Blog Entry #6

1. "The true philosopher is like someone who escapes from that cave and sees real things, when he gets back, no one believes him."

I agree with Socrates. The cave represents a persons perspective on what is "normal". When someone suggests something out of the ordinary, many times that person is put down or not supported. Nowadays, if a person on the street, or even a friend, started talking seriously about how aliens were going to invade the planet, people would think they were "not normal". No one would actually think that it was going to happen. The same goes for philosophers. Many of them go beyond the ordinary and dig deeper into religion and life. Sometimes their statements and beliefs are so different from our own we do not belive a word they say. Philosophers should have tried helping others escape from the cave and not just narrating to them what they had found.

2. What is justice to Plato?

Plato belives that justice embodies the four great vitrtues, courage, wisdom, temperance, and justice. His idea came from utopian thinking.

3. What are the positive and negative elements to Plato's ideal republic?

Plato's utopian thinking has its pros and cons. His ideal republic was an aristocracy. Every profession people could get were based on their intelligence, strength, and courage. The pros of this idea were: only the most courageous, intelligent, and strong people would be able to rule the state while the people lower in skills than them would have the less important jobs. The fate of the state was in very good people's hands. The cons of this idea was that some people with innate wisdom have more experience in situations needed to be learned than the more intelligent. Decisions in political office would be needed to make, but to make a dicision people need to be educated in school and in their own experiences. For example, someone who has gotten their college degree might not know what to do in certain outside-of-school situations whereas people who have only had a 7th grade education then dropped out might know better. Intelligence, strength, and courage are not all that make up a good politician, but you also need to be "street smart".

4. What is your vision of an ideal state or republic?

In my opinion, there can never be such a thing as an ideal society. If there were one, it would be one where everyone was "colorblind"- there would be no racial or religious issues. Everyone would always be open to help others when needed. People would have different opinions but would find other ways of voicing them than rioting, protesting, and boycotting. There would be no violence and people would get along well all around the world.

5. This means that the only thing that holds us back from learning a great deal is that we will not accept things out of the ordinary. If it is not part of our everyday lives, we do not belive it exists. When someone tries to explain something they learned to someone and the person's response is, "No... of course that can't be true!" the person has just denied something that someone else belived to be true. The information taught was not in the the person's perspective of "normal" and so it was not accepted.

Blog Entry #5

1. If you were a young teenage girl of the citizen class, in which city-state would you rather live? Why?

If I was a young teenage girl of the citizen class, I would deffinitely rather live in Sparta. They were treated a whole lot more like equals there. The Spartans believed in people being in "top-shape". The girls were educated, just like the boys. They could also own their own property and guarded their husband's property during wars. Out of all the city-states in Greece, women lived best and had the most independence in Greece.
In Athens, women were not even allowed outside of their houses very often! They were not educated and were considered property of their husbands.


2. If you were a slave, in which would you rather live? Why?

I would rather live in Athens if I were a slave. Slaves in Athens could have more important jobs like being a war ship rower or being a policeman.
Slaves in Sparta were treated horribly because the slaves would rebell all the time. Their rewards for their work would be cut in half, one half going to the slave and the other to the master.


3. If you were a boy of citizen class, in which would you rather live? Why?

I would rather live in Athens if I were a boy. Unlike women in Athens, boys were treated way better than in Sparta. In Sparta the boys would barely get to know their parents and family because they were separated at the age of seven and trained until age 21. Also, if the boy did not look "strong enough" at birth, he would be killed. Athens believed in education over military. boys went to school and were taught many things like gymnastics, writing, reading, and math. They only underwent military training for two years - unless they joined the army.


4. If you were a young soldier, in which would you rather live? Why?

Athens was based on education and not the military while Spartans' lives were completely focused on the military instead. I would rather live in Sparta. Even though boys were separated from their families at age seven, if I was a soldier, Sparta would be better. Boys were trained in harsh but effective ways. The Spartan's army was amazing and strong.


5. If you were a very wealthy person of the citizen class, in which would you rather live? Why?

Athens in my opinion is the better place a wealthy person could live. More money means a better education and larger properties. Wealthier people could go to academies where they could study things like ethics and philosophy. Education is very important to me and can help you throughout your entire life.


6. Athens vs Sparta?

Being a girl, I would rather live in Sparta. Women's lives were so much better there. They were equal to men's. If I were a boy, I would have chosen Athens. I like how Athens really values education. They should have believed in equality for both genders like the Spartans. Girls are just as important as men!

Blog Entry #4

New ideas emerge from political, social, or economic stress because of the need for change. When something goes wrong, it means there is some sort of idea that is failing. The emperors went a bit too far at one point and tried to have the eunuchs check the power of their wives' families. A struggle developed between the scholar-gentry, the eunuchs, and the wives' families. It eventually lead to their downfall, but also introduced new ideas. After 400 years of warring states, the Sui dynasty rose to power, some of the most creative and influential people of all human history. If not for the political and social stress in China, the Sui dynasty might never have rose to power. Also, after farming became harder and harder, making more people poor, the Han dynasty created watermills and wheelbarrows. Because of stress like these, many new ideas are forced to be formed, many times creating a better solution than what was previously done.

3. Population Growth

I do not think that population growth was the single most important development during the Classical Period. Network exchange was equally essential. Population growth had its problems like deforestation, overpopulation, famine, loss of many resources, and so on. That's where Network exchange came in. Trading with others created new ways of gaining back the lost needs. Network exchange cannot survive on its own either. It needs population growth so that there actually is trade! Neither can exist without the other.

2. Intro to Classical Period

The biggest change of the Classical Period was the relationship between civilizations and how they influenced one another. Trade became much more convenient. India had the longest trade routes. Nomads would often help out with trades between peoples. Greek science was used all over Asia. Cultures like the Greek's became very popular and spread widely to other civilizations. Many religions also changed civilizations greatly. Confucianism, for example, would spread all over Asia, not just China. These advancements led to many future achievements.

1. Reflection on Yali's Question

White Europeans came to control a large share of the modern world, partly because they have always been more technologically advanced than most civilizations. While gaining weapons like guns and bronze tools, other civilizations were still hunter-gatherers. This huge gap in technology made other civilizations prone to European conquerors. Europeans were placed in a great spot geologically too. The climate was colder, forcing people to build more complex shelters and clothes. The land was rich in resources, making improvements in everything easier and faster. Europeans also had large amounts of diseases which wer passed on to their less populated neighbors, making them easy to conquer. They had guns, germs, and steel, which was all that they needed to create a huge country.