Understanding complexity of concepts is often
needlessly painful when we are afraid to play with the
obvious, afraid of humble beginnings, afraid of
being deemed as silly.
The truth be told if we examine little things and then
reconsider the larger picture, often our turmoil turns'
unexpected joy,
speedily causing hunger to learn and
instead of overwhelming ourselves we become
vivacious for what previously proved
eminent confusion.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Post Secondary Plan
Post Secondary Plan... A little assignment for careers but I would like to share with all of you who want to know my heart for the next few years.
My post secondary journey will start next fall at Seattle Pacific University where I will study Urban and Global development with a minor in history. I plan to pursue Air Force ROTC as a method of provision for school and an outlet for physical competition, leadership, and international experience. In Seattle I will also be pursuing music, playing small shows in the coffee shops (as another form of resource), and serving at a local church working with the homeless population and mentoring young people.
After the four years of undergraduate school with all the extracurriculars that go with it I will present a request to the Air Force to postpone the required service in it and both allow and provide for me to pursue law so that I could better serve the Air Force. I believe that request will be granted because during the interview process for ROTC the major that interviewed me encouraged me telling me that it would not be the first time the Air Force has paid for law school and even Harvard Law School.
These plans for education in undergraduate will lay the ground work for graduate school, graduate school will lay the foundation for a career of international law in the Air Force, and the Air Force provides for the education, allows for a job after school, and lays the foundation for my dreams for life and law as a tool for mission and provision for my future family.
After I retire with the Air Force I will have the benefits of a veteran, experience that will allow for a good private venue to practice law, and the financial freedom to travel, serve, and pour into the church and my family. I am hoping to be involved not only in private law in the U.S but also in probono around the world for the poor and orphaned, the farmers and the organizations that cannot afford a professional voice in the legal system.
As a final goal I hope to pursue judgeship and civil service in whatever area I am led. All of these plans, hopes, and dreams are in the sifter but I do believe that they will prove gold refined in the furnace that has been my life these four years of high school and will continue to be purified in the crucible that life will continue to provide.
My post secondary journey will start next fall at Seattle Pacific University where I will study Urban and Global development with a minor in history. I plan to pursue Air Force ROTC as a method of provision for school and an outlet for physical competition, leadership, and international experience. In Seattle I will also be pursuing music, playing small shows in the coffee shops (as another form of resource), and serving at a local church working with the homeless population and mentoring young people.
After the four years of undergraduate school with all the extracurriculars that go with it I will present a request to the Air Force to postpone the required service in it and both allow and provide for me to pursue law so that I could better serve the Air Force. I believe that request will be granted because during the interview process for ROTC the major that interviewed me encouraged me telling me that it would not be the first time the Air Force has paid for law school and even Harvard Law School.
These plans for education in undergraduate will lay the ground work for graduate school, graduate school will lay the foundation for a career of international law in the Air Force, and the Air Force provides for the education, allows for a job after school, and lays the foundation for my dreams for life and law as a tool for mission and provision for my future family.
After I retire with the Air Force I will have the benefits of a veteran, experience that will allow for a good private venue to practice law, and the financial freedom to travel, serve, and pour into the church and my family. I am hoping to be involved not only in private law in the U.S but also in probono around the world for the poor and orphaned, the farmers and the organizations that cannot afford a professional voice in the legal system.
As a final goal I hope to pursue judgeship and civil service in whatever area I am led. All of these plans, hopes, and dreams are in the sifter but I do believe that they will prove gold refined in the furnace that has been my life these four years of high school and will continue to be purified in the crucible that life will continue to provide.
Monday, March 9, 2009
The Contrast Painted
Jordan Wolfe
03/09/2009
Philosophy
The Contrast Painted.
Plato vs. Aristotle
The teacher and the student, Plato and Aristotle both widely respected thinkers with radically different thoughts. Not everyone was satisfied with Plato's universal truth and higher reality that he found in the thought of a thing rather than its form. Aristotle was one of those that found himself not completely satisfied with the thoughts of his mentor. In his works he stands in almost complete contrast with the thoughts Plato laid out. This is Idealism vs Realism, Universal against individual, and form as opposed to the concept of that form.
Plato was an idealist that stressed the power of unchanging truths that he called universals. He painted his ideas in the allegory of the cave where he displays the power of shadows and of partial truth. His question was that if individuals are only exposed to the shadows projected on the wall then will they not consider those shadows to be reality? He argues that the world in which we live is only shadows and images of the real world. The more real world is one that is beyond what we can deductively or inductively understand with our senses and must be understood and applied through intellect and ideas.
Now we have Plato's student Aristotle who would say, “Wait just one stinkin moment! Lets use logic to study the things we see and then build off of them some more probable conclusions!” Aristotle was a realist and he teaches that reason is divine. He would say we should not go straight to the ideas that are untouchable but rather to what we know and then by understanding the shadows project probable conclusions. His political belief also stands in the face of Plato's ideals in that he believed the state to be the higher priority than the family. That individuals cannot be complete in who they are but rather are made whole by fulfilling they're part in society. He would say that slaves made by capture in war are totally okay because those that lose the war are inferior to the winners and will actually do better being ruled by their superiors.
Plato's political views are heavy in idealism which Aristotle criticized as being to far from this reality. Mr. P wanted a utopia and wrote about concepts of community even to the degree of communal ownership of wives. Aristotle although placing the state ahead of the family disagreed with abolishing he family because he said the state is made up of families. Communal ownership he argued would mean no private property and with out property the management of households and families is lost.
Each of these thinkers wanted to find universals but the arguments come when we put at odds their different vehicles for reaching them. Aristotle believes that through examination of particulars or what he called the “essence” of things we can reach the universals. Plato believed that universal existed outside of the particulars and extended further than Aristotle's natural philosophy. This is where the argument gets interesting in that you can begin looking into the concepts of love, hope, and faith. In plugging these concepts into their vehicles we see that it is at best it is hard to piece together particulars about them and at worst it is impossible. Love goes beyond the logic of Aristotle and though he dominated thinking for thousands of years on many topics I think I would have to give at least a piece of the battle on love as a victory to Plato.
Both of these incredible thinkers create a beautiful tension upon which we can stand and look into our lives, our society, and our world and question what is true and how the truth is applied. I believe that both of them would agree that fearless questioning and study of life, love, and all that goes with it is not only an honorable pursuit but a life giving one.
03/09/2009
Philosophy
The Contrast Painted.
Plato vs. Aristotle
The teacher and the student, Plato and Aristotle both widely respected thinkers with radically different thoughts. Not everyone was satisfied with Plato's universal truth and higher reality that he found in the thought of a thing rather than its form. Aristotle was one of those that found himself not completely satisfied with the thoughts of his mentor. In his works he stands in almost complete contrast with the thoughts Plato laid out. This is Idealism vs Realism, Universal against individual, and form as opposed to the concept of that form.
Plato was an idealist that stressed the power of unchanging truths that he called universals. He painted his ideas in the allegory of the cave where he displays the power of shadows and of partial truth. His question was that if individuals are only exposed to the shadows projected on the wall then will they not consider those shadows to be reality? He argues that the world in which we live is only shadows and images of the real world. The more real world is one that is beyond what we can deductively or inductively understand with our senses and must be understood and applied through intellect and ideas.
Now we have Plato's student Aristotle who would say, “Wait just one stinkin moment! Lets use logic to study the things we see and then build off of them some more probable conclusions!” Aristotle was a realist and he teaches that reason is divine. He would say we should not go straight to the ideas that are untouchable but rather to what we know and then by understanding the shadows project probable conclusions. His political belief also stands in the face of Plato's ideals in that he believed the state to be the higher priority than the family. That individuals cannot be complete in who they are but rather are made whole by fulfilling they're part in society. He would say that slaves made by capture in war are totally okay because those that lose the war are inferior to the winners and will actually do better being ruled by their superiors.
Plato's political views are heavy in idealism which Aristotle criticized as being to far from this reality. Mr. P wanted a utopia and wrote about concepts of community even to the degree of communal ownership of wives. Aristotle although placing the state ahead of the family disagreed with abolishing he family because he said the state is made up of families. Communal ownership he argued would mean no private property and with out property the management of households and families is lost.
Each of these thinkers wanted to find universals but the arguments come when we put at odds their different vehicles for reaching them. Aristotle believes that through examination of particulars or what he called the “essence” of things we can reach the universals. Plato believed that universal existed outside of the particulars and extended further than Aristotle's natural philosophy. This is where the argument gets interesting in that you can begin looking into the concepts of love, hope, and faith. In plugging these concepts into their vehicles we see that it is at best it is hard to piece together particulars about them and at worst it is impossible. Love goes beyond the logic of Aristotle and though he dominated thinking for thousands of years on many topics I think I would have to give at least a piece of the battle on love as a victory to Plato.
Both of these incredible thinkers create a beautiful tension upon which we can stand and look into our lives, our society, and our world and question what is true and how the truth is applied. I believe that both of them would agree that fearless questioning and study of life, love, and all that goes with it is not only an honorable pursuit but a life giving one.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)