Blog 9

This semester I have been able to develop many skills as a writer because we were not only stating our opinion in writing but also had to back it up with actual facts. This made it a lot harder, but made me realize that theory and opinion is not enough to back up an argument. One also needs some facts to prove their point. While I knew this before, this class helped me develop it more and become more aware of it. Putting me in a position where I can develop real good philosophical arguments and prove my point with actual facts. Being able to relate it to current events in today’s society.

I became certainly aware that I am very good with philosophical topics but lack some skills in other areas of writing. Though I have taken philosophy classes, this class opened my eyes more to Plato’s famous Allegory of the Cave. It gave me a point of view of how others interpret it, and how everyone lives in some sort of cave. A cave where people are content with the reality they know. Reading others blogs was fascinating because I was able to see how they view the world and what has been their cave for many years. While their view was so different than mine, I admired their view and respected it. Though, if they would’ve had a philosophical encounter, it would be different.

Some things that I need to work are being able to take a side rather than remain skeptical, and also expand on my writing and be more specific. I had good discussions in my blogs and good points in my essays but I needed to go deeper and give more examples and facts on the issue. I came to a realization that the more specific you are the better. Having to nail all the points and break them down is what I look forward in ENG102. I am going to be as a specific as I can be. Keeping the writer interest but also get all my points across.

Definitely I have become a much better writer since I’ve started and this class has been a true learning experience. It was what I like to call “fun learning”. The topics we discus were awesome and helpful. Topics that can make an individual make their own idea and belief about the world. In a way also opening people’s eyes to all these interesting philosophical theory’s that have been discuss for hundreds of years. Combining theory and fact is indeed not easy but is a challenge that this class provide since we were not able to just merely state our own opinion. Is something that I take with me to ENG102  and plan on developing more skills there and become an extraordinary writer.

  

  

Blog 8

-          Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and The Matrix

-          Truth and reality

-          The Cave being the physical world

-          Free will or predetermine destiny in Oedipus the king and Minority Report

-          Genetic engineering and discrimination

Movies have always been a way of showing visually what writers have wrote in books. Many movies have similarities to books and often spring out of books. This semester we’ve seen many connections between ancient reading texts and popular movies. One that had a significant impact on me was Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and The Matrix. They both exploit a shocking experience and great philosophical standpoints on life and society. Making an individual think deeply, wonder and question things philosophically.

Plato’s cave is a reality which every individual living it believes it to be true because the cave is the only thing they know.  They have no knowledge what lies beyond and above the cave. What is fascinating to me is that I too had beliefs which I could swear and would claim to be absolutely certain, to be 100% accurate. Philosophically I was enlighten and shown the way out of this cave through constant questioning and reasoning. At first I could quite understand Plato’s Allegory but I was adjusted to the light and saw that what I thought was true before were lies I couldn’t see, what I thought was beautiful is only memories.

This theory of Plato’s cave became compelling and satisfactory to me. It spread my knowledge and way of looking at things. Just like The Matrix, I felt exactly like Neo, as if I were in a movie and had just recently seen the real world for what it truly was. This shocking and extraordinary experience was a complete change in my life. I began to feel obliged that if I am a true Philosopher not only will I the escape the cave but is my duty to try my best to help others escape. I feel the responsibility and right to want to enlighten others and free them from this cave. Expand people’s knowledge and free their mind is both fascinating and rewarding to me. Becoming a Philosopher professor will be amazing.     

Blog 7

  Using blogs this semester was at first intimidating because our writing was being exposed for others to read as well, not only our Professor. Many of us hate sharing our thoughts, feelings, and emotions. To make our writing pieces public could indeed have an effect on an individual who is very shy and lacks confidence. For me however, I cared less since I have overcome the fear of caring what others think. I do not dwell in shyness, and definitely ain't afraid of sharing and speaking my mind. I thinking is essential for others to hear you out and come across your own unique opinion, and try to figure out why is it different than theirs.
    These blogs gave us the opportunity to check out others writing and view both weaker and stronger writers than ourselves. By seeing how our classmates write and reflect their thoughts can help us see how to becomes better writers and how we also make similar mistakes. I've visited many of my classmates blogs and I have to say that many of them are strong writers and very intellectual people. They have the capacity to get all the points across and write a well organized essay. Their text to self and text to world connections were always on point. Unfortunately though, I didn't get as much love back, because not many people commented on my blogs. Perphaps many were too lazy and did not even bother to write or read others blogs. I mean it's understandable, who has time to do more than their own work, people have busy lives.
    Blogs however, could indeed have been a great motive to make you write better, being that we were aware that others could read our writing. In a way forcing one to write outstanding blogs. It differs from journals, because journals are occasionally more personal not public open as the blogs we've written have been. Is only natural that if we knew we would be the only ones reading our writing then we would have not put so much effort on it but rather slack and done a poor job on it. Sometimes we need motives to unleash the extraordinary beast inside us, and do an outstanding job. I believe that blogs for sure have influence our way of writing and been a positive contribution for us, in becoming better writers.
    Using blogs in the future can be very beneficial to students and provide them with great skills in becoming better writes. Both by learning and seeing how others write, and by being motivated in writing better because they have audiences. Writing a blog is essential because it lets you express your feelings, thoughts, way of thinking, and standpoint on an argument. Sharing with others how your viewpoints are similar and different can help you in both the view of the world and in future writing, if its used and applied properly.

Blog 6: Free will and determinism

Do we have free will or are we under a pre-determined future? This has been an issue that scientists and Philosophers have faced for many years. Throughout my study of freedom and determinism, there has been a Philosopher who I can connect to and agree with. French Philosopher Jean Paul Sartre was a big influence on me because he stated that "existence precedes essence" and that we are all responsible for the choices we make. "Although our past experiences and developed personality have set stage for our moment of choice, it is the beckoning future that defines our spirit" just like Sartre stated.

In the play Oedipus the King, it was said to be determine he would kill his father and marry his mother. Indeed it did happen, but it happened only because he made the choice to make it happen. In his anger crossing the road he reacted on his impulses and killed his father and all of his servants. He had the free will to be patient and not react in such a way. There was no outside force that made him commit murder. As one of his choices led to more conflict resulting in him to marry his mother. Though he did not know it was his mother, he chose to marry her. The determinist will say that since he didn't know that was his mother, destiny still made it happen and therefore his choice wasn't freely. For if he would have known he would have not married her. However, they forget to examine that one choice affects the other, if he would have not murder his father, his fate would have most likely ended differently.

I believe that in every situation we are in, we have the capacity of choosing and deciding what we are going to do. There is nothing forcing us to make a choice, we make it ourselves and have to take responsibility for the choices we make. As Sartre mentioned "we are people whose existence from moment to moment precedes our essence". We have to make wise and intelligent decisions to see great results for ourselves. With every choice we make, we are creating ourselves and defining our essence. We can never blame others for the choices we make, we can only blame ourselves.

We can see that in the movie Minority Report, John Anderton as mad as he was, as much as he wanted to pull the trigger and kill Leo Crow he did not. He made a choice, though it was said to be determined for him to kill Leo Crow, he made the final decision not to.  Those who say that we have no choice and that is all determined, they are just making excuses to not take responsibility for their actions. Indeed, there are moments where we have no control over things, but we always have a choice on what we will do next, and decide what's best for us. Better said; while you can't always choose your circumstances, you can always choose your response to them. If everything were determined than whenever we do something, we shouldn't regret that we could have done something else. Which is something Philosopher William James mentioned and I totally agree with. If you regret than it means you had an alternative, a choice, so you cannot be a determinist. That would definitely be a contradiction. I've seen that many of us go around regretting things we've done before; therefore we cannot be determinist like Philosopher Baron d'Holbach, who believed we have no free will.

Free will is one of the most powerful things a human being can have. I, just like Sartre believe that we are "condemned to be free", our actions are the only genuine part of ourselves that define our lives. "We are the sum of our actions and accomplishments, not our wishes, dreams or intentions". We have to actively engage and pursue our dreams and goals. There is no such thing as fate or pre-determined destiny for me. I am hooked on the idea of Hinduism, and that fate doesn't exist. It all happens for a reason, if your life sucks is because you brought it upon yourself. Karma in Hinduism explains that all disasters and tragedies happen for a reason, if we do bad deeds in our former life then we will suffer in our next life time. We are creating our own life through our current actions and if we want a better life, we must do good deeds. We have total free will and if things happen beyond our control is because we brought it upon ourselves. We make our own fate, just like Oedipus the King and John Anderton made their own fate. Pre-determinism is just an illusion and we must accept that we will always have a choice, and our choices makes us who we are.

Blog #5 The "Other" and Gattaca

Many of us have abilities and traits that separate us from everyone else. As much as we don’t see it, we are all unique. Everyone’s DNA is different and therefore despite the fact of millions and billions of human beings, no one will ever be completely identical when it comes to personality. We are all condemned to be our own being and our personality is what makes us into who we are. However, many believe because they have advantages in certain areas they are higher status and makes them better than the rest.

In the 1400 hundreds when the Spaniard conquistadors came into the Americas, they were seeking to find gold, and to conquer the land. They believe they were superior and were by far much better than the natives (Incas). This was due to the fact that they had much better resources and more advance equipment and claimed to be more knowledgeable. In our current society people believe that because they have certain skills and are more knowledgeable than others it makes them superior. The one with the better job, better car, and more money, is usually the one with higher status and looked highly and respected by everyone else. Is this really true? Is one an infidel if one lacks knowledge, experience, and is not economically wealthy than others? Most of us came assume that yes indeed it makes one worth less if someone is more intelligent than them.  In Plato’s Allegory of the cave the prisoner who comes out of the cave and has seen the real world, now is considered to be superior. He looks down to everyone still in the cave and feels pity for them. He contemplates how he was ever so dumb to have been stuck inside the cave. One can conclude that this prisoner is by far more intelligent and knowledgeable than his former peers in the cave. He is now a superior individual because he is aware that they are living an illusion and he is no longer part of it.

However, those still living in the cave might think their superior and will assume that the prisoner who came out of the cave is crazy and therefore inferior to them and their reality inside the cave. They will feel also in power thinking that coming out of the cave is ridiculous and damaging. That is brainwashing and now the prisoner who came out will be laugh at and ridiculed because he is seem like an infidel to them. The truth however is that the enlightened one is the one who is right. He is the one who has more knowledge and has seen the light. Therefore, making him truly superior to those in the cave. We all have skills that make us better than others, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have the capacity to gain such skills and knowledge as well.

I personally often think because I have had many Philosophical encounters and know many theories that many are not aware of; it makes me better and superior. Does it really? I think we can say in a way it does. I cannot get angry though because those people are not aware of it, because if they were I’m pretty sure they would have the same capacity and knowledge I now possess. Being better doesn’t necessarily mean you truly are, maybe you’re just ahead of the game but everyone else has a similar ability if they only were aware. We are humans and we always strive to be better and superior, often looking for something that separates us from everyone else. Truth is, is an ever going war when it comes to comparing ourselves with “the other”. We always will think that we have something that makes us into someone better and superior.   

  

Essay #1 Typed

     When one has got used to the idea, that everything we see and know is reality, it can be shocking to be told that we live in a world of deceit. Coming out of the cave for Plato is being exposed to the truth, and adjusting. Encountering a new reality can be awful. However, for Plato it will be worthwhile being enlightened and coming out of the cave because eventually our world will be better. In the Matrix when an individual comes out of the cave, his reality will also be shocking but when he adjusts to it, it will not be a better world but a dystopian one.
     In our current society we have human beings who reject coming out of the cave and prefer to stay in their comfort zone. As Plato mention "the prisoners don't know their prisoners, this is the only reality they know" (The Cave). People are not aware that everything they know, everything that has been taught to them has a bigger reality that they can ever know. These people Socrates would have called "sleepwalkers" (John Chafee's Philosopher's Way Textbook). When one does not ask themselves what? Why? This is giving in and allowing to live a world of illusions and dreams created by others. Philosophy is resisting the given. As Plato said “the true Philosopher would seek to escape the cave” (Chafee’s Philosopher’s Way textbook). The cave meaning the physical world. If one follows and believes in everything they have been social condition to believe, they live a world of illusion.

     Plato’s Allegory of the Cave is more accurate than the Matrix because I have personally experience being enlightened and coming out of Plato’s cave. Awful, shocking, not easy to adjust, but once I did adjust; my world became much happier than it ever was. Everything I knew, everything I had been taught, religion, moral & ethics had all been part of what my family and society social condition me to believe. As I came out of the cave and began for the first time thinking for myself, I realized that there is a bigger reality than we can ever know. Most people who have not have a Philosophical encounter, everything their taught becomes a habit and they eventually start repeating everything they hear. As Socrates mentioned people (“sleepwalkers”) “think they know stuff” (Chafee’s Philosopher’s Way Textbook). Socrates was a wise man, but he was wise because he knew that he didn’t really know. He spent his whole life searching for answers and at his death he knew that “the only thing we know, is we don’t really know”. Sleepwalkers (people) think because they Google something, or heard it somewhere, they know for a fact that is true. No way! They don’t know anything.

     Coming out of the cave can cause pain, because you will see that you are not going to find answers to your questions. This can be very stressful to some people because “the only thing that is certain is that nothing is certain” (Socrates). If one believes in God and is now exposed to knowing that we won’t know if he really exists or not, this person can lose meaning n their lives. God resemble something great for them and now it’s all gone. This can definitely make certain people’s lives a living hell. They would have rather stay inside the cave where they were happy to know that a God really existed then to not be sure. I believe the Matrix is trying to show a dystopian world where people can’t cope up with it as a symbol that uncertainty can cause people’s lives to ruin. In that sense it would have been better to live a lie than being exposed to the truth.

     However, both the Matrix and Plato’s Allegory of the Cave are similar to me because all the individual has to do is turn that dystopian world into an utopian one, As the famous Marine Phrase “ adapt, overcome, improvise”. To me is a satisfying feeling knowing that “the only thing we know, is we don’t really know”. At first of course it can be a dystopian world being uncertain of things and skeptic, but you turn that world into a utopian one where you strive everyday to seek for truth and knowledge. “Living the unexamined life is not worth living” (Socrates) and I plan to continue living the examined life, which is quite exciting, I must admit.  

Blog 4: Ignorance, Bliss, and Knowledge in Oedipus the King and The Matrix

Is the truth really worth knowing? If an individual had the choice between living an extraordinary life, full of joy and happiness or a tragic world full of troubles, pain, and suffering. What would he choose? It seems only obvious that we all like peace and being surrounded by joy. When the truth hurts we do well to stay away from it. However, is human nature to want to seek the truth once we become aware that the life we’re living might be full of deceit.

Oedipus the King was a man in power who had control of his own town and was well looked at and respected. The reality he knew was joyful enough for him. He started as every Philosopher does, questioning and questioning. We can see from the reading that Oedipus had a much better life before he was exposed to the truth. The truth brought his world to hell. He hated himself, and his people looked at him differently. He could no longer be admirable but be looked at with eyes of pity. Oedipus in line (1330) says " In my wretched life why should I have eyes when nothing I could see should bring me joy?" Knowing the truth will no longer bring him any joy and he blinded himself to not see because "the man who sees with his eyes is blind" (Plato) in John Chafee's Book, A Philosophers Way. By not having sight he must believe that he can gain knowledge. It seems however, almost always the truth is hurtful and can destroy us. When one has a girlfriend or boyfriend we like to think of them as being honest, caring, and loving. When we are emotionally attach to our partners and they bring happiness into our lives, it would kill us to find out they would hurt us. If one is in love, would it better to find out our partner has cheated on us or stay ignorant to that truth and stay with our partner refusing to know if he/she has done you wrong. One of those choices has a happy ending, the other does not. One can happily stay with their boyfriend/girlfriend ignoring they have played you or one can seek to know the truth but be deeply hurt and causing a break up and a broken heart. Indeed, we can see that ignorance is bliss.
In The Matrix Neo comes out of the cave into the real world. To him it was shocking and hurtful being exposed to this new reality. It took getting used to, but he gain knowledge he did not have inside his cave.  He asks Morpheus in the movie if he would be able to go back, as in going back into the world he knew(the cave). Morpheus tells him he cannot. This could be because when one gains knowledge of "the real world" we can no longer accept the cave. As I read in Kevin Reilly's Worlds of History Book "if you have learned about the peasant, you will not be able to be one". Once one has seen the truth we can longer live the lie. However, for there was an exception. Cypher loves it how ignorance is bliss and has an arrangement with agent Smith to make him go back into "the cave". Cypher liked the cave, he enjoyed it, it made him happy. For him, it was fascinating that all the knowledge he learn outside the cave will be erase, so he can be ignorant again inside the cave and have a happy life The real world was terrible and not worth living for him. The truth he could not bare, he couldn't take it, he wanted to live a lie. There are many individuals who would agree with Cypher and their lives would have been different today if they wouldn't have found out certain truths.A large amount of population I would safely say would praise the idea that "ignorance is bliss"
Both Oedipus the King and The Matrix show the readers that finding out the truth can ruin us. One minute we're living an amazing life and the other we find out the truth and our world becomes a living hell. This brings the question once more if knowing the truth is really worth knowing and necessary? I personally would say yes, ugly truths can hurt but we can embrace it. As the marines say "improvise, adapt, overcome". It will take getting use to, but one can construct a new world and leave behind the past. For Oedipus, he can't retract the decisions he made, but he could have affected the decisions he was going to make from there on. In The Matrix Cypher could have accepted that though living in the cave is more pleasant and comfortable, he could have fought and try to establish joy and pleasure in the real world. Is not going to be easy, but is by all means possible. Only the cowards and the weak minded would decide to go back into the cave and live a life of deceit. I cannot, and definitely will say that ignorance is not bliss, as a Philosopher I have to reach out to the absolute truth. As Plato once said "for only truth does never change, and thus never looses it's value.