Communism

The idea of Communism on paper seems to be a perfect fit for a country because it is a model of equality. This equality will cause a decrease in hostility towards different classes because there is no class inequality. However, like every system there are problems that arise that are unexpected. When communism is peaking it is the high ranking officials that isolate themselves from the norms of society. They can take the land they desire for their use along with get rich off of the wealth of their country. If the rules were followed religiously there will be limited problems, but this is easier said than done.

Production= life

"He begins to distinguish himself from the animal the moment he begins to produce his means of subsistence, a step required by his physical organization. By producing food, man indirectly produces his material life itself" (p. 107 Marx).


Marx believes that production is the main difference that distinguishes humans from all other animals in the world. We have the power and mind to produce for the future to make survival more suitable for both an individual and the community. In this cases the commodity is priceless for all.

Science of Man

"Natural science will in time include the science of man as the science of man will include natural science: There will be one science" (p. 77 Marx).


He explains that different sciences are intertwined within one another and in time will be seen as one. Because like many other issues that Marx explores he takes a look at the surrounding areas in order to get a better idea of what he views as the "true answers' " (p. 77 Marx).

Private Property?

"Communism as positive overcoming of private property as human self-alienation, and thus as the actual appropriation of the human essence through and for man;..., that is human being (P. 71 Marx).


Marx describes private property contributes to the development of human beings. However, this quote left me feeling confused of how it actually relates to one another. Through the process of private property brings humans closer to creating a society.

man and product

"If man is related to the product of his labor, to his objectified labor, as to an alien, hostile, powerful object independent of him, he is so related that another alien, hostile, powerful independent of him is the lord of this object" (p. 65 Marx).


I found the quotation very confusing, but i believe that it means that the buyer or other individual that is associated to the product will decide whether or not the product is successful.

Working flaws

"The worker becomes poorer the more wealth he produces, the more his production increases in power and extent. The worker becomes a cheaper commodity the more commodities he produces" (p. 59 Marx).


I feel that this quotation gives the worker not that much of an incentive to work hard and produce mass amounts of the desired product. the buyer is getting the better end of the deal while the workers importance decreases.

product for your need

"To be sure, from your point of view your product is an instrument, a means for the appropriation of my product and for the satisfaction of your need" (p. 52 Marx).


This is the first time that I have seen a product referred to as an instrument. It seems to take away from the value of the product being sold. I have not taken any sort of economics classes, which may cause the terms and discussion of products to seem distant.

money

"Likewise, money originally represents by its very concept: (1) private property for private property; (2) society for private property; (3) private property for society" (p. 42 Marx).

The quote is interesting because it brings the reader through a step by step view at how money is represented. Marx looks at the opposite of every situation in order to make better sense of money (ex. society vs priv, priv vs. society).

What to Will

"... man would rather will nothingness than not will" (p. 163 Nietzsche).


The quote again supports being Atheistic and applying science to find answers. Science tries to oppose atheism but really replaces god with truth.

Survival of the Fittest?

"The sick represent the greatest danger for the healthy; it is not the strongest but the weakest who spell disaster for the strong" (p. 122 Nietzsche).


This quotation brought out an issue of how Darwin's theory of "only the strong survive" is put to the test. By having the weak destroying the strong does not follow Darwin's theory and reminded me of the Bubonic plague. The plague caused disaster that spread throughout the world and caused chaos in the homes and minds of individuals.

Socrates and Nietzsche

"Henceforth, my dear philosophers, let us be on guard against the dangerous old conceptual fiction that posited a "pure, will-less, painless, timeless knowing subject;"(p. 119 Nietzsche).


The quote reminded me of Socrates and the way that he spoke to those of the philosphy world. Also, the issue of how time is explained in both Trial and Death and Plato. It resembles the idea of death and how it is timeless and also painless.

Atheism

On page 91 (top) it describes how the feeling of guilt is on the decline with the spread of atheism throughout the community. This can directly connect with religion contributing to people living more civilized and peaceful lives. But, in some cases the teachings of fearing god can be a scare tactic in order for individuals to follow the rules and laws of society.

Conscience and Free Will

"I regard the bad conscience as the serious illness that man was bound to contract under the stress of the most fundamental change he ever experience -that change which occurred when he found himself finally enclosed within the walls of society and peace." (p. 84 Nietzsche).

Here Nietzsche tells that society is the cause for an individual to develop a bad conscience. He states that the standards that society puts on people within its limits will change an individual. This change takes away from the individuals free will, that was apparently invented by philosophers. In the end it is the pressures of society that lead to the shaping of people.

Act Now

"The active, aggressive, arrogant man is still is still a hundred steps closer to justice than the reactive man; for he has absolutely no need to take a false and prejudiced view of the object before him in the way the reactive man does and is bound to do" (p. 75 Nietzsche)


The quote can relate to other issues that occur throughout people lives. The individual that is the most active and puts the most time into a specific idea they will have a better understanding. There is no way to measure how far ahead you may be, however, the individual will feel more comfortable and confident towards the pursuit of justice or the desired information.

Surely, that philosophers' invention, so bold and so fateful, which was then first devised for Europe, the invention of "free will", of the absolute spontaneity of man in good and evil...( p. 69 Nietzsche)


I found it interesting that they feel that they say that free will was invented. Also, I first thought of the idea that religion helped create the idea or theory of free will. Free will does not seem to be an invention, but a part of our everyday lives and the idea that we have our own choice to act the way we feel fit.

Punishment

"As parents still punish their children, from anger at some harm or injury, vented on the one who caused it... every injury has its equivalent and can actually be paid back" (p. 63 Nietzsche)


Here Nietzsche explores the issue of punishment and discusses if it is possible to do so. I think it is very difficult to find an exact and equal response to a wrongdoing that someone has committed. Because we never know if the individual is truly sorry and able to be placed back into society and be trusted.

Animal nature

"Man could never do without blood, torture, and sacrifices when he felt the need to create a memory for himself"(p. 61 Nietzsche).

The quotation displays the instinct of man. It brings of the animal nature that is present in the minds and actions of human beings. These are the actions that re thought of as being long gone during the course of creating civilized societies.

Beasts of Prey

On page 40 there is a quote that talks about good men, then it refers to men that go outside their norm as "beasts of prey".


Nietzsche also talks of how when taken out of their society they become monster-like and would resort to all kinds of crimes because of the shock that they encounter. But the notion of calling a human a beast seems to be extreme yet in modern society or recent was used to describes slaves and other sorts of social outcasts.

Gandhi Science

" Those English books which are valuable, we should translate them into the various Indian languages. We should abandon the pretension of learning many sciences".(p. 57 Gandhi)



The quotation demotes the furthering of the sciences and again stays toward the teachings of religion. He says that the information should be available to the public for their interpretation. In the end it is up to the public to interpret the information that is at the hands of the people. Also, it would further the idea of how people of English decent may live and view situations.

Fear of god

"A man who realized his manhood, who fears only God, will fear no one else". (p. 49 Gandhi).

I found it interesting that Gandhi writes if a a man fears God.... I do not see why Gandhi would not condemn those that fear God. God in my eyes is not something that should be feared, it seems that is should be indulged or seen as sacred.

Rich and Poor

Our ancestors, therefore, set a limit to our indulgences.... A man is not necessarily happy because he is rich, or unhappy because he is poor. The rich are often seen to be unhappy, the poor to be happy. Millions always remain poor. Observing all this, our ancestors dissuaded us from luxuries and pleasures" (p. 35 Gandhi).

The quotation was very confusing and conflicts with the view we have today. The rich seem carry the heir of being happy and having no problems. The poor are seen to many as being inferior and depressed because of their lack of funds and in some cases level of education. This is just an example that I have had in my life with those who commented on people from lower levels of living.

God vs. Technology

My last post concerned religion and technology. I thought of the idea that people depended on the church in order to get answers to questions that they could not explain. But, now a days scientists are the main people of interest to be talked to in regards to a difficult question. Also, this caused major revolutions throughout the world, causing the church to be seen as unreliable in some cases. However, in the end some scientists still believe that the events that led to the creation of man are very complex and if there was some slight change in many different aspects will have changed the outcome significantly.

Forgetting where you come from

"God set a limit to man's locomotive ambition in construction of his body. Man immediately proceeded to discover means of overriding the limit... Man abused it so that he might forget his Maker".( p. 26 Gandhi).


It is very interesting to think of the concept that God is being forgotten due to the formation of civilization and technology. Also, how Gandhi feels that man has abused his own power causing him to forget about his Maker. This seems to have some faults because i do not think that man is forgetting about God i think he is just occupied with the new and interesting technologies in the community.

Laws?

"The more prohibitions and rules,/ The poorer people become./ The sharper the people's weapons,/ The more they riot... The more elaborate the laws,/ The more they commit crimes. (p. 57 Tao Te Ching)


The quote shows how it is human nature for some to rebel against those that put laws into place. It is human nature to have feelings of being completely free and being your own person. However, the fact that we are not free and essentially just play the role of individuals in a society. Laws are put into effect to try and "protect society" but are also meant to be broken by the outcasts of society.

Rebellion

People are hungry./ When rulers tax grain/ People are hungry./ People are rebellious. (p. 75 Tao).
Lao- Tzu describes the state how people react to the actions of the government. He describes how it is better when the government limits its power instead of creating laws and other regulations that impact the lives of individuals. However, when individuals personal lives are put into jeopardy, they can cause an uprising against their own ruling leaders.

Boundaries

"Neighboring countries are so close/ You can hear their chickens and dogs./ But people grow old and die/ Without needing to come and go. (p. 80 Tao Te Ching).

The quotation shows the instinct of individuals and the idea that they do not feel the need broaden their minds. They do not feel the need to advance their country based on the thought that their ways of thinking.

re: Mockingbird

In my last paper I examined how civilizations can be created and altered. In Rives Mockingbird skit he tells his master plan how he thinks that that through his intervention of releasing these birds into the environment that they would change civilizations. The diversity that would be present after the sounds of the different mockingbirds converge on one another. Rives believes diversity makes civilizations flourish.

Gorgeous

the gorgeous skit was very interesting to me because it seems like he is having a stream of conscienceness in a sense he goes from thought to thought, which brings him to the conclusion that all his thoughts about being gorgeous are true.
It was very entertaining and unbelievable seeing the transformation occur in the short time of the video.

mockingbird

Rives Mokingbird skit, shows his ideas of his master plan of releasing birds to bring together communities of all sorts. His plan reminded me of some of one of the internets main purposes. The bringing of people together in different ways seem to be only a fairy tale in reality. With the clash of classes and interests it is only possible to come together in an artificial matter, instead of in real life.

The te and god

P. 49 Poem


The poem states that ordinary people have qualities that resemble that of the Te. The poem reminded me of Christians say that we as people are created in the image of God. Even though people are not perfect they seem to have some qualities that are genuine, which overtake the other qualities,

cleansing

After I sat down for ten minutes and focused on getting all the thoughts i had in my head out, i felt a sense of being free and relaxed. Nothing good or bad came into my mind, it felt as though i was neutral and had no opinions on any matter. Also, there was a sense of rejuvenation that resembled the feeling after waking from sleep.
However, getting to the point of feeling relaxed was difficult because the idea to get all the papers i had due in the following weeks off my mind was very difficult. But in the end i may again go through the same steps in order to feel better and become more relaxed.

Ants

I observed ants outside today because I new some things about ants through sources such as the discovery channel yet haven't observed them in a long time. When i was looking at them i noticed that most of the ants were in unison of one another. Now I do not know how they all know what specific job to do or how they communicate with such a large population around them. Is it instinct? Or is there ways in which they learn how todo there job with one another in a somehwat peaceful and efficient way? The though of doing work with a thousand people in order to achieve a goal just baffers me and shows just how complex nature can be.

our world and us

"Respect the world as your self:
The world can be your lodging.
Love the world as your self:
The world can be your trust". (p. 13)


The poem reminded me those who are one with nature such as Native Americans. Meaning that the world is a part of the individual and all the resources and needs of the individuals are supplied by nature. Many of the problems in the world arise from issues that deal with the environment and the resources (oil, global warming).

man and ape

"Apes are much ... and imitate each others' caution". (p. 243)

I found the quotation interesting because as society we imitate those who we see, just as those who watched Socrates speak in public. The quote provides evidence of how close the human race is to apes. It is also an exmaple of the old saying not to make the same mistake twice, only in much different contexts.

nature on it's own

"So in the general economy of any land, the more widely and perfectly the animals and plants are diversified for different habits of life, so will a greater number of individuals be capable of there supporting themselves" (p.197).


The quotation was something that i had past knowledge about, but i found it interesting that humans are the one exception to the quote. With all the pollution in big cities and all the killing of different animals and plants near these cities is not doing nature or the human race any good. The less human influence on an eco-system causes a thriving land where animals can live at peace. However, I think it is very interesting that we are reading a book on nature, but we can look through it in our perspective, through course named Exploring Human Experience.

Nature's own good

"Man selects only for his own good; Nature only for that of the being which she tends." (P. 177)


I found this quotation interesting because in today's world, scientists perceive nature as being its own mega organism and we are the smaller organisms living on it. Also, the entire idea of global warming is based on humans using excess amounts of natural resources that is causing the Earth to be polluted and eventually cause some kind of self destruction. In the world of big cars and factories, which cause mass amounts of pollution man is clearly not selecting for their own good, proving this quote to be false.

How long can the soul live?

"The image illustrates, I think, the relationship of the soul to the body, and anyone who says the same thing about them would appear to me to be talking sense, that the soul lasts a long time while the body is weaker and more short lived." (p.38)


Yes, the body is short lived and they are not certain if the soul is immortal. But, can it be true that the soul can live through the ideas of the person deceased? Meaning through their life-long journey of living and teaching, their soul lives on as their ideas are being thought about by the public. Because the concepts that are mentioned in the book are invisible, just as they describe soul.

jury's decision

Entire paragraph (bottom 41-top 42) "let us reflect in this way..."


Even at this point, after being sentenced to death Socrates still uses rhetoric to convince himself that death really is not such a bad thing after all. However, if a believer in the god would be having the same discussion their reaction to there being just a deep sleep would most likely frighten them. As opposed to Socrates, who sees it as a win win situation.

Plato??

"it is not being seen becauseit is a thing seen but on the contrary..."


I really was confused with the passage. I was interested in the back and forth notion of cause and effect. But overall I no idea how the context fit in the play.

Plato??

"it is not being seen because it is a thing seen but on the contrary it is a thing seen...." (p.11).

I have no idea what this writing signifies. It is very confusing to me.

Hoja and Narrator

"We heard she died of plague. Why haven't croaked as well? Without saying a word Hoja went down the stairs and left the house. As I followed him I heard the child shouting behind me and a women answering him: 'The lions were here, Mother!' 'No child, your uncle and his brother!'... p. 129


The quotation makes the situation in determining if Hoja and the narrator are in fact separate or the same person more difficult. The lion imagery is also another new motif that is brought up in this quote. It suggests that they are related by blood, however the narrator does not know the supposed family that they are interrupting for no apparent reason.

weapon

"Even four years later, when the little stain had been transformed into a bizarre creature as tall as a grande mosque, a terrifying apparition which all Istanbul talked about and Hoja called a real machine of war, amd while everyone likened it to one thing or another, I was still lost in the details of what Hoja had told me in the past about how the weapon would triumph in the future." p. 120

The quote reminded me of how many viewed the making of the atomic bomb during WW2. Both in the novel and during the making of the a bomb there seemed to an aura of divinity or something sacred towards machine thats goal is to destroy life. The connection is that people try to glorify times of suffering such as in the situations of war, in order to feel less responsible for their actions.

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