Reflect on Professor Kjar’s lecture and text

Joanie Cahill. "Image ID: 584528." 6 Aug 2006. Online image. Stock.xchang. 28 Mar 2010

According to Geymonat, who wrote the biography of Galileo, Galileo insisted that people should recognize that there were two different types of language: “ordinary language” and “scientific language” (Geymonat 67). Galileo argued about the Ptolemaic Theory which was mentioned in the Bible:

God in his infinite wisdom, being familiar with both, understood very well when dictating the Sacred Scriptures that, in order to make the Bible comprehensible to its intended audience, it would be necessary to employ ordinary language as the only one understood by the common man. This entailed writing that the sun turned round the earth. But in science we must make use of the second kind of language, rigorous and exact, which is characteristic of scientific reasoning; hence we need not accept as scientifically valid the statement in question, despite the fact that it is found in the Bible. (Geymonat 67)

Science and religion strongly relates each other because both of them are the explanation for the system of the mysterious and unknown nature. However, I think each of them has a different support for their insistence: science is based on scientific theories and facts, religion is based on myths and belief. Although both have completely different supports, since they are explaining a same phenomenon, I think there are many antagonism between those two.

I felt this antagonism was also mentioned in Professor Kjar’s lecture.

Professor Kjar introduced some pictures that shows Adam and other animals were peacefully living together. There was no fighting nor hunting, but there was a beautiful piece of scenery. The pictures represented a perfect "order." However, those pictures were contrary to the scientific theories and facts, such as the theory of natural selection and evolution, which seems to be more complicated and chaotic than the pictures.

"What was God feeling that day?" this was the most impressive quote for me in the lecture.

Geymonat, Ludovico. Galileo Galilei: A Biography and Inquiry into His Philosophy of Science. New York: McGraw-Hill Education, 1965. Print.

Blade Runner and Moral

Drew Struzan. 1982. Online image. Internet Movie Poster Awards. 16 Mar 2010.

-Q1. Blade Runner is best known for its cyberpunk mise en scene (design aspects of the film): the incredibly dense texture of its shots. Watch very carefully and describe the 2020 culture the movie suggests visually.

The world in Blade Runner was very interesting for me because people were speaking many different language (and I noticed they were speaking Japanese as well) in a small area. As we read about dialect and language in class couple weeks ago, although there are some exception, I think most place have only few common language for a particular place. In Blade Runner's world, I felt it was too random to speak many different language in a very small place because it is very hard to communicate without using common language. I know we can communicate through non-linguistic ways but still I felt it was too chaotic because I am used to use particular language to communicate in certain place.

And I think their expectation of 2020 was pretty accurate (a little bit exaggerated though) because even now we can see globalization, 2020 should be more globalized as the advance of technology. Therefore in 2020, there is a possibility of existence of many languages in a small area, just like this movie. This is why the world in Blade Runner was very interesting for me.

-Q2. A moral message of the movie is that it was wrong to enslave the replicants and use them as forced labor since they were so human-like in both appearance and thought process. What would need to be different about replicants in order for us to feel that it was OK to use them for labor?

I agree that Replicants and human were too similar in both appearance and thought process, and since they were too similar, it is much easier to sympathize with Replicants and it seemed enslaving human. Especially, when Replicants expressed many emotions, such as fear, anger, sadness, and love, there were nothing different from human. Also, when Deckard fought with Replicants, they bled like a human. So I could not think Deckard was fighting with "Replicants."

Therefore, to feel OK to use Replicants for labor, I think they should have completely different appearances and different thought process. For example, if Replicants totally looked like a robot and if they did not have same process of thinking, especially emotions, I think we can consider them as a tool, just like computers.

Reflect on Dr. Kapasula’s lecture and text

Mishin Yarik. "Image ID: 633847." 9 Oct 2006. Online image. Stock.xchang. 6 Feb 2010

Until I attended to Dr. Kapasula’s lecture, I even did not know there is an International Women's day. Her lecture was very interesting because she used the song, Single Ladies, as a material to explain her point. Also, since the main point of the lecture was about the feminism, I felt strong connection with The Burital at Thebes. I think the contrast between Single Ladies and King Creon's thought is very interesting.

As we discussed in the class, there are many part that King Creon mentions his hatred toward women. For example,

-"Who does she think

She is? The man in charge?" (31)

-"Listen to him. He's on the woman's side." (45)

Obviously, we can see Creon does not think women and men are equal. However, Single Ladies' lyric says that

・・・・・・・・・

I could care less what you think

I need no permission, did I mention

Dont pay him any attention

Cuz you had your turn

But now you gonna learn

What it really feels like to miss me

Don’t treat me to the things of this world

I’m not that kind of girl

Your love is what I prefer,

what I deserve

He’s a man that makes me then takes me

And delivers me to a destiny, to infinity and beyond

Pull me into your arms

Say I’m the one you own

If you don’t, you’ll be alone

And like a ghost I’ll be gone

All the single ladies　Now put your hands up

Beyoncé Knowles. "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)." Single Ladies. Columbia Records, 2008.

・・・・・・・・・

Since this lyric clearly shows her thought of women having the initiative, I felt the contrast between Single Ladies and King Creon's thought is very interesting.

I think that even though it was a usual condition (=order) that women had less chances than men and treated differently in past, it can be changed by the time and can become a wrong condition (=chaos) in the future.

Reflect on Professor Lemak's Lecture and text

Southernfried. "Picture_072b.jpg." 05 Jul 2006. Online image. Morguefile. 7 Mar 2010.

-How do we balance social justice with moral authority, or just with unjust laws?

As Professor Lemak mentioned in his lecture, I agree that social justice and moral authority cannot exist without each other. He gave us an example that Creon worked hard for his people in the story by using the rules that he got from God. However, it did not work out because he thought people need king but king does not need people. Actually, king needs people because he needs their support to keep the authority. If no one supports or agree with what he is doing as a king, that king does not need to be there because it is obvious that he is not living up to people's demand. Same thing can be said to the unjust law because it does not make sense to follow and that cause people's distrust.

-What constitutes social responsibility and justice, and what is the relationship between freedom and power?

I think moral constitutes social responsibility and justice because that is the very fundamental criterion for people to judge what is good and what is bad. I think there is no social responsibility if it is a bad thing to conduct, and justice should be a sense of right. Since people are the one who creates the sense of social responsibility and justice, moral should be the fundamental element.

-What constitutes leadership and how do leaders confront moral choices?

I think leaders should have a broad point of view to live up to people's demand and to confront moral choices. Professor Lemak mentioned that both Creon and Antigone were so sure that they were right so they couldn't see from the other point of view. I think this example represents that order and order may cause chaos. If leader is one-sided, he is likely to lose people's support because king cannot understand people's demand.