Term Assignment
I suggest the following title for an Assignment:
"We need words to keep us human. Being human is an accomplishment like playing an instrument. It takes practice". (Michael Ignatieff, The Needs of Strangers p. 89).
The idea is that the four of you could work together to map out a general approach and then each write an individual essay (without too much overlap) dealing with the question from your own perspective. Several issues raised by the course are touched on in the quotation and I will try to draw attention to them as often as I can during the semester.