Blog Entry # 5

     

   1.      "Wisdom begins with wonder," Socrates.

I agree with this quote. In life your first basic instinct is to find what interests you and what doesn't. You are not born with an innate wisdom of anything you must wonder to find interests you. Once you have found what interests you, you may being to learn by asking people, asking yourself and by doing that you have wisdom in a sense. In my opinion when Socrates questioned his reality and others realities he was finding the wisdom that everyone has a different reality. Nobody is right and nobody is wrong. 

2.  Plato thinks that justice is what the powerful decide it is and the powerful decide what justice is based their agenda or what's best for them. So basically what i think Plato is trying to say is justice is a reality for everyone. We as single humans should define justice for ourselves.

3.  I think that Plato's idea or way of thinking is very much so used in politics today but at the same time not at all. In the way that the smartest, the most courageous and the ones with the most virtues rule the state is how we rule the United States. That obviously was a smart move on Plato's part. Also the idea that everyone gets a job or something to do is very much apart of the culture today. The part of Plato's ideal republic is that the "lesser" peoples had to representation and with the aristocracy in control they wouldn't be able to see life through the "lesser" peoples eyes.

4. My vision for an ideal state would have the smartest, most courageous, people in power to make decisions. However there would be people under the main aristocrates, who were elected by the people they represented i.e 3 reps for the lower class ,5 reps for middle class and 4 reps for the upperclass. These elected peoples would then approve or disapprove the idea's the aristocracy. Also the aristocracy would have to be elected.

  5. This means that the world is made up of different realities but we are usually only used to our own. Things can be seen differently by many people and who can say who is right or not? Nobody can say who is right or not because they to have their own reality. If everyone suddenly dropped all the knowledge they had known for years and started questioning people from around the world maybe we would have knowledge. Until the day all people come together and question and share idea's we are all living ignorantly because we only know one thing. Most people have never even stepped out if the box and tried to see life through somebody else's eyes.

                                         Population Growth

    Yes I think that population growth was the biggest achievement. I think this because population growth led many things. Back in the classical period the bigger the city the better it functioned. Also population growth led to more farming which led to bigger populations and healthier people. Also the more the people in a civilization the more down time people had to invent stuff. Also more people in a civilization enabled trade to be a lot easier then it was before. Also I think that the civilizations with more people had better armies and could conquer other civilizations, which probably helped shape the world into what it is today. I think that almost every advancement made in the Classical Period was fueled by population growth. From farming to technological advancements with a small population it couldn't have been done.

Introduction to Classical Period

    Although there were many achievements in the Classical Period especially in Asia I believe that trade was the biggest change in the era. Solid evidence that the trade was occurring was a Buddha was found wearing Greek fashions. Trade enabled civilizations to also trade with itself. For instance they could now grow vegetables where they could flourish. In the Classical Period it was really common that civilizations trade with their neighbors. it seems like the civilizations that traded were more successful  then those who didn't. Not many technological advances were made in the Classical Period, but steel was founded. Steel was the beginning of guns which helped shape the modern world.

Yali's Question Reflection

As I read Yali's question I have to ask myself is the reason that the white Europeans dominated because during the time of the last Ice Age they traveled to the best geological location. Why couldn't the native American people or the African people dominated? It seems apparent to me that the colonies used the resources around them to their advantages. Also it seems like the colonies way of life differed by their location. What I mean is farmers developed different tools then the hunting colonies. The only other answer I came up with is genetics. Only the strongest physically and mentally strongest could survive the climate, diseases, and constant attack of other colonies. Seems like where there was water more political organization followed. Maybe the Europeans came to power because they were the first to explore. Being the first to explore meant spreading diseases, and weakening enemy. By weakening the enemy the Europeans could take control, and adopt the wanted ways of the conquered peoples. Also being the first to explore meant building up their immune systems, so when foreign people came to Eurasia the Europeans would be less likely to get sick. There really isn't any one reason that one group of people conquered others, but there are many logically guesses backed by evidence.