Money > Love

So while I was watching Gossip Girl with my roommate earlier, I realized that Lily van der Woodsen seems to have some of the same views as Lily Bart. They both choose money over love. Lily van der Woodsen was threatened to loose her inheiritance if she stayed with Rufus, so she left him. Although Lily Bart wasn't losing money, she wouldn't be gaining much money by marrying Seldon, so she tried to marry both Percy and Rosedale instead.

Tao Te Ching Is A Socialist

I was rereading the second poem in Tao Te Ching and there is a part of it that sounds like something Marx would have written if he were to write in that same style. The last few lines of the poem are "Lives but does not own, Acts but does not presume, Accomplishes without taking credit. When no credit is taken, Accomplishment endures." To me, it sounds like what Marx was hoping to accomplish by eliminating ownership of private property. Maybe there are even more similarities between all the books we had to read for CORE this semester than we realize.

Accident or Not??

While reading the end of The House of Mirth, I believed that Lilly purposely killed herself, but after the discussion we had in class, I've been thinking about whether it really was an accident or not. I still have not come to my own conclusion, but I wonder if Edith Wharton even knew, and even if she did, I think what matters more is how each person interprets it. There is evidence to support both conclusions, it really just matters on what you want it to be, an accident or not.

Legacy

After thinking about the discussion we had in class yesterday about the people of old money not associating with those with new money, the conclusion I came to is that it's not becuase of the money but because of social standing. I went to my friend's debutanate ball last week and part of the ceremony was announcing the debutante's mother, grandmother, and even a few great-grandmothers. The reason those who possess old money are united with one another and not with those of new money isn't because of the difference of when their money was gained but because of the past legacies that have been established between these families with old money.

Sunshine

As always, I picked the slowest line. While waitng to go through the security checkpoint, I realized the reason my line was so slow was because the security guy was talking to each and every person as they went through whereas all the other security people just quickly checked and kept the line going. I was a little aggravated and starting to worry about missing my flight when I finally reached the front of the line. I can't remember exactly what he said but it had to do with the sunshine, being from the sunshine state and having a wonderful day filled with sunshine. It sounded like something Rives would have said and was a nice little break from the stress that always comes with traveling through airports.

Marx is known for his views that private property should not exist. By private property, he means "private property, as the antithesis to social, collective property, exists only where the means of labour and the external conditions of labour belong to private individuals" (297-298). While reading this line, it reminded me of a poster I've seen. I was trying to find a picture of it but couldn't :( The poster is something about success leading to a good life with the background being a nice, big house on a large land of property with a long driveway that connects to an additional garage with about five really nice cars. If we followed Marx's way, this poster would not create motivation for anyone since, even with the additional work required to achieve that kind of success, they would just continue having equal things as everyone else.

Simplified

Marx seems to have a need to make everything sound more complex then it really is, such as when he is explaining the relationship between an employee and his employer. An example would be when he says, "he and the owner of money meet in the market, and enter into relations with each other on a footing of equality as owners of commodities, with the sole difference that one is a buyer, the other a seller" (265). All this simply means is someone getting hired.

Joe Clark = Ascetic Priest

Today in my education class, we watched part of the movie, Lean On Me, with Morgan Freeman. It's a movie about a failing inner city school being turned around with the help of new principle, Joe Clark. During his first speech, he tells his students that the only one to blame for their failures are themselves. As soon as I heard this, I thought of when Nietzsche talks about the ascetic priest, who believed that "you alone are to blame for yourself!" It looks like Joe Clark sides with the ascetic priest on this one.

While looking back over Nietzsche for my paper, I found a connection to Marx concerning the distinction of animals and humans. Marx believed that "man can be distinguished from the animal by consciousness, religion, or anything else you please" (107). Nietzsche didn't have quite as broad a perspective on our differences from the animals as Marx though. Nietzsche states that "the human soul in a higher sense acquire depth and become evil- and these are the two basic repects in which man has hitherto been superior to other beasts" (33). They both agree somewhat if you consider the consciousness and religion that Marx mentions as the depth that Nietzsche talks of, and you could say that Marx agrees with Nietzsche since Nietzsche's becoming evil would fall under Marx's "anything else you please," but this view of Marx's seems a bit too broad of a distinguishment of animals from humans.

Extinction vs. Freedom

In Marx there is a quote talking about how the bourgeoisie "compels all nations, on pain of extincition, to adopt the bougeois mode of production; it compels them to introduce what it calls civilisation into their midst" (162). This is the exact opposite of what Gandhi was fighting for in India, he believed that India needed freedom, which "will come only when we free ourselves of the domination of Western education, Western culture, and Western way of living" (88). So I wonder, what would happen to India if it were to rid itself of the Western ideal of the bougeois? Would it become extinct as Marx foretells or would it acquire the true freedom that Gandhi proclaimed it would?

What To Believe...

How are we suppose to trust Gandhi's word when he says, "wherever he finds that what I have said or written before runs contrary to what I am writing now, he should without hesitation reject the former" (215). In saying this, Gandhi makes it where he has nothing to hold him accountable to what he says. It makes you wonder what he would say now and if some of his beliefs would have changed...

Views of Society

It seems like Gandhi observes society as an important aspect of life in his essay on the Removal of Untouchability. This is the opposite of Nietzsche's view, who saw society as just a way to keep us caged up. Although he acknowledges the importance of society, he also realizes that a change is needed. In the essay he says, "Society will be better constituted than it is at present, and the impurity and hyposcrisy which infest it now will be dislodged" (233). Gandhi believes that through the varna system, society will be improved.

Happy=??

Gandhi talks about how riches play a part of whether or not someone is happy. He says, "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" (35). So does this mean that in order to be happy we must live a life without luxuries and pleasures? I think there is more to happiness than how much money is (or isn't) in your pocket.

Man's Intelligence

I would have to disagree with Ganhi and his view of man's abuse of the intellect God provided. Ganhi believes that "God gifted man with intellect that he might know his Maker. Man abused it so that he might forget his Maker." But I believe that God created man with the knowledge that man would make the most of his intelligence and create the world we have today not as a way to run away from God, but as a way to use God's gifts to the best of our ability.

Chances

Nietzsche believes that "the healthy should be segregated from the sick." I see his point in that the "sick" will bring down others by their negative attitudes, but who is he to define who is sick and who is healthy in order to determine how people are segregated? He says that the sick are "those who are failures from the start, downtrodden, crushed" but we do not have a way to examine people and know what type of effect they will make in our world until after they have affected the world. Everyone deserves a chance rather than being labeled as either healthy and being expected to positively impact the world or being labeled as sick and a waste to society.

Nietzsche=Socrates

Sometimes, Nietzsche uses reasoning such as "good=noble=powerful=beautiful=happy=beloved of God" (page 34). This is the same type of reasoning that Socrates would use with his students, by agreeing on one point and from there concluding that if A is true, then B must also be true, along with C.

Who We Are

In my sociology class we have been discussing social inequality. While looking back through my notes, I saw that I had written, "We are who we are by knowing who we aren't." This is the same message that the second poem of Tao Te Ching is saying. "Is and Isn't produce each other. Hard depends on easy, Long is tested by short, High is determined by low, Sound is harmonized by voice, After is followed by before." In order for us to define anything in life, boundries must be created that establish an is and isn't.

Just Thinking of Darwin

In my education class today, we were talking about how a student's enviromental surroundings affect thier learning experiences. Usually when changing surroundings, a person tends to adapt to their new enviroment in order to fit in with this new group they now have. Just another way of showing how Darwinism fits into our everyday lives.

TAO Poem

Believe in one’s self,
Without relying on others.
Trust in your actions,
Not hesitating a moment.

By trusting one’s instincts,
TAO can be obtained

Scientific Views of Nature

While sitting outside observing the nature around me, one of the things I noticed was the birds chirping around me. I began thinking about all the different bird sounds that we have discovered and wonder how many more there are that we are still unaware of. I know that each type of bird is known for its distinct bird sound but I wonder how much they can actually communicate with each other through that one sound.Just some things to think about the next time you hear a bird call.

Out of Sight, Out of Mind

While reading the third section in Tao Te Ching, where it says:
"Don't glorify heroes,
And people will not contend.
Don't treasure rare objects,
And no one will steal.
Don't display what people desire,
And their hearts will not be disturbed."
I was reminded of the quote, "out of sight, out of mind" because both of these quotes present the concept that if someone does not realize what they are missing, they won't miss it and want it.

Love Songs

"...the suspicion does not appear improbable that the progenitors of man, either the males or females, or both sexes, before they had acquired the power of expressing their mutal love in articulate language, endeavoured to charm each other with musical notes and rhythm." (259)

Although Darwin just talks of our ancestors using music as a way to express their love and charm one another, we still use music to express our love in today's society. Try and count all the songs we now have about love and see how long it takes! Even though we now have an "articulate language" as a way to charm someone, we still use songs as well.

Syllogism

This is moving back a little bit but today my friends and I were using syllogisms in our conversation which reminded us of our CORE classes. In Plato's readings, Socrates also converses in syllogisms. Such as when he talks to Crito about leaving on pages 49 and 50; he starts with establishing that one must never do wrong, which also means "mistreating people is no different from wrongdoing." From this he realizes that "when one has come to an agreement that is just with someone, [one should] fulfill it" and since all of this is true, it must mean that if Socrates flees the city without permission, he is mistreating people who he should least mistreat, which would be wrong and the first thing extablished in this conversation was that one should never do wrong.

Economy

"That natural selection will always act with extreme slowness, I fully admit. Its action depends on there being places in the polity of nature, which can be better occupied by some of the inhabitants of the country undergoing modification of some kind."

Darwin discusses natural selection in the biological sense, but it also exists in the economical sense. In my sociology class today, we were talking about how the Middle Class is slowly decreasing and will eventually end, just as some species are overpowered by those around them, resulting in extinction.

Delphi

"He went to Delphi at one time and ventured to ask the oracle-as I say, gentleman, do not create a disturbance- he asked if any man was wiser than I, and the Pythian replied that no one was wiser."

Here's a picture of what's left of Delphi and the temple where the oracle of Delphi could be found.

Plato's Euthyphro

"It is then not right to say 'where there is fear there is also shame,' but that where there is shame there is also fear, for fear covers a larger area than shame."


This weekend I was having a conversation about how you can have truth without love, but you can't have love without truth. This reminded me of the part of Plato's Euthyphro about there can be fear without shame but not shame without fear.

Turkey

"We were sailing from Venice to Naples when the Turkish fleet appeared."

In March I went to Europe and one of the days we spent in Turkey. So I found a picture of the Turkish flag flying on a Turkish ship, not quite the same as the fleet mentioned in White Castle, but they are both Turkish!

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