Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2015 23:17:51 GMT
Week one: Essay Questions
1. Why was Socrates sentenced to death?
- During the great trial of Socrates there were but two charges brought before him by the court of justice. The first charge he was presented with was that he had a disbelief in the gods recognized by the state. The second charge against him was that he corrupted the youth of the Athenians with his own knowledge and teachings. Socrates was an old man who was inexperienced to the ways of court having never been on trial before in his whole life. Not only does Socrates choose to face off against them in his own defense, but does so with honesty and purity, and not being affected by the horror of that, which is opposed to life, death. He doesn't wrestle with the charges he's accused with, nor does he renounce or admit to the first accusation on him, but shows that his belief in God is greater than that his fear of man and it is his responsibility to obey the Athens laws no matter what. However, by the end of the trial his fate is sealed by death from poison and Socrates is ready to give in to his eminent end, and in his final expression of this sentence he shares his belief of dying as merely passing on to live out a nicer, happier life.
2. Why is there a conflict (for some) between science and religion?
- Science and religion is one of the most controversial subjects for people to talk about and if you can recall was even more dangerous to talk about centuries ago during the time of Copernicus and has since then been a heated battle of discussion between people. However, I do believe that we are entitled to our own opinions about this matter and our beliefs of the cosmos and why it is the way it is. To me In my opinion I believe science and religion are really one in the same thing, which some people haven't considered yet and we're both designed to explain that God does in fact exist. I also feel that science was branched off from religion in a way, because they wanted to take the notion of God even further by proving his existence with science showing that he may have left a path of bread crumbs behind for us to follow that would eventually lead us to him. People often relate to Religion as a way of believing without seeing and with science its seeing is believing, and this I feel is why debates are held between people. Most of science can be hard for people to understand once you start talking about the structure of the universe from quantum mechanics to general relativity and even go beyond that suggesting other universes could be out there is indeed hard to wrap your head around especially for religious people. Even reading the great mystery Matter vs spirit and how it discusses the nature of matter as atoms which in turn are made up of smaller particles and those ones made of even smaller particles can become hard to believe, even the great Richard Feynman once said if we took all of our knowledge and reduced it to a single sentence it would come down to "Things are made up of littler things, that jiggle" which I find to be a pretty accurate depiction of the universe and the things in it. On the other side of things perhaps physicists have it all wrong and don't know what they're talking about, which most religious people believe is the case. Science could just be making stuff up so that the universe makes sense to us when in reality we are far off what is actually out there. Still I mean a theory of everything sounds impossible to discover and even if we find one what good does it do in helping us live a better life, which I think many religious people would agree with and if I then knew how to create a universe does that make me God? I have a great faith in myself being heavily involved with church in my earlier years of life and science was a huge influence on my life growing up, having read every book on the subject I can get my hands on and watching every documentary on everything physics I feel I can say with confidence that I have a good understanding of both science and religion and believe people argue over science and religion, because they simply care about the world they live on.
1. Why was Socrates sentenced to death?
- During the great trial of Socrates there were but two charges brought before him by the court of justice. The first charge he was presented with was that he had a disbelief in the gods recognized by the state. The second charge against him was that he corrupted the youth of the Athenians with his own knowledge and teachings. Socrates was an old man who was inexperienced to the ways of court having never been on trial before in his whole life. Not only does Socrates choose to face off against them in his own defense, but does so with honesty and purity, and not being affected by the horror of that, which is opposed to life, death. He doesn't wrestle with the charges he's accused with, nor does he renounce or admit to the first accusation on him, but shows that his belief in God is greater than that his fear of man and it is his responsibility to obey the Athens laws no matter what. However, by the end of the trial his fate is sealed by death from poison and Socrates is ready to give in to his eminent end, and in his final expression of this sentence he shares his belief of dying as merely passing on to live out a nicer, happier life.
2. Why is there a conflict (for some) between science and religion?
- Science and religion is one of the most controversial subjects for people to talk about and if you can recall was even more dangerous to talk about centuries ago during the time of Copernicus and has since then been a heated battle of discussion between people. However, I do believe that we are entitled to our own opinions about this matter and our beliefs of the cosmos and why it is the way it is. To me In my opinion I believe science and religion are really one in the same thing, which some people haven't considered yet and we're both designed to explain that God does in fact exist. I also feel that science was branched off from religion in a way, because they wanted to take the notion of God even further by proving his existence with science showing that he may have left a path of bread crumbs behind for us to follow that would eventually lead us to him. People often relate to Religion as a way of believing without seeing and with science its seeing is believing, and this I feel is why debates are held between people. Most of science can be hard for people to understand once you start talking about the structure of the universe from quantum mechanics to general relativity and even go beyond that suggesting other universes could be out there is indeed hard to wrap your head around especially for religious people. Even reading the great mystery Matter vs spirit and how it discusses the nature of matter as atoms which in turn are made up of smaller particles and those ones made of even smaller particles can become hard to believe, even the great Richard Feynman once said if we took all of our knowledge and reduced it to a single sentence it would come down to "Things are made up of littler things, that jiggle" which I find to be a pretty accurate depiction of the universe and the things in it. On the other side of things perhaps physicists have it all wrong and don't know what they're talking about, which most religious people believe is the case. Science could just be making stuff up so that the universe makes sense to us when in reality we are far off what is actually out there. Still I mean a theory of everything sounds impossible to discover and even if we find one what good does it do in helping us live a better life, which I think many religious people would agree with and if I then knew how to create a universe does that make me God? I have a great faith in myself being heavily involved with church in my earlier years of life and science was a huge influence on my life growing up, having read every book on the subject I can get my hands on and watching every documentary on everything physics I feel I can say with confidence that I have a good understanding of both science and religion and believe people argue over science and religion, because they simply care about the world they live on.