#6 Greek Philosophers

1. Pick one of the quotes from Socrates ("The Words of Socrates") and agree or disagree: question Socrates! 

"He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have."

I agree with this quote, I have found this to be true in the past with my own self. I have always wanted more things, I can't help it. But my point is it that if you are never happy with what you have then you will never be happy. If you constantly keep getting stuff and keep wanting more than you will never learn to appreciate the good things in life.

2. Read Plato's definition of the "Nature of Justice" and the "Ideal Republic." What is justice to Plato?

Basically Plato believed that being just was obeying, without restraint your higher authorities and your individual self (emotions,spirit,bodily appetites,intellect,etc.).

3. What do you think about Plato's ideal republic (What are positive elements of it? Negative)?  

I think that having a structure is a good thing, so that it doesn't fall apart, that you have rules to follow and obey. But I think that you don't have any freedom and you basically do as your told or else. It doesn't sound like the best method and idea for running a civilization.

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

I think democracy is the way to go. Everyone has a voice, so I believe that everyone should be able to use it. I feel like everyone should be on even ground, and be open to new ideas.

5. The Allegory of the cave argues that the only thing standing in the way of knowledge is our insistence that the visual universe is reality. What does this mean? 

It means that we have known things our whole life to be a certain way, we trust that, and believe that that is its only purpose, nothing more nothing less. It means that we don't open our minds enough to think about things in another way than we were taught. It means that we are narrow minded and that we aren't allowing our minds to think in other maybe brilliant ways.

4.

#5 Sparta vs. Athens

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

    I would want to live in Sparta. Spartan women were much more free to do what they want. Athenian women were confined to their husbands house's to do spinning, weaving, and other domestic arts. Spartan women were taught how to read and write and they could participate in sports, all of which Athenian women could not do. Athenian women were kept at home, when Spartan women were allowed to own there own property. The only thing that I don't like about the thought of being a Spartan women is that they are seen as baby makers. That was there one goal in life, to make strong healthy babies. But besides that overall women sound like the get a lot more freedom and respect in Sparta.

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

   It depends. If you are talking about me choosing between Sparta and Athens specifically being a women slave, then I would probably pick Sparta. Sparta's women slaves had few rights, but were more independent in Sparta then anywhere else in Greece. But if we were just talking in general, then I would pick Athens because they were less harshly treated than in most Greek cities. Athenian slaves sometimes were given important roles but, Athenian slaves were allowed to be killed by there owners. And women had no rights and were rarely seen outside of the house. But I think overall I would want to live in Sparta because they were not allowed to be in the military, they only did nonmilitary work.

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

   I would want to live in Athens. Athenian boys were taught reading, writing, mathematics, music, poetry, sport, and gymnastics. The amount of years that they were taught depended on how wealthy your parents were but besides that it sounds pretty decent. In Sparta they take you away at the age of seven and trained in the art of warfare. They were dedicated to the state until age 30 and after that continued to fight in the military until they were 60. In Athens they were taught for a long time about deep stuff other than fighting and only had 2 years of military training. 

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

   Like I said before, in Athens the military seems way less of a big deal. In Sparta they have boys train for the military starting at the age of 7 and you are forced to be in the military until you are 60. The Athenian men have to go into military training for only 2 years. 

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

   I would want to live in Sparta. Its simple in the Spartan society upper classes had all the power and privilege. Whereas Athenian citizens were all equal, so no one had the higher authority. Of course you would want to be a wealthy person who had power and control over things not a wealthy person who is equal with everyone else. 

6.    I feel that Athens is the best place to live. I think that I would rather want to live in a democratic society, not just politicians would attend assemblies but everyone would,  Athens was said to be the birthplace of democracy. They weren't as narrow minded as the Spartans that only had war on their mind. Athenians enjoyed the luxuries of life and focused more on culture, art, literature, etc. When the Spartans stuck to the basics of life and focused mainly on war and healthy babies. 

   The education in Athens was way better too. They were able to learn from the ages 5- 14 and sometimes 5-18 and then went to train for the military. In Sparta they take the boys away at 7 to train and they get less of an overall education. 

   I like the atmosphere of Athens better, it seems less harsh and more free to do what you want, overall a better place to grow up. It seems like it is a lot less controlling then Sparta where it seems like your whole life is planned out for you when your born, that is if you are a strong baby, because if your not they will kill you. Athens is a place of spirit, culture, and choice, that is why I think Athens is a better place to live.

   

   

#4

New ideas in politics and philosophy tend to emerge in social, political, and/or economic stress.

How can this be exclaimed?

Well I think that new ideas tend to emerge when we are in times of need, or are in a stressful situation. I mean there is no point for people or civilizations or communities etc. to come up with new ideas when they are not forced to, there is no purpose. So for example there is President Bush who was in office at the time of 9/11 made the decision to go to war in Iraq. Wether or not that was the right decision he still went along with his idea thinking it would be a good idea and would help our "civilization" out, America. Leaders are constantly trying to up there status and become better by bettering there civilization, so there are plenty of bad ideas but there has to be a few good ones in the mix. Right now everything in America has gone bad, stock markets are crashing, the dollar is going down, houses aren't selling for very much at all and as in overall America is in the dumpsters right now. But hopefully Obama will become our new president and plenty of new, great ideas will emerge. Wrapping this up, when civilizations or people in general are in distress or harm they find ways to make there situation better trying to create a more stable and safe environment.

#3 True or False?

Population growth the most significant development of the Classical Period. True or False?

I think that population growth is an extremely significant development, but I don't think that it is the most important one. I think that the networks of exchange also played a huge part in the development of the Classical Period and the development of today for that matter. I think that they both worked together to hand in hand to create more complex societies and cultures. The network of trades were able to spread goods so that towns and cities would become more unified, making possible for empires to form. Population growth then was able to continue intensifying and was able to build great armies because of the network of trading, they were able to have new tools and learn new ways of warring. Also the trading of food and domesticated animals played a big part in the population growth, they were able to share different foods and animals making there resources supple and allowing there kingdoms to grow in population. If you could grow or supply more food (calories) per acre then you can have more people per acre, allowing the land to fill up and become more dense. Then when the cities and empires grew denser more and more people were living in close proximity with animals which led to diseases, which led to immunity, which led to longer life expectancy, which also led to more population growth. But without the network of exchange the population growth could not succeed, they worked together to become two of the most important developments of the Classical Period.

#2

Jarrid Diamonds number one theory about the New Guineans not having any luck on progressing in technology, the Europeons becoming strong and having plenty of "cargo", and other civilizations crumbling under more powerful empires was " it is all geographical luck". The New Guineans had no crops to farm, no weaponry to use, and not enough people to create a well constructed army. They pretty much were only paying attention to feeding themselves and keeping themselves alive. The Europeans on the other hand had already established an army, weapons and steady food income. Other civilizations such as China, India, Roman Empire, etc. continue to grow faster and larger especially because they had great geographical locations. Trade links emerged and they tried to integrate larger regions, but eventually they all declined and brought the classical period to an end. 

  Farming was a big part of conquering. Before farming civilizations hunted and gathered food and that meant moving along with it when the seasons change. Before farming civilizations did not settle they moved around constantly. Once they started farming everything changed. Without crops you could not feed a civilization. The Americas were big on corn, squash, and beans. Africa farmed yams and China farmed rice. They Middle East farmed wheat and so did Europe. But Europe also had easy access to all of the big farming civilizations so they never were low on food. After they started farming crops, they started domesticating animals. Middle East had the most livestock, but it spread to Europe and Asia. That is why Europe was able to thrive because of its geographical location. It just got lucky.

#1

First of all Europeans had one of the best armies in the world at the time. So I'm sure that helped them conquer more easily. Europeans had more advanced weaponry and more effective military capabilities. Also Europe's royalty thought of marriages as business deals making certain kings and queens more powerful depending on who they married there daughters off too or allowed there sons to marry. Putting them in a position to amass power to conquer countries with there military forces. Europe was also an older and more advanced culture especially when it came to warring. I think one of the reasons why other civilizations were subjects to colonization is because a lot of them were focused on fighting against each other and not concentrating on conquering other continents or civilizations. I think over all Europe had the right weaponry, the right tools, the right skills, and all together the right idea on how to conquer other civilizations.