Personal Meaning about Favorite Parts of Education - Essay Example

HUM FINAL FAVORITE READING MATERIAL All the reading materials that we have in are worth noting but the most interesting for me is the Romancontribution. If we go over the stories there are those who claim that the Romans have not really contributed much in our western heritage. There are claims that their greatest heritage is the propagation of the Greek culture, tradition and philosophy which the Romans greatly admire. In this framework, I have found our reading material for the Romans as a tool with which I can have a paradigm shift in my appreciation of the Roman contribution to our Western heritage. The conquest of Rome is undeniably one of the greatest if not the greatest conquest in human history. Their politics have taught humanity on first, respect for the laws and second, importance of the community as central in the development of the individual person in his private sphere as well as in his public sphere. Aside form that, they have taught humanity “that one may achieve peace of mind by avoiding burdensome responsibilities, gloomy companions, and excessive wealth. Stoicism offered a reasoned retreat from psychic pain and moral despair, as well as a practical set of solutions to the daily strife between the self and society” ( Fiero 135) But the greatness of Rome seems to be second only in comparison with the greatest man that ever walked the face of the earth – Jesus. The “search for the historical Jesus is complicated by many factors” (Fiero 163), but what is clear is that the story of Jesus have touched billions of lives all over the world. The greatness of Jesus is that he afforded us a new paradigm with which humanity may comprehend our relationship with God. Jesus has taken away the picture of the jealous warrior God that is one of the dominant images of God in the Old Testament. In fact, his entire human life is a living testimony to his claim that ‘God is Father’. Though scholars and exegetes may disagree what is clear is that “Jesus is the recognizable human face of God” (Wright 70). In the end, these readings are significant primarily because not solely because of the greatness of the topics that they have delved with but that the Roman heritage and Jesus story are contradictories yet real in the realm of human experience. FAVORITE CLASS DISCUSSIONS Of the many things that we have discussed in class, I have come to realize and appreciate the fact that the Western Heritage is built on the sagacity of ancient men and women who have tried to understand how we can really understand the human condition. Their discourses open to us the truism that human existence is not merely brute existence but that it is humane in essence because it is geared towards examination and understanding of one’s self as one tries to create one’s niche in the community not just for one’s personal gain but for the good of the State as all of us moves towards the attainment of the good life. Plato’s discussion of the Allegory of the cave points to us the dualism that is inherent in human existence. As the shadows which are seen inside the cave are not real but mere figments of that which is real outside the cave, Plato is exhorting us to move beyond and remove the bonds of physicality and free our minds from the corruption that it has received as it focus its self on the shadows in the cave. Though many may not agree with the Platonic assertion regarding the value of the material realm, one may still argue that in the Allegory of the Cave, Plato sees our existence as being imprisoned in the Shadows and in such state what we should be doing is find a way that we can free ourselves and thus start to grasp that which is Real, True. Another theme that is quite interesting is the Platonic discussion of Justice. It should be noted that Plato believes on justice though his conception of it may be different form how we esteem justice in the contemporary period. Platonic conception of justice is founded not on equality but on the conception that each and everyone of has to perform only that which is naturally suited for the person to do. As such, not everybody can become a leader but only a selected few. These ‘selected few’ who have ‘survived’ the rigors of Platonic education can lead the people, can become philosopher kings and queens and set the people free from the shadows inside the cave. Philosophy may not be for everyone but the philosophers who have apprehended Truth and Justice outside the cave should go back, serve the polis and guide the people in their appreciation of Justice, Truth and Beauty. As such, Platonic discourse does not encourage us to escape away from the polis or community. Rather, Platonic ideals tell us that we should serve the polis where we belong and that this service should be based on personal integrity and not hypocrisy. Yes, Plato maintains that one can run away from the State but the moment that one decides to live within the polis one has to be subjected to its laws. And that if the laws are not for the good of the people one has to persuade the government and show to them the errors but violence is not to be utilized. It is also in the light for the quest of human understanding, which Aristotle is of vast significance. His works have basically paved the way for the appreciation of our materiality. Aristotle has blessed our physicality with a reality of its own which Platonic discourses have denied. Under Aristotle, the physical realm is no longer just a shadow but a reality on its own. It is real. He has removed the dualism of Plato and has come up with a metaphysics that accommodate the realm of matter. Is this better than Plato? I think it is more holistic because human existence is not an ‘exclusive or’ rather it an ‘and’ – body and soul. Thus, it is not surprising to find Aristotle discussing in his Ethics the centrality of the concept of Happiness. According to Aristotle, happiness is the penultimate goal of human beings. If you ask anybody on the street what do they want to have in life, behind all the material comforts, the reason for everything is - happiness. We want to be happy. And that is perhaps the reason, why many of us do look for it in the wrong way like drug addiction. The quest for happiness as per Aristotle is not easy task. There are no shortcuts. It is a continuous task of striking the mean, of finding the balance in everything that we do in life. As such for Aristotle, virtue is both intellectual and practical: Intellectual virtue because human beings are rational intelligent beings who can actualize their potentialities. However, it is not enough that one knows one’s potentialities but that one should harness it via continuous practice or by making it one’s habit. AS such, Aristotle is basically telling us, the way to happiness is not easy. The way is filled with the demand for human excellence and that this human excellence is not to be achieved and attained in the ephemeral world but that it has to be actualized in the here and now in the presence of your fellow human beings. Aristotle’s ethics is basking in the glory of our humanity. He does not remove us form our materiality but urges us to embrace our materiality and affirm it not by plight from here to the transcendental realm but by taking the arduous towards human excellence, towards happiness. Our class discussions have taught me to believe that we can go beyond the limits of our physical boundaries as the great thinkers of the past have shown us. But at the same time, they have also taught me that as I transcend the limits of my mind, I affirm the materiality of my existence as I am a human person – body and soul. My human existence is not up there but it’s in the here and now lived with in the presence of my fellow human being. FOLLOW UP THEMES AND BOOKS One of the themes that really fascinated me is Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. Although the tone is dualist in the sense that it highlights the vast difference between the body and the soul in terms of acquiring knowledge, still it presents to us the ideal the moment human beings place their attention on that which is real which is (following Plato) in the ephemeral world, they can really behold Truth. And that his beholding of Truth is not the selfish, “mine-type” of beholding but that the Allegory teaches us that the moment we have beholden the truth then it is our duty to tell others what we have seen and learned. In light of this, I would like to read other works of Plato specifically Apology, Phaedrus, and Symposium. I will be reading the Apology in order to relate the philosophers’ ethos with that of Socrates’. While, Phaedrus and the Symposium, I will read to further my understanding of Plato’s concept of immortality. In the Apology, we read the trial of Socrates. But more than the actual trial of Socrates, what we can clearly see in the dialogue is Socrates’ attitude as he try to live up to what he believes to be the mandate of the gods that is “ I am sort of a gadfly given by the Gods to the State…I went and sought to persuade every man among you that he must look to himself and seek virtue and wisdom before he looks to his private interests, and looks to the State before he look to the interests of the State” (Plato 25, 32). Apology presents to us the bravery with which Socrates pursued Philosophy as he said “ I shall never cease from the practise and teaching of Philosophy…and if the person that I am arguing… has no virtue…I reproach him with undervaluing the greater and over valuing the less (Plato 23) and the most concrete exemplar of this attitude is during the trial itself, he could have begged yet he did not do that “I have a family … and sons…yet I will not bring any of them hither in order to petition you for an acquittal” (Plato 25), he could have asked Plato and friends to pay the fine but again he did not for the reason that even in exile “I cannot hold my tongue…I say again that daily to discourse on virtue and those other things…is the greatest good of man” (Plato 34). His tenacity in his belief borders to pigheadedness. But more than that, I think the strong belief in God and humanity that we can really examine ourselves, our life as we try to pursue the good life. Socrates has clearly shown us what does it really takes to be a human – a person that adheres to Truth, virtue and wisdom for one’s self, friends and the State. Phaedrus and the Symposium are two dialogues wherein Plato discussed his concept of immortality and love. Part of Phaedrus is the myth of the soul. In this myth, Plato is claiming that “all souls are immortal” (Phaedrus 245-c). This is a very difficult claim since it appears that Plato is attributing immortality to both gods’ soul and human soul. With the gods there is no problem since one of the basic attributes of gods is immortality. But the moment that you apply the concept of immortality to human beings it’s quite difficult to grasp since humans are not immortal. So, Plato is positing an idea that immortality is also part of our humanity and that the real difference between the human soul and the gods’ soul is the fact that human soul is both good and bad while the soul of the gods are all good, “In case of the gods, horses and charioteers are all both good and of good stock...Whereas in the rest there is a mixture…one of them is noble and good while the other is opposite ” (Phaedrus 246a5, 246b-b5). This differentiation is significant because it in this light that Plato has given us the reason why there are human soul. According to the story, before we were born, our soul is already alive travelling with the gods in its travel towards the stable reality. The gods do not have a problem with their travel because they are all good but the souls of human beings are so wrap up and concern with other things so what happens is that it falls. As it fell, the soul attaches itself to a physical object a body of a man or a woman or an animal. This particular part of the story is very interesting because it tells us together with Republic X why when after we die our soul remains to be alive. But since our soul is immortal, human beings live in cycle and that there is a possibility that one becomes an animal in the second life. Is this bad? It depends upon the kind of animal that you will become. But what is really very cool in this story is on how we fall in love. Love is not something normally discussed under philosophy. For it is considered to be trifling. But you see in these two dialogues- Phaedrus and Symposium - Plato proffered an explanation on how and why we fall in love. According to Plato, we fall in love not because we are really after sexual gratification (in fact he frowns upon sexual exchange between partners) rather, we fall in love because the soul remembers the beauty that the soul once behold while it was travelling in the realm of the Unchanged. He said that when we fall in love, our soul returns to its old status of being winged and as such love is our salvation. For love is a “divine inspiration” (Plato, Symposium, 180) Love is a philosophical theme whose sway is lodged not on vulgarity but on soul’s appreciation of Beauty and Truth. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Fiero, Gloria K. (2002) Humanistic Tradition 5th Edition. New York:McGrawHill Plato. Apology in Dialogues of Plato the Jowett Translations, Edited and With Introductory Notes by Justin D. Kaplan. New York: Pocket Books, 1951. _________. Phaedrus. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merril, 1956. _________. Symposium in Dialogues of Plato the Jowett Translations, Edited and With Introductory Notes by Justin D. Kaplan. New York: Pocket Books, 1951. Wright, N.T. (2003) What Saint Paul Really Said: Was Paul of Tarsus the Real Founder of Christianity. Michigan: William B. Eerdsman Pub. Co. Read More