Socrates Vs. Plato

1) Quote by Socrates

"He who is richest is content with the least."

I agree with this quote because it's true that if someone had everything, they would not appreciate anything less. If a person already has the best of everything, their "standards" are a lot higher, even if waht they don't have might be better that what they do have.

2. What is justice to Plato?

Plato belives that justice embodies four great vitrtues: courage, wisdom, temperance, and justice. His idea came from utopian thinking, and he further explains those virtues.

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

The pros of this utopean society are that the people with more courage, intellegence and strength would have higher positions and poeple would be in good hands. But that cans are that only those people would rule, and the poeple who are samrt or wise, but lack one of the traits, or mess up once, would not be able to hold a high posotion anymore. The problem is that there is no utopian sociey, and humans don't live that way. A society can work very well if evetyone gets a say, and there are standards, but not standards for perfection.

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

My vision of an ideal republic is one where people do not get affected by modern ideas like politics and money, and don't start thinking in an uneffective way, but rather understand their situation. If people didn't have wars, (which are, in my opinion very dumb, especially knowing those desicions were made by adults) but thought a little more, then they might understand why they want war, and change their situation, not let their emotions control their "politics."

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.

The allegory of the cave is saying that because humans think that what they see and were told is true, they can't use the rest of their brain. That is probably for a good cause, because then we would have such power, that a little baby could probably destroy the world. But it's saying that we don't connect too much to the spiritual side of the world because our reality is what we see and hear, and we think that that is all ther is. But that's not all their is, because somehow, people get new ideas that nobody has ever heard before, or seen. How do they get them? Usually, by not thinking about "reality" and letting their mind drift away. People may consider them crazy sometimes, but teh allegory is saying that they are just thinking deeper, and it is not what most people consider normal. Maybe they are just using the other 70 -80% of their brain.

Blog #5 Athens Vs. Sparta

1) If I was a young teenage girl of the citizen class, I would rather live in Sparta, because we could be involved in politics, sports and be educated in reading and writing. We would be free to move around, not just be housewives, and own property, take care of our husband's property when they're away at war.(We would be more equal to men.)
2) If I was a slave, I would rather live in Sparta because, even though we would have to give half of our produce to owners of the land, we wouldn't be killed by them.
3) If I was a young boy in the citizen class, I would rather live in Athens, because we would be educated well in reading, writing, poetry, gymnastics, and would only go to the army for 2 years. We could also study for a longer time (5-20 years old) with enough money.
4) If I was a young soldier, I would rather live in Athens because we would only go to the army for 2 years, until 20 years old. unlike the Spartans who would have to go from age 7 -30. Life would be less harsh and infants would not be killed if they were not good for the army.
5) If I was a wealthy citizen, I would rather live in Athens, because we would not have to be military professionals, living in barracks most of our lives, but aristocrats,with large estates, or be in the cavalry. We would be free men, able to vote.

In my opinion, it would be better to live in Athens, a much more enjoyable city to live in with artistic and philosophical background. In Sparta, the focus and daily life is basically military. In Athens, while having a strong army, people can focus on educations and sport, and have more democratic values. Also, slaves were not treated as bad as in other Greek states; some are even given important jobs, like policemen. While women have less involvement in politics, they were plenty busy and home and with their children, who were not taken away at age 7. In Sparta, they would go to the army and live in very harsh environments until age 30, and still be in the army until 60. They would rarely see their wives and children. Overall, Athens is the better place to live, having a better environment, education, and more aristocratic ideals.

New ideas in politics sometimes emerge in times of political or economic stress because there is a need for a new form of government. Sometimes people revolt, like during the Legalist rule in China.Sometimes, the government can't support the state and is overpowered by other countries, causing a change(Great Wall). New politics usually form during times of stress because there is a need for it.

blog 3

Population was not the only development of the classical period. The population doubled, if not tripled, but there were many other changes that came with that. The political system changed; people needed a stronger way of organization, so they developed governments and laws. people started to farm and domesticate animals that helped with farming so that more people could be fed. Many new technologies were created, mostly out of iron. Metal tools also contributed to farming and the population growth. Overall, new creations and ideas were created during the classical period, like art and government, but they all were either caused by population growth or created for it.

Classical Period

Some of the developments of the Classical period were in developing a culture. People started to create rules and laws for religion, philisophy and values. Some cultures considered respect for the elderly more impotrant, some thought less of it. In China, Confucianism taught that people should respect elders, and they even included that in their constitution. In all major cultures, they created huge empires, conquered many lands and fell around 500c.e. They mostly drew upon their river-valley predecessors and created even more monuments and laws. Most of the values that were important during that time had a strong impact on today's world, if not still the same. It was the "era of awe," and civilizations thrived and developed in that time; most of those changes lasting to this day.

I think that the reason that white Europeans control the modern world because they were more advanced for their time. They had more educated people in the countries, and the population was greater. The education in Europe was different from other places. It was more demanding and the discipline lever was greater as well. They were more advanced in technology, trading and had more communication between civilized countries. Also, as Jarrod Diamond described, they were just lucky. The animals that were easily domesticated moved into Europe, and have them milk, protein and leather. While the New Guineans used whatever little they had around them, most of the Europeans already had so much crops and animals that they did not need to worry about survival. They had time to create new technologies, build permanent homes and decorate them. They also had so many crops (that were much more nutritious than what the New Guineans had), that they started to select he crops they wanted to keep, and planted more of them. On simple terms, it was the geographic advantage that helped the Europeans thrive. They were close to the Fertile Crescent and had many more natural resources, mostly that were brought there from other places. They had a head start at civilization, a denser population and a great location to improve their environment without focusing only on survival.