Socrates Blog.

1. "Wisdom begins in wonder".

I chose this quote because I agree that the ideas and lessons you learn are from curiosity or making mistakes. When you wonder about something, you begin to ask questions. When those questions are answered, you learn something new and that's what most people think of as wisdom. I'm not really sure all wisdom beings with wondering or curiosity, but I'm pretty sure Socrates and I are on the same page with this quote. 

2. To Plato, justice is whatever the best thing for each person is. We all have different opinions and we all know what's best for ourselves, so we can tell what the justice in our lives would be. I think that's the definition of justice to Plato is. 

3. I don't think that it's good that people that are not as smart or brave as others should be lowered in rank because of their inability to do something as well as someone else. If people that weren't as smart got jobs that very smart or very brave people got, they would be able to grow in strength and ability to do work. Like I said before, you can learn new things by doing stuff you didn't think you could do, or just by making mistakes. The people that aren't smart enough to get the good jobs, according to Plato's ideal republic, could possibly be really successful and help the world if they had the chance. 

4. An ideal republic or state for me would be that all people are somewhat equal. It seems like in San Francisco, because of all the diversity we have, equality prevails in many situations. Even though it also seems like there are more white people and rich people in private school, at least most San Franciscans have gotten a good education and can live to be successful people.  Also, an ideal republic would be a place where religion, race, sexuality, etc doesn't matter because technically, we're all just people living on Earth and we shouldn't be fighting with other people like the world is now.

5. I agree that the visual universe is reality because what we see and know is there is the truth. Even though with many situations, people can come off looking nice and sweet but really turn out evil, at least you know that people are there. If the world was based on the intelligible, we would most likely believe anything that came out of any one's mouth. I don't think that the visual universe is standing in the way of knowledge, because seeing or visualizing something can help us learn. If people just stopped visualizing, stopped learning for themselves, and started listening to what other people say and believing those people, the world would easily fall apart. We need our own opinions, and many of those opinions come from learning from visual objects. 

Athens Vs. Sparta questions.

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 teenage girl that lived in Greece, I would want to live in the Spartan society because the Spartan women and gils were educated in reading, writing, and could be physically educated by playing sports. The Spartan women were educated physically and mentally so they could produce healthy babies. Also, Spartan women could own their own property or oversee her husband's property during times of war. Athenian women were kept inside the house and they were considered property of the males in the family. I would definitely not want to live in that kind of society because I think that women should get at least some of the same rights as men did, like Sparta. 

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

If I was a slave in Greece, I would want to live in the Athenian society because even though a slave-owner could kill a slave, the owner could also give the slave important roles in the community. For example, owners could appoint slaves into being policemen. Also, slaves were treated a lot less harshly in Athens than in many other city-states in Greece. In Sparta, the helots had to give half of their produce and crops to their owners, but in Athens, the slaves seemed to have more freedom.

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

I would rather live in the Athenian society if I was a boy of the citizen class because boys got to be educated from about the ages of 5-14. They lived a normal life and were educated in many of the same things boys in the United States society are educated in. From the age 18 until the boy turns 20, he enters a military training camp. That life for a boy is much more acceptable for me than the Spartan boys' lives because the Spartan boys have to go to the military from the age of 6 until they're 60. I would not want to go to the military for almost my entire life, like the Spartans do. Athenian boys have a lot more freedom and knowledge than the Spartans do. Spartan boys mostly only know how to fight and protect their city-states. Even though strength and protection of their own city-state is important, I think that actual knowledge, reading, writing, and a little bit of physical activity would be a better life for boys in the citizen class in Greece. 

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

If I was a young soldier in Greece, I would probably want to live in the Athenian society because they only have to go to a military training camp for two years. Spartan soldiers have to be the army for almost 55 years, at least. I definitely would not want to go to the army for that long unless the only thing I cared about protecting Sparta or fighting other city-states or countries in general. I don't think that I would ever only care about fighting. 

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 Athens if I was a very wealthy person because that means that I would get a better education that the average citizen class. I would get four more years of education than the normal group of people. Even if I was a wealthy person in Sparta, I would still have to join the army for almost my entire life, which I would definitely not want to do. Also, in Athens, I would probably have slaves to own and girls got private tutors to learn. 

6. Finally, decide to represent either Athens or Sparta and debate which is the best place to live. use the chart from class to find criticisms of the other city-states while praising your own. 

I think Athens is a much better place to live because they didn't just care about phyisique, looks, and military, but they cared about education and freedom for most people. Spartans barely had any freedom because the men had to spend almost their entire lives in the military. Even though women were treated more equally in the Spartan community, they were only treated as equals to give birth to healthy and strong children that could potentially fight in the army. Women had to get married at the tender age of 18 in the Spartan community, which seems a bit too young to settle down and have kids that you don't even get to raise because they're being raised by the state to learn to fight. Military and strength were the biggest parts of Sparta, which isn't a healthy way to live in a community. While Athens taxed and got money from other city-states, all Spartans did was fight the other city-states to try to protect Sparta. Boys were taken at a very young age to serve in the army without a formal education before they leave for the army in Sparta, which is also an unhealthy way to live. Athens had 10 elected officials to represent society while Sparta had two kings and a couple other men to rule over all of Sparta. Also, Athens had a way bigger population than Sparta did, which means that a lot of people favored Athens over Sparta. 

Blog 4.

I think the way that new ideas emerge from stressful times or times of instability can be explained is that we have many ways to prove that new ideas came from horrible times. When we are truly happy or peaceful, no changes will be made because there is no point of change in times of happiness. But, when times are hard or unstable, we need to think of new ideas or policies to make us happy. Whenever there is economic instability, whoever the leader is will be blamed for it. For example, Herbert Hoover was blamed for the Great Depression. The leader will become very unpopular and new policies come. Periods of instability also cause big changes with the government, military, or economy. When communism ruled over Russia, people were very unhappy there. Russia suffered from many economic woes, so the country had a revolution of thought. Another example is when Germany was blamed for most of World War I. New political parties, such as the Nazis, turned up because Germany wanted revenge against the world. Another war is a big period of instability and change. When the Americans entered the Vietnam War, many Americans were very upset. There was a huge hippie and Anti-War movement. Today, the political campaigns of John McCain and Barack Obama are also focused on making big changes in our economy. Right now, our economy is down the drain and hopefully the next President, whoever it may be, will change the policies. In conclusion, new ideas and policies are originated so we can get out of the unfortunate periods of instability. 

Blog 3.

I wouldn't say that population growth is the MOST significant development of the Classical Period, but it's definitely one of the most important. I think that the population growth was only an important and significant development during the Classical Period because networks of exchange were created, and vice versa. If the network of exchange concept wasn't created, then the surge in population growth would not have been so massive. But, if the population hadn't skyrocketed the way it did, networks of exchange wouldn't have needed to been created. Through the networks of exchange, along with religion, people in different countries could have a common thought or belief, without knowing each other. Trade also expanded once religion and population grew, because, as Mr. Stern said in class, people began to trust each other if they believed in the same religion. So, in conclusion, I think the most important developments were not just the fact that the population grew, but also that religion and networks of exchange affected the population growth. 

Blog 2.

  I think the biggest change that occurred during the Classical Period was that the cultures between the various countries were meshed together. A lot of the growth of each civilization was done independently. Internal trade was a major part of each civilization. The crops that were needed but not grown in one part of a region, might have been grown in abundance in another region. For example, trade from India stretched as far out as southeast Asia. Because of the distance between civilizations, each society had many of their own customs, but most were still somewhat culturally connected to one another. 

1. Reflection on Yali's Question.

I think that the White Europeans controlled a big part of the modern world because they wiped out large numbers of people in other countries and conquered the land due to their infectious diseases and new technology. The Europeans also came to control because they were already powerful, but wanted to control more land. They had not only powerful and organized armies, something their opponents did not, but they also wanted to expand more than small African tribes, for example. The bottom line is Europeans had the edge over smaller, less developed enemies because of their advanced technology. Their governments may also have added motivation to show their citizens how powerful their country was and that it could conquer and take over other parts of the world.