essay should address only one of the questions in your chosen subject category, and must not exceed 2000 words (not counting diagrams, tables of data, footnotes, bibliography or authorship declaration). Please submit your essay, saved in pdf format, through our website. The title of the pdf attachment should read SURNAME, First Name (e.g. POPHAM, Alexander).

Prizes

There is a prize for the best essay in each subject category. Each subject prize is worth ￡100, and the essays will be published (with the authors' permission) on the Institute website. The prize-giving ceremony will take place in Oxford, at which winners and runners-up will be able to meet the judges and other faculty members of the John Locke Institute. Family, friends and teachers are also welcome, subject to capacity constraints.

The candidate who submits the best essay overall will be awarded an honorary John Locke Institute Junior Fellowship, worth ￡500.

Criteria

Essays will be judged on the level of knowledge and understanding of the relevant material, the quality of argumentation, the structure, writing style and persuasive force. Candidates are advised to answer the question as precisely and directly as possible.

特别声明：我的翻译仅根据个人理解，绝非官方，仅供参考。参赛者请按照官网上的英文原题进行问题分析与写作回答。

Philosophy 哲学

Q1. Is intuition to philosophy as observation is to science?

直觉之于哲学的重要性能与观察之于科学的重要性相比吗？

Q2. Are there circumstances under which an employer has a moral duty to pay her employee more than they agreed in the employment contract?

是否有，以及在什么情况下，雇主有给予雇员高于合同的工资数目的道德义务呢？

Q3. Can good art make one a better person? (Professor Roger Teichman, University of Oxford)

‘优秀’的艺术能让一个人更‘好’吗？

Politics 政治学

Q1. Governments do a lot of things, such as collecting taxes and drafting people into the military, that we would object to individuals doing. Can this be justified? (Professor David Friedman, Santa Clara University)

政府做的不少事情也许是个人不愿意做的，譬如交税与服兵役。那这些事情是公允合理的吗？

Q2. There are some things it is legal to give away but illegal to sell. Should this distinction exist?

有些物品/事物——当你把它们送于他人的话是合法的，但如果你售卖的话是非法的。我们应当有这样的法制划分吗？

Q3. American citizens give away more than $300 billion each year in charitable donations. Only a tiny fraction of this (less than 0.001%) is donated to federal, state, and local governments. Politicians claim that they spend taxpayers' money efficiently, to accomplish the most good with the budgets at their disposal. But if this were true wouldn't governments be able to compete more successfully with private charities? What are the implications of your answer?

（这个太长了，不翻译）

Economics 经济学

Q1. What is the socially efficient level of crime? (Professor Daniel d'Amico, Brown University) 

什么是“从社会层面来讲，最有‘效率’”的犯罪率？

Q2. Does unilateral free trade serve a nation's economic interests? (Professor Donald Boudreaux, George Mason University)

单向自由贸易符合一个国家的经济利益吗？

Q3. What are the most important economic effects - good and bad - of forced redistribution? How should this inform government policy?

强制性的资源均分重配会带来怎样重要的经济结果（无论好坏）？知道这些对政府经济决策有什么助益？

History 历史学

Q1. How is the modern world different from previous periods of history and why did it come into existence when and where it did? (Dr Stephen Davies, Institute of Economic Affairs)

“现代”与其他历史时代有什么区别？“现代”是何时出现的，又是在哪里出现的？

Q2. Is a strong state a prerequisite or an obstacle to economic growth? (Professor Terence Kealey, economic historian, University of Buckingham)

一个强有力的政府是经济发展的必要前提呢，还是一个阻碍?

Q3. How did there come to be so many prisoners in the United States?

美国为什么有如此多的监狱囚犯？

Law 法律

Q1. Do the underlying principles of common law require that juries be informed about jury nullification? 

Q2. Why is racial discrimination illegal on employment websites but not on social websites such as Facebook or Tinder?

为何在招聘网站上种族歧视是非法的，而在社交网站上却不是呢？

Q3. Does a law that prohibits the selling of sex protect or infringe women's rights?

Psychology 心理学

Q1. Isn't all reasoning (outside mathematics and formal logic) motivated reasoning?

Q2. According to evolutionary psychology, we are evolved to believe what is useful, whether or not what is useful is always also what is true. How can we resist the tendency to believe what is evolutionarily adaptive at the expense of truth? And would it increase or diminish human flourishing to do so?

Q3. Are the psychological differences between genders greater or smaller than those between sexes?

Theology 神学

Q1. According to C.S. Lewis, 'a man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher.' If Jesus was not God Incarnate, what was he?

Q2. Many people have committed acts, execrated and deplored by others, in obedience to sincerely held beliefs. Can we reasonably ask anyone to do better than simply to obey his own conscience?

Q3. Is Islam a religion of peace?

1.     展现学术兴趣，

2.     展示学术才能，

3.     锻炼学术写作技能

4.     锻炼学术研究技能——搜索整理资料、归纳整合成文的能力

5.     宝贵的学术经历，广受国际认可，能作为申英（不少成功进入牛津剑桥的学长学姐曾经参加过，有些获奖）、申美的活动列表和文书的素材

6. 一旦入围，能获得公费在牛津大学参与学术活动与颁奖仪式的机会