State of Nature

Do you think a state of nature could ever work? Like what if for some crazy reason we went back to being nomadic. Do you think we would form civilizations and governments or would we find a way to live peaceably on our own?

John Locke on Slavery

One thing that really shocked me in the reading from THO was Locke's emphasis on how "all people are naturally free and have a right to life, liberty, and property" (327).  Given this, what do you think Locke's view on slavery would have been?  Would he have found it unjust because it violated the slaves' natural rights? Or, because he did live in the 1600's in England, would he have shared the common belief that slaves were not really people and thus did not apply to these rules?

Funny English Civil War Video

Class Play

Getting back into school warm up thread

Well hello my compadres, I thought I'd start this trimester with an easy question to argue and discuss just to warm us up.

Through watching the movie and reading our homework tonight, which side do you agree with their motives or sympathize with more: the Royalists or the Parliamentans?

test

any ideas for possible questions?

Of Love and Other Demons: Discussion Continued...

In our discussions on Romeo and Juliet and Of Love and Other Demons, we have looked at the circumstances that led to the characters' sacrifices.   In both stories, we have discussed whether the power of love was a positive influence or a negative influence, and whether the love between the characters is what lead to their suicide.  What are your opinions on this?  Do you believe that love is a force that leads only to chaos and insanity, or is it a necessary emotion to our human lives?

Discrimination

Why do you think discrimination has always been present in society? Why do you think we still have inequality in races, genders, sexuality etc? Do you think it's justifiable?

The Mongols

After what we've discussed so far and what we learned about the Mongols, has your opinion of them changed?  Do you think that the Mongols had a positive influence on the world or a negative effect?  Also, why do you think the Mongols never kept records of important dates and history or created impressive artwork like European countries?  Why do you think Europe's world view of civilization is different from Asia's at the time?

The Fall of the Mongolian Empire

The mongolian empire prospered between the time of Ghangas Khan's rule and his grandson, Kublai Khan's rule. They conquered vast parts of China, Persia, Iran, and several other countries in Asia. Each country, however, did not know that the other ones existed until Genghis Khan came to power. But, like all previous empires and dynasties, the Mongolian empire came to an end. What factors lead to their downfall of the Mongolian Empire? What role did the empire’s leader, Kublai Khan, have in its ultimate demise? 

Role of Fate in Macbeth

Consider the role of fate in Macbeth. The witches represent fate, and all of their prophecies about Macbeth come true. But is fate responsible for the violence/murder that ensues throughout the play? How much does fate truly control in the play? How responsible are the characters themselves? Also, did fate predict the violence in the play, or could it have been avoided?

Theme of Darkness in R&J and Shakespeare's Sonnets

The discussion of night and darkness is a reoccurring theme throughout Shakespeare's sonnets. Using your knowledge of Romeo and Juliet, explain how the sonnets support/ compare to the discussion of darkness in the play. (Think about how the balcony scene in R&J happened at night!) Some key sonnets to maybe look at: LXXIII, XLIII, and XXVII.

What is Love?

The main theme of the poems we've discussed so far is love. Different poems describe different types of love. John Donne writes about love between souls and another clever piece about sexual attraction. Marvell focuses on a sexual relationship in his poem. Shakespeare's sonnets describe love between two men and an inter-racial love. So taking all these poems into consideration, what do you think makes "true love"? Sexual attraction, compatibility of souls, or a combination of the two?

Protestant vs. Catholic

Would you take the side of the Protestant's idea of good work, or the Catholics idea of faith in order to reach salvation?

Religion vs. Science

After our great discussion in class about, well I still don't fully understand what, I have a question for you all.  Today, we were talking more about wether or not science and religion can coexist nowadays.  Do you think that both science and religion could have coexisted during the time that we are talking about in World Civ? Why or why not? And what do you think needed to change in order to make them coexist? (With this question I am talking about the time from the Middle Ages through the Renaissance with the rise of Humanism up to what we are talking about now with the Counter-reformation.)

Downfall of the Renaissance (I think it's my turn...)

Alright. This is going somewhere trust me.

So we have been learning about the end of the Renaissance in Italy and today we have discussed the differences between the early stages and the late stages. We previously talked about what started it and just talked about what ended it. We were also briefly told that a discussion on whether the Renaissance was an advancement or not will occur before the week ends.

Using this information (and drawing from textual sources we have used), look at this question: In your head, compare the Middle Ages to the Italian Renaissance to the 1600s+. Do you think humanity in Europe, specifically Italy, has advanced overall, returned to the caliber of or declined to the likeliness of  the Middle Ages, or has done neither and had its advancements and downsides? Why?

(In short, was it better overall, worse overall, or neither?)

Florence

Do you think Florence would have been prosperous without the Medici family?

The time period we are talking about in WC II right now is referred to as the renaissance, do you think it could be argued that s another renaissance has happened in the last 200 years or did it ever end?

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