Carina Nieves
HUP 101.2313
Response Paper One
In response to “The Apology” by Plato,
Plato has given light to the trial of Socrates which leads to his death. I agree with
Socrates views about getting caught up in the daily motions of life. We all are focused on
the things around us that we seem to forget to stop and focus on the inner self. The person
we are inside before we get tied up with the outside world. Socrates also mentions how
he has given himself to his people individually. I think that’s it’s weird that he decided to
live in poverty all his life just to give back to his people.
Socrates stand on dieing for his beliefs is very courageous. Many would not
have the courage to be able to face death and give up on what they truly believe. Today
though we seem to forget that there are people out there who do fight for their beliefs and
sometimes must pay the price with their life for it, like the brave soldiers who go to war
oversees. They fight for the belief of freedom and justice for our country.
I think Socrates compares himself to a “gadfly” because
he questions people’s opinions and makes them think upon their decision of their opinion
as being right or wrong. I could describe my twelfth grade English teacher Ms. Hudon as
being a “gadfly” because she would question our thinking on issues about the books we
read, and ask why we support it, and ask for examples of how we support our opinion.
My mother could probably also be considered a “gadfly” in my life because she does
question my thinking but not on a consistent basis. She is very interested in the views of
the great philosophers like Plato, Socrates, and the Aristotle.
Carina Nieves
HUP 101.2313
Professor Macomber
Response Paper Two
In my opinion I don’t agree with Plato that
“the soul is immortal, existing before birth and continuing after death” but I do agree with
Aristotle that “the soul is a natural phenomenon that gives form and purpose to the body,
but ceases to exist after the body dies”. (TPW, 435) If I had to choose which view of the
soul is the most compelling I would choose Aristotle because I seem to agree more with
his beliefs on a person’s soul but it also goes along with religious views. Plato’s view on
a person’s soul doesn’t follow any religious beliefs and must have been very
controversial back in his day since the church was the head of the state. I don’t practice
my religion but I do believe your spirit not you soul goes on after a person’s death. Each
philosopher’s theory is complex but each designed differently according to each one’s
beliefs. Plato belief’s of “Forms” is very confusing and hard to understand. I have a
clearer understanding of Aristotle’s belief of “forms”. I do agree that people do have the
potential to become a higher being and follow their own path of happiness but our
complex society prohibits ourselves from finding the inner truth of our full potential. In
Plato’s “The Meno” Socrates is discussing with Meno the immortality of the soul and
then asks an illiterate slave boy to solve his math problem in order to prove his point. I
disagree with Socrates view that the boy never was taught math but I think that maybe he
did experience it but not first hand. I don’t think that the boy could have gotten this
knowledge before birth especially since our soul is created once we are born. It is our
spirit that is truly immortal and will live on in the after life.
Carina Nieves
HUP 101.2313
Professor Macomber
Response Paper Three
If I was presented with these choices in regards to the Matrix
movie I would have to go with “the real world, which is unpleasant and
dangerous”(TPW,455) because not only would I be risking my life but I know I am doing
it for the greater good of mankind. I would know my chances of surviving would be slim
but at least I would still make an impact. I believe there is a resemblance between this
type of choice and the one suggested by John Stuart Mill. One by being a ”contented
fool” you give into what society wants you to believe but by being a “discontented
Socrates” you question your thinking of what you know of everything around you asking
if it is real or not. Descartes states that there is a higher being who deceives us, “ Is there
not some God or some other being by whatever name we call it, who puts these
reflections into my mind?” and “But there is some deceiver or other, very powerful and
very cunning, who ever employs his ingenuity in deceiving me”. (TPW,451) I believe it
is our society who tries to deceive us into changing our opinions but truly us who deceive
ourselves into believing such things from these sources. We do not question what is real
and we sometimes even fool our selves into thinking these ways. Like in John Cheever
short story “The Enormous Radio” the protagonist Irene ends up believing that everyone
will hear her conversation with her husband when in truth it is she who deceives herself
to believe such a radio exists, “Please Jim, she said. Please. They’ll hear us. The radio”.
( Major Writers of Short Stories,250) Descartes explains that we are dependent on our
senses that we are easily fooled, “Am I dependent on body and senses that I cannot exist
without these?”(TPW,451) Yet he also states that we are desired to find the truth yet we
fear the outcome of what we might discover, ” Desirous of finding the truths, yet fearful
of what we might discover”. (TPW,451) I agree that things that are represented in our
sleep are representations of what we do think in our minds. My 12th grade English teacher
once said that” Our dreams are just thoughts from the day”. Descartes states ” At the
same time we must at least confess that the things which are represented to us in sleep are
like painted representations which can only have been formed as the counterparts of
something real and true, and that in this way those general things at least, i.e. eyes, a
head, hands, and a whole body, are not imaginary things but things really existent.
(TPW,447)