Your detailed and thorough post due by Wednesday@MIDNIGHT for full credit (A). Partial credit (C) can be earned by posting late, which is better than a ZERO.
Remember, weekly blogging is worth 1/3 of your entire semester grade.
Be sure to communicate with Dr. W as needed - rob.williams@madriver.com.
Read and blog COSMOPOLITANISM, Chapters 1-2.
2) EVIDENCE: Post and number THREE specific observations from EACH CHAPTER of our reading(s) that supports your thesis.
Use 2-3 sentences for each observation, and combine direct quotations from the text (AUTHOR's LAST NAME, 27), with IYOW analysis.
3) QUESTION: Include in your post a SINGLE SPECIFIC question you'd ask the class based on our readings.
Thesis)
ReplyDeleteChapter 1: There is no singular truth when discussing morality but rather a variety of moral truths.
Chapter 2: The vocabulary of values is the only way different cultures of societies can reach a shared response which will ultimately make the world a better place.
Evidence)
Chapter 1:
“ Of course, you probably don’t think there’s much harm done if people do go to Mecca. They think it’s right. We don’t. We don’t think it’s wrong, either, though. Indeed, since we think that integrity matters-that living by your beliefs is important-and since, in this case, there’s no harm done in doing what conscience dictates…” (Appiah, 9). Morality is defined by the individual, there is no singular moral truth since what is moral is often defined by one's culture or upbringing.
“ The temptation is to look for a rule book that could tell you how to arbitrate conflicts like that-but then you’d have to agree on the rule book. And even if you did, for reasons I’ll be exploring later, there’s no reason to think you’d be able to agree on its application.” (Appiah, 11). As stated before, there is no single rule book that defines what actions are moral or immoral. This is because humans would never be able to agree on a single book that would decide the morality of thousands of societies.
“ In that case, there’s no one shattered mirror; there are lots of mirrors, lots of moral truths, and we can at best agree to differ…”. (Appiah, 11). Since there is no one singular truth we should just come to accept that there are different variations of morality. Morality can never be defined as one single truth, this is due to the multitude of different cultures which have their own interpretations of what is ‘moral’.
Chapter 2:
“Armed with these terms, fortified with a shared language of value, we can often guide one another, in the cosmopolitan spirit, to shared responses; and when we cannot agree, the understanding that our responses are shaped by some of the same vocabulary can make it easier to agree to disagree” (Appiah, 30). It is necessary for individuals to interact with each other and share vocabulary of values because that is the only way individuals will learn to apply these shared responses to the world, and in the end make the world a better place.
“ Our language of values is one of the central ways we coordinate our lives with one another. We appeal to values when we are trying to get things done together…” (Appiah, 28). In order to interact with one another in a productive manor individuals must utilize this vocabulary of values otherwise nothing would be done.
“ But a deeper answer is that evaluating stories together is one of the central human ways of learning to align our responses to the world. And that alignment of responses, is in turn one of the ways we maintain the social fabric, the texture of our relationships.” (Appiah, 29). The only way to ensure that the world functions is to learn and discuss stories from one another. Without this understanding between individuals the social fabric of the world would be ruined and ultimately lead to a far worse off world.
Question:
Since there are individuals who subscribe to the notion that there is a singular truth, what would be some ways to show them there are a variety of moral truths?
Chapter 1:
ReplyDeleteThesis: There isn't one correct way of life, we are supposed to have contrasting ways of life and learn from it
Evidence:
1). Burton famously said, "There is no Good, there is no Bad; these be the whims of mortal will". What this essentially means here is that there isn't a singular correct way of mortal life. It is up to us to find our own way of life and to live by it, while also respecting others choices and ways of life (Page 4).
2).Countless amount of other people have tried and learned from others, such as David Hume, who was "scouring traveler's tales", to find the ways of life and stories of people in China and Turkey. Montesquieu's Spirit of the Laws had many anecdotes from places such as Indonesia and Brazil despite being a French man (Page 5).
3).Just because there is disagreements between religions, does not mean you have to hate them. Appiah points out, "I have no more reason to resent those who go to Mecca on the hajj than I have to begrudge the choices of those who go to Scotland for golf". This simplifies the situation, but it makes a lot of sense, even if what another religion is doing doesn't suit you or your beliefs, doesn't mean you can't get along with them and learn from them.
Chapter 2:
Thesis: Values are taught through multiple ways, and with them we can reach a shared response.
Evidence:
1) A shared response is our ultimate goal. "Without a shared world, what is there to discuss?", we are only able to learn through a shared world. Without learning from each other, conversations would be pointless (Page 31)
2)Our values come from various sources such as "Folktales, drama, opera, novels ..." and so much more. Human civilizations has used these methods to show values that either we had not recognized or have looked over as time passed. With these vocabulary of values, we are able to create shared responses(Page 30)
3)."Language of values is one of the central ways we coordinate our lives with one another". Without our values we would not have our on grasp on the lives that we life. We need them also to be able to get something done together such as a discussion of a movie(Page 28)
Question:
How can we create a society that is willing to learn form one another instead of disagreeing all the time.
Chapter 1
ReplyDeleteThesis: Conflict will happen throughout life and you have to stand for yourself
Evidence
1. “He challenged one of his fellow students to a dual because the young man had mocked his walrus moustache. When this fellow didn't grasp he had been challenged, Burton concluded that he was not among gentlemen but among “grocers.” (Page 3).
2. “There is no Good, there is no Bad; these be the whims of mortal will…”(Page 4). This is saying that since there is no good and no bad the only thing there is is people wills and opinion and from that there will be conflict between people.
3. They way The City of the Saints , and across the Rocky Mountains to California speaks he aims to create conflict with groups of people for example “He manages to express hostility to the irish ( “ At 9 P.M., reaching ‘Thirty Two mile Creek we were pleasantly surprised to find an utter absence of Irishry.”(Page 7).
Chapter 2
Thesis There are multiple ways to learn and explain information
Evidence
1. You can always learn a great amount from people who are defending a topic even if you do not agree with it. “Defending particular acts of cruelty in this way means that you recognize the value of avoiding cruelty if you can.” (Page 27).
2. “Suppose we are discussing a movie. You say that it expresses a cynical view of human nature.” when talking to others and they have anoppinon you can not just say no, you have to try to understand where it is coming from to learn.(Page 28).
3. “People tell stories and discuss them in every culture and we know they have done so back as far as the record goes.” (Page 29). By telling stories it is a way to teach and learn from the past of what others have done.
Question: How can we stop conflict in civilizations with such diverse backgrounds?
1) THESIS:
ReplyDeleteChapter 1: Through the analysis of Sir Richard Francis Burton, Appiah explains how personal views of religion, culture, and region differ and how understanding of those differences is necessary for development.
Chapter 2: Values, morals, and desires build the foundation on how people act, which is built on our culture and development.
2) EVIDENCE:
Chapter 1:
The chapter begins with a study of Sir Richard Francis Burton, who was a linguist and traveler for the East India Company. He provided insight into other cultures, embracing them and showing that “you can be genuinely engaged with the ways of other societies without approving, let alone adopting, them” (Appiah, 8).
Appiah really explores the morals of religion and the views people hold throughout this chapter. They explain that what one person finds to be true, another person might not (11). They also explain that disagreements in these views don’t “have to be resolved for us to get along” (Appiah, 10).
A lot of the development of the western world, especially Europe is due to the adoption of other cultures. Appiah explains how Burton thought that “the deepest mistake… is to think that your little shard of mirror can reflect the whole” (8). Appiah really takes on the viewpoint that integration and understanding of cultures is needed to develop culturally.
Chapter 2:
“From our different perspectives,” Appiah states, “we would be living effectively in different worlds” (31). Appiah starts off the chapter explaining how regions that had never before seen “a white man” share the same life experiences as the own explorers (Appiach, 13).
Appiah questions how people come to learn “that it is good to be kind” (26).
Positivism is the theory that every belief has a truth behind it. While Appiah finds this method of thinking generalizing and not understanding of people of other cultures, it essentially is the idea that “there aren’t any values” because there is no single truth of a subject (Appiah, 20).
This chapter focuses a lot on desires and values and what revolves around them, how they are built, and more. Values are described as “things we want everyone to want” (21).
3) QUESTION: If everyone were educated about all cultures around the world, would we have universal values?
1) THESIS:
ReplyDeleteCh 1:
Sir Richard Francis Burton’s self conflicting cosmopolitan views as a well travelled and multi-linguistic adventurer.
Ch 2:
In order to be tolerant, you truly have to understand the other side of things.
2) EVIDENCE:
Ch 1:
Pg 7 & 8 talks about how Burton misses the first cosmopolitism concept. He uses humor to express what he records. He also buys slaves to carry his luggage. “There is little in Burton’s life to suggest that he took seriously what I called in the intro the first strand of cosmopolitanism: the recognition of our responsibility for every human being” (Appiah, 7). Repetitively in his writings, he chooses to pass on opportunities to talk about human suffering to reduce this problem.
“Each shared of which reflects one part of a complex truth from its own particular angle-- seems to express exactly the conclusion of Burton’s long exposure to the philosophies and the customs of many people and places: you will find parts of the truth (along with error) everywhere and the whole truth nowhere. The deepest mistake, he supposed, is to think that your little shard of mirror can reflect the whole” (Appiah, 8). Humans see only what they know and are unable to inform others without actually going out and experiencing life for themselves. Right now it seems that people live so close together but are such strangers when it comes down to it.
All of Burton’s knowledge from traveling led him to a point in life where he was able to view the world from many perspectives other than the one he was taught growing up. “Burton’s voracious assimilation of religions, literatures, and customs from around the world marks him as someone who was fascinated by the range of human invention, the variety of our ways of life and thought” (Appiah, 5).
Ch 2:
If people stay in their ‘safe’ bubble and avoid everyone else’s beliefs than they reach tolerance. Just because certain aspects of life don’t affect you specifically or personally does not mean you shouldn’t worry about it. “People often recommend relativism because they think it will lead to tolerance. But if we cannot learn from one another what it is right to feel, think, and do, then conversation between us will be pointless. Relativism of that sort isn’t a way to encourage conversation; it’s just a reason to fall silent” (Appiah, 31).
“A lingering suspicion that a lot of what we take to be right and wrong is simply a matter of local custom has hardened, in the modern age, into a scientific certainty that talk of objective moral “truths” is just a conceptual error” (Appiah, 17). Thinking in an ethnocentric way is not healthy. To be able to tolerate one another we need to understand the ‘other’.
“And doubtless there is something salutary about the ethnographic inclination to pause over our own abominations and taboos” (Appiah, 16). Every human thinks their way of living is good and how they like it best. We cannot judge others for being different. We must understand and learn these differences and then we will understand that we are the same.
3) QUESTION:
When is the last time you have gone out of your way to think about how weird something you do is in our culture? What was it?
Fantastic reflections here, HRR team!
ReplyDeleteAll posts below this line = C/LATE.
Dr. Rob
Chapter 1:
ReplyDeleteThesis: By looking at Richard Burton as an example, we can see the relationship between cosmopolitans and anti-cosmopolitans
Evidence:
1. “Burton’s voracious assimilation of religions, literatures, and customs from around the world marks him as someone who was fascinated by the range of human invention, the variety of our ways of life and thought” (Appiah 5). This sets Richard Burton up to be well-set as a cosmopolitan, as Appiah continues: “that knowledge brought him to a point where he could see the world from perspectives remote from the outlook in which he had been brought up” (Appiah 5). Burton had knowledge in several languages, and he had many times to experience other cultures working for the East India Company. Burton’s vast knowledge of languages and cultures allowed him to see through more perspectives than just one, allowing him to more universal understanding.
2. Burton also shows that just encountering people doesn’t help prejudice, as mentioned by Appiah about Burton: “Burton is a standing refutation, then, to those who imagine that prejudice derives only from ignorance, that intimacy must breed amity. You can be genuinely engaged with the ways of other societies without approving, let alone adopting, them”(Appiah 8). Burton held prejudices from his society throughout his travels, as shown through his comments during his travels.
3. “…the conclusion of Burton’s long exposure to the philosophies and the customs of many people and places: you will find parts of the truth (along with much error) everywhere and the whole truth nowhere” (Appiah 8). What’s being said here is that to look at the big picture, you can’t look from just one perspective, you must look through several, and the more perspectives we look through, the better picture we get. This is much better than just looking through our own and thinking it’s the full truth, as continued in the book: “the deepest mistake, he supposed, is to think that your little shard of mirror can reflect the whole” (Appiah 8).
Chapter 2:
Thesis: Positivism gets in the way of understanding each other’s desires and values.
Evidence:
1. “Because beliefs are about the world, and there’s only one world, they can be either right or wrong, and we can criticize other people’s beliefs for being unreasonable or simply false. But desires can’t be right or wrong, in this sense” (Appiah 19). So while beliefs can be right or wrong as they’re based on the world, a person’s desire can’t be, as desire is more about how we want the world to be.
2. Appiah asks, and then answers how values are determined by Positivism: “… what are values? You can say that, strictly speaking, the Positivist thinks there aren’t any values” (Appiah 20). To the Positivist, it’s not possible to deem a value as correct, as there’s no basis to evaluate their correct-ness.
3. “The deepest problem with Positivism, however, is not in its conclusions. It is in its starting point. I began, as I think one must if one is to make the Positivist story believable, with a single person, acting on her own beliefs and desires” (Appiah 27). The big issue with Positivism is that it’s focus is on individual thoughts of what’s valuable, not what us as a collective think of as valuable. So rather than focus on individual ideas of values; “you must see them not as guiding us as individuals on our own but as guiding people who are trying to share their lives (Appiah 27).
Question:
What can we do to start seeing from different perspectives, rather than just from our own?
Chapter 1
ReplyDeleteThesis: There's no correct moral compass that the world holds, individuals have different morals based on their construct of the world.
Evidence:
“A cosmopolitan openness to the world perfectly consistent with picking and choosing among the options you find in your search” (5). In the beginning of the chapter it discussed what a cosmopolitan was, giving an explanation of Richard Francis Burton. I thought this quote was important when examining cosmopolitans and that the world consistent of very different communities.
“If you don't have the beliefs that give those acts their meanings, you presumably think that the people who do think so are mistaken” (9). When we see individuals as different, or doing something in a different way than us than we assume that it is wrong, but there is no meaning as to why we think that. We assume this because of our specific morals and beliefs, and it is the same across communities.
“Even if we agree on all the facts, what's morally appropriate for me to do from my point of view is different from what's morally appropriate for you to do from your point of view” (11). I think this last quote is really powerful and sums up my thesis. Everyone has a different moral compass because of how we view the world, so when we think someone is doing something morally wrong, it may be that that action for them is in their moral compass.
Chapter 2
Thesis: Humans act through their set of values, desires, and beliefs, which can vary between individuals and communities based on our cultural background.
Evidence:
“Much well-intentioned intervention in the past has undermined old ways of life without replacing them with better ones” (14). In American society we are always trying to advance to newer and faster technology, that works for us but if we try to place all the new technology in an underdeveloped community, it may not be what's best for them. All communities, cities, countries, hold different values, ideas and have a different way of living.
“To understand how values work, you must see them not as guiding us as individuals on our own but as guiding people who are trying to share their lives” (27). I really appreciated this quote because it tries to explain values on a different light, and that yes they are different but we should respect and try to understand others values from our own.
“Evaluating stories together is one of the central human ways of learning to align our responses to the world” (29). As human beings we are all interconnected and we share some of the same stories, but the way we may interpret those stories are different.
Question:
Would it be beneficial to teach kids at a young age about different cultures, besides their own?
Thesis
ReplyDeleteChapter 1- No one person is perfect, humans fight and life doesn't go as planned but we need to learn how to deal with it.
Chapter 2- Values are very important to running a healthy society. It is also very important to for societies to talk to other societies about their values and come to an understanding inorder to have a good working relationship.
Evidence
Chapter 1-
“The recognition that human beings are different and that we can learn from each other’s differences” (Pg 4 Appiah). Everyone is different and we all have our own experiences. When we talk about our experiences we can learn from one another and prevent mistakes.
“A cosmopolitan openness to the world is perfectly consistent with picking and choosing among the options you find in your search”( Pg 5 Appiah). Life throws difficult situations at you and most of the time there's more then more option on how you can handle the situation.
“(No “country can produce everything it needs: whatever it has, it is bound to lack something,” Solon explains in the course of his reply.)”( Pg 6 Appiah). A country can seem nearly perfect but there is always something that can improve in a society. There is at least one this missing, needs to go, or should be changed.
Chapter 2-
“And then, after disappearing from “civilization” for a year or two, they would come back with an account of these strangers, bearing (along with a collection of pottery, carvings, or weapons for the museum) a story about how their culture fit together” (Pg14 Appiah). One big values most societies have is a sense of belonging. If there is no feeling of belonging people will search for it even if it takes years to do so.
“They will point out that our society encourages all kinds of physical alterations of human bodies— from tattoos and ear (and now tongue, nose, and umbilicus) piercing to male circumcision to rhinoplasty to breast augmentation—and that each of these practices, like all bodily alterations, has some medical risks”(Pg 15 Appiah). Beauty highly valued in our society and we have tried and continue to try different things to enhance our appearances.
“A dog asked a donkey to eat with him and gave him meat, the donkey asked the dog and gave him hay: they both went hungry.’ He smiled. ‘Every people finds its own ways good” (Pg 16 Appiah). The dog gave up is meat so that the donkey could experiences what the dog values. The donkey gave up the hay so the dog could experience what the donkey values. This is how we become more inclusive and adopt new values and beliefs.
Question- How can we share more of our values so we can connect better and become stronger as a whole?
Chapter 1 thesis:
ReplyDeleteMoral correctness is unobtainable, the individual must learn from their differences with other people in order to obtain morality.
Chapter 1 evidence:
“This is a reflection of what I called, in the introduction, the second strand of cosmopolitanism: the recognition that human beings are different and that we can learn from each other’s differences.” (pg. 4)
“Burton is a standing refutation, then, to those who imagine that prejudice derives only from ignorance, that intimacy must breed amity. You can be genuinely engaged with the ways of other societies without approving, let alone adopting, them. […] exactly the conclusion of Burton’s long exposure to the philosophies and the customs of many people and places: you will find parts of the truth (along with much error) everywhere and the whole truth nowhere. The deepest mistake, he supposed, is to think that your little shard of mirror can reflect the whole.” (pg. 8)
“For there are the cases, of course, where religious practices strike us not as morally indifferent but as actually wrong. Readers of this book are unlikely to think that the proper response to adultery is to take offenders before a religious court and, if they are convicted, to organize a crowd to stone them to death. You and I are no doubt appalled (as are a lot of Muslims, it should be said) by the very thought of a person being stoned to death in this way.” (pg. 11)
Chapter 2 thesis:
Thesis: People often struggle with moral right and wrong, but it doesn’t achieve much trying to change other people’s desires, instead we must seek to understand each other’s beliefs.
“While [anthropologists] mistrust talk about universal morality and spend a great deal of time urging us not to intervene in the lives of other societies; if they think we have a responsibility, it is to leave well enough alone. One reason for this skepticism about intervention is simply historical. Much well-intentioned intervention in the past has undermined old ways of life without replacing them with better ones; and, of course, much intervention was not well intentioned.” (pg. 14)
“What people do, Positivism holds, is driven by two fundamentally different kinds of psychological states. Beliefs – the first kind – are supposed to reflect how the world is. Desires, by contrast, reflect how we’d like it to be.” (pg. 18)
“Because beliefs are about the world, and there’s only one world, they can be either right or wrong, and we can criticize other people’s beliefs for being unreasonably or simply false. But desires can’t be right or wrong, in this sense. Desires are simply not responses to the world; they’re aimed at changing it, not at reflecting how it is.” (pg. 19)
Question: How can a fair belief be evaluated?
Chapter One
ReplyDeleteThesis: There is no single greatest way to live one’s life nor a single code to live life by.
Simply put, there is no correct way to live one’s life, each culture and society values certain aspects of life above others as well as punishes individuals for different things. Opinions shift as you move throughout the world, there being no “no Good, there is no Bad” just exemplifies this idea.
This idea of good and bad shifts with ideals of truth as well. The important thing to remember is that we don’t need to simply compromise to coexist, rather we need to understand the foundations in which these truths exist and move from there through respect and understanding.
Cultures often mix and meld along with each other. Much of the development throughout the world is due to the introduction and adaptation of different cultures culminating into another one. This is interesting to consider since it blurs the line in which these different cultures can exclude themselves and their practices. If a specific practice exists within several cultures and has made massive impacts on the way the societies function, then who really “owns” it?
Chapter Two
Thesis: Conversation is extremely important when it comes to the sharing of values, as this is a highway in which differences can be looked past and learned from and growth initiated.
Philosophical arguments and disagreements are great ways in which to both start a conversation and gather what the opposition truly values. WIth this, one doesn’t need to necessarily be persuaded towards the opposer, but rather take in the information, digest it, and compare it to one’s own value and how that value has shaped their perspective.
An extremely important issue to discover and discuss that we have gone over in class is this sense of fear that often drives people away from the conversation. Especially when it comes to people with strong views that oppose yours, it's easy to ignore and look past the value of their words instead of attempting to understand and work with it.
Stories are a great way in which cultures are spread and saved through time. Oral history has had a great impact on the spread of practices and ultimately has preserved some of the world's oldest.
Question: We are often very against attempting to understand one’s culture and different lifestyle, how are some ways in which we can get the conversation started on a massive scale?