English Revision Task How have the texts studied in this elective challenged your ways of thinking about "People and Politics"? People and politics are able to represent their own ideas and perspectives by utilising different techniques to bring forward a stronger influence and convey meaning. The multiple methods and procedures in which to form representation has challenged my ways of thinking about 'People and Politics'. W.H. Auden utilises satire to communicate the negative perspective of dictators in "Epitaph of a Tyrant" (1939).
Plato argues that Aeschylus’ theories have holes because of deception or death. While living the good life one can logically avoid obstacles such as deceit. Queen Clytaemntestra rule in Oresteia is an example of this. Plato addresses the exact ways to ultimately reach true happiness in the Republic and tells the audience specifically how to achieve the good life. Although there are vague similarities between both plays, we notice the path some characters chose do not lead to the good life no matter how wise they seem to be.
“Tolerance, what crimes / have been committed in your name.” can especially be seen as a criticism against the various social and legal inequalities perpetrated against many races, religions, and sexes under the guise of ‘Political Correctness’. However, as the point of these focus papers seems to be on interpreting the poem within its historical context, I will leave this tangent short. Levertov begins with “Genial poets, pink-faced / earnest wits…”2 This seems to be a criticism against all poets who write “neutral3” things; poets who do not try to choose a side; poets who do not challenge their readers; poets, even, who rely more upon being witty than on actually saying something. The entire stanza, from “Genial” to “name” seems to imply that poets who do these things are making excuses rather than really putting their ideas forward. However, at the second stanza Levertov moves back into familiar territory, seeming to criticize women who are content to live at home and bake bread4 ; to remain blind to the “nightmare reality5” around them.
Revisiting the Stanford Prison Experiment: A Lesson in the Power of Situation In Philip Zimbardo’s article “Revisiting the Stanford Prison Experiment” he deals with change during a certain situations. In the article he goes into why he does the experiment and what inspired it. He does this experiment to prove that good people change when in authority. The exigence in the article is the power of anonymity that unleashes violent behavior. Zimbardo notes “In my own work, I wanted to explore the fictional notation from William Golding’s Lord of the Flies about the power of anonymity to unleash violent behavior” (302).
McCarthyism in the 1950’s was the practice of broadcasting allegations of political treachery or rebellion with inadequate regard to evidence. The events that took place in the 1950’s concerning McCarthyism are what inspired Miller to write his play on the Salem witch trials of 1692. The fear of repeating the horrors of the past pushed him to try and open the eyes of those who seemed to be following a dangerous path. The Crucible and McCarthyism both contain instances of false accusation, wrongly gained power, and mass hysteria. Similarly to the Salem witch trials, McCarthyism started in a time of great fear, but instead of fearing witches that made pacts with the Devil, the people of the 1950’s feared communism.
For instance, a philosopher named Albert Campus states , “There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide.” Furthermore, some commentator’s voice that physician assisted suicide is requested because of poor care, is simply wrong, only leads to a downhill path, and goes against the purpose of medical treatment. On the other hand, others argue that assisted suicide protects people from pain and is an unselfish act. However, according to the Hippocratic Oath medical professionals agree that they will not give patients lethal
Reading dialogues of Plato has always been challenging because of its difficulty but at the same time they are thought-provoking. Those dialogues share a same plot: Socrates has a short conversation with somebody that claims to an expert in a certain kinds of ethics. For instance, in Euthyphro, Socrates has a conversation with Euthyphro who happened to claim as an expert in ethics of piety and holiness. At the end, the dialogue ends half-baked and Socrates deflates Euthyphro by implying that he is ignorant in such topic. I would like to comment on the inconclusiveness of the dialogue.
Paul Starita Pol Sci 201 10/26/12 Examining Justice and Education In The Apology, Socrates defends himself in a court of law after being accused of creating new deities and corrupting the youth. In this text, we find subtle opinions and explanations about the nature of justice. The Republic is a text written by Plato, where Socrates and several of his students deeply explore justice and how an ideal society might look. Especially present in The Republic, both texts have undertones of how education ought to be and why it is so important. These two texts define justice as an important virtue that every person should learn to possess through a balanced, self-discovering education.
Socrates says that "one must never willingly do wrong" because wrongdoings damage the soul. I agree with Socrates beccause no matter what you should never return a wrongdoing with a wrongdoing. He uses a anti-retaliation principle and even though most people dont believe in retaliation, I do believe in it. Socrates wants to say that escaping from prison would be unjust, but he must also say whom he would be wronging. His best answer is that he would be wronging the Laws of Athens.
In most of the plays that were read this term, there is a theme that seems to be prevalent. The theme is honesty will set you free, whereas lies and mistruths will be your downfall. Romeo and Juliet, Othello, and Twelfth Night all hold and express that theme. However, if Shakespeare really thought that lies and mistruths were a downfall for his characters, why are there so many dishonest characters in Shakespeare’s plays? Could Shakespeare’s dishonest characters represent Shakespeare?