Blog Post #2

I love all aspects of society, but there was one thing that we discussed in class that really piqued my interest. I love government and politics, as well as philosophy. My two interests merged with Plato’s ideal society. This is so fascinating, and I am still trying to make sense of it. First of all, Plato loved the number three. This seemingly trivial statement is extremely important. Even in modern day society, power is distributed into triads. Obviously the most direct correlation would the three branches of the United States Government, but in America we also split our primary education into three: elementary, middle, and high. Plato has three different classes, which seems quite stable. Beginning with the upper class of Plato’s city are the philosopher kings, or the rulers. There are a few key aspects of the ruling class, they are all philosophers, they do not have family ties, and they cannot own material possessions. The fact that they are philosophers suggests that the rulers have some baseline level of intelligence, which is needed in order to run any kind of society. The fact that the rulers have no family ties goes hand in hand with the fact that they cannot own material possessions. These two stipulations prevent corruption or favoritism/nepotism. With these limitations, Plato ensures that the rulers will act in the interest of their country, and that they will not act in their own self-interest. Next, we move on to the soldiers. Obviously, every society needs some form of police and protection, and it is good to have limitations on them, which is exactly what Plato organized. Plato prevented the soldiers from having family ties, which prevents favoritism, and promotes equal protection under the law. Plato also allowed the soldiers to have some material possessions, to compensate for the fact that they do not have as much power as the rulers. The workers, as the lower class, run the city. These people are allowed to have material possessions, as there would be many rebellions if they could not possess things. Overall, I think this is a good way to rule, and I especially subscribe to the ideology that the rulers should not have material possessions, or at least not while they are in power. The one complaint I have is that people should not be born into their class. The best of the best, no matter where they were born, should be able to be a philosopher king.

Blog Post #1

I am currently reading the book Sophie's World, by Jostein Gaarder. In this novel, Sophie is a young teenager beginning to dabble in philosophy. The story is very entertaining and all, but there was one section that I really latched onto: Democritus. Democritus was the first philosopher that I had extreme respect for. He believed that the entire world was made up of little blocks, all arranged differently to make different things. This was a man who saw the world, and was able to mentally break things down into smaller and smaller chunks. He did not have access to a microscope or any scientific instrument that we take for granted today. He looked at a piece of wood and somehow was able to determine that that twig was made up of tiny things that, when arranged in a certain order, create a twig. He called these little things “atoms,” which is potentially the part of this story that I find most intriguing. Atom literally means “uncuttable.” I love this concept. He mentally cut the thing in half, then in half again, and again and again and again until he reached something that he could not cut in half, thus uncuttable. Democritus then took this thought process a step further to connect it to the earlier greek philosophers. He stated that these building blocks of nature have to be recycled, since nothing can come from nothing. Yet there is one aspect of Democritus’s ideas that I still find confusing, the aspect of a soul. Democritus believed that there were smooth, soul atoms. These soul atoms make all life. I do not understand how someone could be so scientific as to be the first to conceptualize atoms, yet still believe in a soul, much less a soul being material.

Welcome

What is the meaning of life? What should I strive for? What determines who I am?
These are all very confusing questions with no real answer, the process is the only thing that matters. On this blog, we'll ponder these questions and discover more about ourselves. Feel free to join me on this journey of discovery.