Chapter 5 blog

-
I thought it was awesome that Strayer included a whole chapter on inequality. Not to impose my political views, but I am saddened by the current political situation with President Trump - especially as we see gender equality at the forefront of the news.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Chapter 2 Blog

-
I loved how the preface of the chapter referenced the “urge to escape from civilization” (59). This urge continues to be a basic part of humanity even today, but I was interested to learn that it dates way back to the first civilizations.   I also found it interesting how the reading referenced yet another product of agriculture: the creation of cities. Strayer quotes a passage from Gilgamesh describing the beauty and extravagance of Uruk, the largest city in ancient Mesopotamia. The creation of formal, structured cities was the starting point of a number of other structural developments for mankind—the start of a political culture, the foundations of creative expression as well as a physical place for labor and production, which would eventually lead to trade.   In reading the chapter, I was again thoroughly reminded of Strayer’s profound commitment to giving his readers a strong sense of perspective on the material being learned. I really appreciated ho...
Read more

Chapter 4 blog

-
When I think of Chinese history, one of the first things that come to my mind are Confucius’ pacifist and accepting teachings. So I was shocked to learn that immediately before Confucius, Legalist philosophers were allowing China to run on a drastic, harsh system of rewards and consequences. The Legalists had an extremely pessimistic view of human nature, and almost, it seems, operated under an underlying belief that humans do not have positive intentions by nature. Strayer describes “most people, they believed, were stupid and shortsighted. Only the state and its rulers could act in their long-term interests” (150). As these philosophies were being used to govern China, Confucius was born and began forming his ideas. Confucius’ main political idea was the idea of “social harmony through moral example” (151). Confucius narrowed hierarchy down to relationships, and discussed how most relationships were unequal. The then advocated that if the person in “power” acted from a place of kin...
Read more