After I red the two handouts “knowledge and the arts” and “ taste for makers” I think that art is an essential element of culture but it is pretty hard to know when a piece of art is good or if it is bad. For some people art is just decoration and do not think it is something essential. In the handout “ knowledge and the arts” it is very easy to understand why art is important, art helps us to reflect about our lives and ourselves and that converts into wisdom which is the highest form of knowledge. When you look at a piece of art, or listen to it, you can feel the artist emotions and that takes us to think about ourselves in relation with that emotion.
To judge a work of art there are two aspects which are, the technical merit of the art and the profundity of the questions it raises. when you are judging it by the technical merit you have some sort of expertise, like the handout says “The art historian’s judgment of a painting is worth more than the judgment of an uninformed tourist who wanders into a museum with his wife” and for the second way of judging it consists of the way it makes you feel and the questions it raises.
I think art is very important because it helps us gain knowledge that we could not be able to get by maths and science, it makes un wiser and it also is very beautiful, so I do think it is essential for everyone to know and appreciate art as to what it is.
History has been very useful for us as to know what happened in the past and how was it, we can use it to learn about something or for us not to commit the same mistake twice. Everything we know is thanks to history and there is history in everything, maths, biology, everything, and thanks to history we have been able to learn and surpass what we already know. My question is, how do we know that history is true? Of course there are documents that have been registered as time passes that is an evidence on some historic events, but how do we know exactly what happened. When some event happens eventually every person who was present in it will be dead and the only evidence will be what the people that were present there said, but there is always two parts of the story or maybe some things get mixed up as the story keeps passing through generations and that is why I think that maybe history is not completely reliable.
As I think about it, it can be very scary when I think about some event, for example a war, the only thing we know are the documents left of it and what people have been passing through time, but we will never know surely if what we have grown to believe and be taught in school is true or is mixed up a little or is just arranged for it to be what is most convenient for us as a society.
After reading the documents about storytelling I understand why it is said that it is the most important way of knowing and I am not sure about that but I do think it is a way of knowing. Storytelling is part of every WOK and basically of all of us, everything we know is because of a story and it sounds weird but it is true and makes sense when you think about it, everyday stories are present everywhere, on movies, on books, on the internet and in commercials, and sometimes it can be used to give information, to give ideas or to teach something or entertain. “Everything we think, everything we believe, everything we know takes the form of a story. “ (Eric T. MacKnight April 2012) That is very true because when we are kids they teach us everything in a form of a story, everything they teach in school is based on a story and every belief is also based from a story.
I think that when it is about our existence it is very questionable and that is why I believe there are religions, because there are many stories out there talking about how and why we exist and each one of us choose what to believe because there is no way of knowing which one is true in a scientific way. when we talk about history it can also be questionable because when a story gets passed by from person to person the story gets altered in a way and so at the last person that it is told some thing might be different and that is why I don’t know if it can be the most important WOK.
When facts and information are being made for social geography things can be tricky but it is very important to have the right information and have a correct result. False positives and false negatives are something that can be brutal for the community, taking for an example the situation that is happening right now, the COVID-19 pandemic around the world, false information is circulating and is making people very paranoid and is causing a universal chaos just because some information that is going around is fake or not well explained. Because of this false information people are making panic shopping and are taking too much medicines and supplies that can be more useful for someone that is already sick.
When true information is released people get better informed and can act correctly about the situation, things do not get out of the normal order as it should be. Scientists should be 100% sure that what they are releasing to the world is true for the wellbeing and understanding of all the community.
I believe that Geography is indeed a science because it proves facts and it studies the way humans and everything works and act.
I do not think there are universal moral values, humans have decided through history what is wrong or right but I do not think it is the same for everybody, long ago it was okay to kill different people for reasons that right now it is not okay to do, also as today it is still something that not everybody agrees on. Most of us think that killing is wrong but the same authorities that made us think that also kill criminals on death penalty. i do not think universal moral values exist because I think it is very hard to get an idea that absolutely everybody agrees on and everybody follows it.
I do not think that “fact” is a right word to apply in this context because a fact is something that is, by science, proven right and it is not only that people think is right. I do think it is an opinion and that most people agree that killing is wrong but I think that there will always be an exception.
“The Golden Rule of ethics is that you should treat other people as you wish to be treated yourself.” I find this rule something we all need to do and to look up to, since I have been little my mom always told me that I should treat people like I want them to treat me so I think it is true and really helpful, of course you don’t want people treating you badly, so treat them with respect as you wish you were treated.
I think that to know when something is right or wrong it depends on who you are, on the family you have and how you were raised , on what you think and on making decisions on what is best for most people. each person has a different idea and there always have been fighting on what is good and bad but I believe there is no good answer. For example some people think a death penalty is bad but some other people think is good, I personally believe is good only if it is a justified penalty and if the person actually deserves the punishment. Another controversial topic is abortion, there has always been fighting about that but I personally am in favour of abortion because you make your own devotions for your body.
Some people might disagree with me and some support my opinion so that is a clear example of how the good and bad depends on what you personally think, but most opinions are similar for all of us because that is what society and our families makes us think and are opinions that benefit all of us.
In part five, socrates and Meno finished discussing ending up in Meno thinking that virtue can be taught, Socrates thinks that virtue cannot be taught because nobody is qualified to teach it.
Socrates states that virtue cannot be taught and therefore you are born with it and it is developed by your own. During part 5 they still talk about topics of part 1 to 4 and talk about Anytus, they talk about knowledge vs belief, meno thinks how a person comes to be good in the world and I find that interesting because indeed since we are born we are taught what is good and bad but it can change depending in your beliefs and family, so what actually is good.
Part 3 and 4: In part 3 the main question is: can virtue be taught?
Meno and Socrates argue about this and if it can be taught who can teach it. Socrates states that virtue is some kind of knowledge, he said that virtue is not from birth, it is from learning. In part 4 Socrates explains to Meno talking with another boy called Anytus, that virtue indeed cannot be taught.
Part 2: Meno asks socrates how can a man know that they don’t know something, Socrates answers that someone cannot inquire something only if the person knows he doesn’t know it, that way the person knows what to inquire, socrates says that learning is recollecting and remembering, Socrates with that idea calls a boy who is ignorant in geometry to solve a geometry problem.
Socrates helps the boy to solve the problem by only giving hints not answers, that way he can understand better and not forget it.
Part 1: The conversation starts as Meno ask Socrates what virtue is, Meno is a student of Socrates, he asks if virtue can be taught, they start to expand the conversation as Socrates says that he does not know what virtue is, they get to the topic of why people are evil, they get to a conclusion where people are evil because they are not happy with the authority or their law or government.
Socrates states that virtue is different for every living form and I don’t think it changes depending on your living form, I think is the same for all of us, it is to show a high moral.
Not all black and white; the most interesting bits are gray.
