Post by sherryfeng on Jan 12, 2015 5:45:49 GMT
1.Why was Socrates sentenced to death?
Athens, the state where Socrates lived, was a highly democratic place. Unlike my hometown China which has preselected leaders and representatives, Athens’ rights and powers were really in the hands of its citizens, and each citizen represented the crowd as well as the state. However, Socrates obviously violated the beliefs of most citizens.
In ancient Athens, intelligent and wisdom was not allowed. Thus those philosophers like Socrates, who was generally considered wiser than common people, could not survive in such a democratic state because everyone should be equal and submissive to the collective while they were superior. Though philosophers usually aimed to enlighten the mass, to make a contribution to the social civilization, these aspirations only belonged to themselves rather than the mass. In other word, Socrates’s thoughts and deeds were highly individual.
Socrates did not know how to fit in the political world, that’s why he was destined to die with his faith in truth. “Man is by nature a political animal.” But apparently Socrates was not. He merely ignored the immense power, the incontrovertible authority of people.
2.Why is there a conflict (for some) between science and religion?
Science and religion are interweave in many ways, but there still have the conflict between science and religion. I think the reason that conflict between science and religion is human consciousness. People use different methodologies to pursue awareness of the universe by science and religion. For example, during science, people think the universe is birthed by Big Bang, and during religion, people think the world is birthed by God. People argue that science is moving ahead, religion is retreating. Science is the hope of the world, religion is hypnotized by her concern with another world. Science is interested in real problems, religion is concerned about problems - many of which seem to be wholly unreal. Science and religions are based on different foundations. Science is truth in a scientific sense based on the observation of nature, and religions is based on faith and God. Therefore, the conflicts between science and religion are existed and debated for many years.
Athens, the state where Socrates lived, was a highly democratic place. Unlike my hometown China which has preselected leaders and representatives, Athens’ rights and powers were really in the hands of its citizens, and each citizen represented the crowd as well as the state. However, Socrates obviously violated the beliefs of most citizens.
In ancient Athens, intelligent and wisdom was not allowed. Thus those philosophers like Socrates, who was generally considered wiser than common people, could not survive in such a democratic state because everyone should be equal and submissive to the collective while they were superior. Though philosophers usually aimed to enlighten the mass, to make a contribution to the social civilization, these aspirations only belonged to themselves rather than the mass. In other word, Socrates’s thoughts and deeds were highly individual.
Socrates did not know how to fit in the political world, that’s why he was destined to die with his faith in truth. “Man is by nature a political animal.” But apparently Socrates was not. He merely ignored the immense power, the incontrovertible authority of people.
2.Why is there a conflict (for some) between science and religion?
Science and religion are interweave in many ways, but there still have the conflict between science and religion. I think the reason that conflict between science and religion is human consciousness. People use different methodologies to pursue awareness of the universe by science and religion. For example, during science, people think the universe is birthed by Big Bang, and during religion, people think the world is birthed by God. People argue that science is moving ahead, religion is retreating. Science is the hope of the world, religion is hypnotized by her concern with another world. Science is interested in real problems, religion is concerned about problems - many of which seem to be wholly unreal. Science and religions are based on different foundations. Science is truth in a scientific sense based on the observation of nature, and religions is based on faith and God. Therefore, the conflicts between science and religion are existed and debated for many years.