Monthly Archives: February 2021
An Essay on Man Response
After reading An Essay on Man, a line that really stuck with me was when Pope wrote, “In Pride, in reasoning Pride, our error lies; All quit their sphere and rush into the skis. Pride still is aiming at the Blessed abodes, men would be angels, angels would be gods. Aspiring to be gods, if angels fell, aspiring to be angels, men rebel.” This resonated with me because of how Pope views pride, and how he blames pride as the reason for why men and angels fall from their original position that God placed them. To me, Pope was explaining how pride blinds people to sound thinking, and is the reason people view themselves as being much more important or impactful than they really are. Pope describes pride as being the central error for our vain, rebellious pursuits of trying to live life beyond God’s leadership, and it was especially interesting to me how he even capitalized the first letter in pride, which to me emphasizes the impact of pride. This decision to capitalize the first letter in pride gives an anthropomorphic effect, because this is usually only done to people’s names, and leads me to wonder the reason, to which I believe is to reinforce the enormous influence pride had over the actions of men in that time. I believe Pope was communicating that pride fueled humanity’s ambitions to make discoveries that were not dependent upon faith or spirituality. During the Scientific Revolution at that time, the discoveries that were made, according to my understanding of Pope’s premise, were the result of men who were driven by pride in the developing idea of humanity being self-sufficient, and that man was not dependent on God to exist and thrive. In my opinion, this was the real reason for the explorations and findings of the Scientific Revolution, and the pride that drove this era was an attempt from much of humanity trying to circumvent any need to depend on God. Men at that time perhaps were trying to understand how the world works for themselves, through scientific exploration and discoveries, and were putting aside any practice of seeking God for guidance or provision. In a way, these were some of the early beginnings of the popular ideologies of today, such as atheism and agnosticism, because this was a revolutionary societal shift from a society of people who all believed in one sovereign God who rules and provides for the needs of the world, to a world of people with mixed and varying ideas of what, how, and who constituted the world as they knew it.
Assignment #4
An Essay on Man is one of the most interesting texts I have ever read. One of the ideas that really stuck with me is the idea that everything in nature is codependent. That we are all on a single hypothetical chain and if one part of the chain fails, all the other parts of the chain also fails. We can definitely see this concept being explained by Pope from line 243 to line 246. This concept of codependency between different lives in one ecosystem has been proven over the course of time, if a species goes extinct it creates this butterfly effect where we see whoever is right above that species on the food chain will start to decline in the overall population and then it keeps going up the chain. One thing I did not really understand is how someone like Pope who is a devoted man of faith can suddenly shift towards science and reasoning although not all the way. I am aware that in the enlightenment age the trend was to question blind religious faith. However I also imagine at that time period, there was really no need for science when faith really answers most of your unanswerable questions. I would like to find out what exactly is the catalyst for someone to perhaps start to question what they have believed in their entire life until then. Class was certainly productive, I was certain that I was the only one who might have struggled with the text but it appears that most of my classmates also seemed to have struggled. I do believe that the class kind of ended too abruptly, I wish everyone had more time to discuss what they have found interesting. I certainly see where Pope is coming from, he is coming from being a serious devoted man of faith to accepting reason and science. However, I do think that science should be placed on a higher pedestal. It may not make sense to call this so-called planet Earth a random probability to some people, I do believe that we are somewhat an anomaly. I personally believe that everything can and will be explained by science and we do not necessarily need a higher being for an explanation. The most impactful line to me is definitely the last line, “Whatever is, is right”. This is where I certainly agree with Pope, although not for the same reason. Pope thinks that everything is perfectly the way God intended it to be but I think that everything is perfect because everything was random enough to evolve into a world like this.
Assignment #4 Response
The philosophical work “An Essay on Man” by Alexander Pope personally felt like a challenging reading in which I did not grasp the main points of part of the reading. However, during the class time spent talking about this poem, I got to understand most of what Alexander Pope was trying to portray. The main idea from this reading I found very interesting was that we, as humans, ignore faith and leave everything to hope. Hope has become a routine and just living life as it comes without knowing what is coming next because if we had any idea of what the future holds then there will be no excitement nor experiences vivid in our lives which we can go back to in the future and remember as anecdotes. The change in the era in which this reading takes place is essential as it is when the world shifts from believing that everything is happening because of God to the whole era of the Enlightenment, where people are starting to find the reason behind it all. During this shift in time, it is important to bring back the idea that how can one believe in God when injustice and evil exist which is a point that Alexander Pope brings. The Scientific era was able to bring reasons and proper judgment as to why things are the way they are, that even when God exists, there will be injustice and evil throughout. The last point that stuck to me from this poem, was the idea of ‘pride’ and its relation to nature. Pope goes on to list earthquakes and many of the natural disasters that exist on earth and how people decide to go on and blame this on God because humans are full of pride and would rather have someone to blame rather than take the fault for themselves. I would like to assume that this reading made people realize all the faults humans have and how that affects the earth and the way that the scientific era impacted the world in making more sense behind the actions.
Assignment #4
What issues or ideas stuck with you from Wednesday’s class?
– Some ideas that stuck out to me was that in Section IV how the idea was the more the man has the more perfect the man is, and it will cause they to have more misery. I believe that failure is important in life and to strive towards perfectionism makes life interesting and fun. To try and reach for a goal can motivate a person but when you finally achieve it life can be unentertaining and boring. Perfect means you don’t need to strive for anything, and you have no flaws which makes the challenging things seem easy when they aren’t supposed too.
What did you NOT understand?
– I thought the poem was very difficult to understand at times which made it annoying. I also thought Section VII was very challenging as well and I still don’t really understand the idea in it. The overall message I don’t understand mainly because the text in that Section seems confusing.
How did class go for you? What factors contributed to this?
– I thought class was good for me. I thought I understood my section and helped contribute to the class. I also thought everyone was else was super helpful in the class.
What is one line, image, or idea that has made an impression on you from “An Essay on Man”? What about it resonates with you?
– I thought Section II and Section III really stood out to me. I like the idea in Section II that man was meant to imperfect just so it can fit into gods’ creations. I feel like a lot of the time I want everything to be perfect but, most of the time it doesn’t come out to be. We shouldn’t get upset when things aren’t perfect because things aren’t supposed to be like. In Section III I also really enjoyed the ideas that men should be happy not knowing their future. The idea ignorance is bliss is important in this section and I agree with it. We should live our life with a lot of hope and happiness and some of that comes from our hope for the future.
Assignment #4
When I started to read the poem, it was somewhat difficult to comprehend the main idea of the poem but gradually I came to the understanding that Alexander Pope is trying to show us the relation between human and god in a philosophical manner. He explains to us that no one is imperfect in this world, each one of us have a role to play and that’s why we are who we are, it’s all part of the god’s plan, me might not understand or be able to see it yet, we just need to believe it as it is near impossible to seek perfection and to always seek perfection, it can be tormenting and exhausting. He says that it is not reasonable to complain against god as what we see is what is visible to our eyes but he see’s everything and all the different worlds with a completely different spectacle of perspective. He talks about angels, humans and god, and the relation between them. He says that all of us are connected and we can not replace each other as it would cause problems. Pope says in his poem that all human beings deserve to be happy, but most have a different opinion of happiness or what makes them happy, which is why through religion he has separated right and wrong. The one who follows the right path is a good human being and shall be happy in this life and in his immortal life in the hereafter. He further on says that God is not biased towards anyone or favors certain individuals. And he is the only one who knows that is going in someone’s heart which is why he is the only one who gets to judge us, we should not judge each other and just work on ourselves as on the day of judgement, every man is for himself. And by following the path set by god, one does not just achieve happiness but virtue as well. And to come to think of it, if we all mind our own businesses instead of judging each other, we can all be happy and help each other grow. And one is only good if does not expect rewards for doing good deeds instead understand the importance of having virtue in this world.
Assignment #4
How did class go for you? What factors contributed to this?
I think that class went well for me because I don’t think I’ve ever been in a class where everyone broke down the poem stanza by stanza and gave their interpretations of what everything meant. It was nice to hear from everyone and how one line can be interpreted in many ways. This helped me to get a much better understanding of the poem as opposed to when I read it on my own.
What are your ideas about scientific exploration? Are there any boundaries science shouldn’t cross?
My ideas about scientific exploration is that without it, we would never progress that much in life. If it weren’t for scientific exploration, we would never learn about our solar system, our bodies, the animals around us, and so much more. Scientific exploration is what helps us to grow and learn new things about our world and how to make better contributions in it. I think that as long as science is being used for good and ethical reasons, then its use is justified.
What is one line, image, or idea that has made an impression on you from “Essay On A Man”? What about it resonates with you?
One line that has made an impression on me from “Essay On A Man” is the line that says, “Vast chain of being! which from God began, Natures ethereal, human, angel, man, beats bird, fish, insect, what no eye can see, no glass can reach;” This line resonates with me because the Pope mentions all types of creatures created by God and it made me wonder if “what no eye can see, no glass can reach” had to do with the idea of science, possibly referring to a telescope, versus religious faith and the miracles of God. I think the Pope doesn’t want us using science to question this.
Assignment #4
When I first reading this poem, I just have one thought in my mind, it’s really long poem for me compare to me the poem that I read before, and after I begin to read, I start to realize the poem was really hard for me to understand because first this is not my first language for me to understand, and the vocabulary in the poem using was really hard, so I have to use translator to translate some words for me to continue to read, for some part I have to read double time, even I translate the words after. For example in stanza 3 “ Hope humbly then; with trembling pinions soar, wait the great teacher Death; and God adore.” It was really hard for me to understand the meaning of the sentence, and the period during the line really made me confused, and the word that they chose in the line was so advanced for me. However, in the poem that I know we should not stop looking the world outside us, we can not just stay the surrounding around us, we should keep looking the world far away from us, and in the specific stand number three that I know how you make yourself happy is that the heaven should make you happier than whatever in down on earth and you should have hope for that, the happiness that you have is join the happiness that you have right now, the more thing that you discover you will help me people in the future and I think you should enjoy yourself to continue looking for new thing, in the poem, regious can help you better with this, it can encourage yourself to keep looking for things, and you should not stop that. Even this poem was really hard for me, but I still spend a lot of time on it, try to understand it, and get some excitation from this poem.
Assignment #4
-What issues or ideas stuck with you from Wednesday’s class?
The idea that stuck with from Wednesday’s class was how Pope’s philosophy towards life, he thought that man shouldn’t go beyond what was given to him. He wanted people to understand that whatever has been created is Gods plan so we must know that it’s perfect and that man can be ignorant thinking otherwise, or to be thinking that man can be superior to God.
-What did you NOT understand?
I didn’t understand the words and how it was written. I had a really hard time while reading the first time so I couldn’t decipher the meaning to understand the overall text.
– How did class go for you? What factors contributed to this?
Class went great for me as the professor and my fellow students explained each stanza very clearly which helped me understand the overall text. I think each student being assigned each stanza made it very easier for us to focus on one thing and not overwhelm us, so focusing on specific lines and specific stanza contributed to understand thing.
-How is Pope’s poem connected to the Scientific Revolution and/or the Enlightenment?
Pope’s poem says that man shouldn’t be arrogant to think that the earth and the world was made for him. He believed that man should stay on his lane and be content with what was given to him. However, the Scientific Revolution or the Enlightenment played a huge role in doing the opposite, it was meant for exploration and to understand more of what man doesn’t know. Pope’s ideology was that if we don’t know somethings such as solar system and microscopic vision then God didn’t want us to know. Microscopes were invented then, and he argued that if God wanted us to see little things then we would have smaller eyes. If God wanted us to know that there were solar systems then we would have large eyes and we didn’t need to create telescopes.
-What are your ideas about scientific exploration? Are there any boundaries science shouldn’t cross?
I believe that human beings are natural explorers which is why we have been given an intellect and curiosity to do that. My ideas about scientific exploration is that it gives us an opportunity to learn beyond our imagination and to further discover the unknown. Some boundaries that science shouldn’t cross is creating technologies which would make humans depend fully on it and forgetting the simplicity of our planet.
-What is one line, image, or idea that has made an impression on you from “An Essay on Man”? What about it resonates with you?
One line that has made an impression on me from “An Essay on Man” is, “Whose body Nature is, and God the soul” This line perfectly delivers the whole message of what Pope was saying in this poem. He believes that man and all the other creatures are part of a hierarchy in the nature and that we are all interdependent with each other. If we are body then God is the soul, without soul nothing would exist and it would all be meaningless.
Assignment 4
The way the poem was written was a little difficult to comprehend at first, but it started to make more sense as I kept moving forward. Pope’s poem is connected to the scientific revolution in a manner that the motivation behind the sonnet is to address the role of people, it talks about man as only one little piece of an incredibly perplexing universe. Furthermore, he talks about how there is no right or wrong way to do anything, and that whatever somebody considers correct, is correct or wrong. Pope encourages us to gain based on what is around us, what we can notice ourselves in nature. He emphasizes on how we shouldn’t interfere in God’s business or question his methodologies; For all that occurs, both great and awful, occurs for a reason and with a purpose. I believe scientific exploration makes it easier to understand as to why things happen, like why something exists or how it happened. Having boundaries on scientific exploration in my opinion is foolish because the more that is explored the easier it makes for us and for the upcoming generations to make sense of everything that is happening around us, exploration uncovers perceptions for what they are, to mention associations among thoughts and observable facts, and to sort out which questions can be productively handled with accessible apparatuses. In the end pope encourages the peruse on the best way to get however many endowments as could be expected under the circumstances, regardless of whether that be on earth or in the great beyond. He underlines the way that genuine euphoria must be capable through an acknowledgment of one’s fundamental shortcomings and that really got me thinking of how we as individuals keep denying/ hiding our weaknesses.
Rousseau, The Confessions
Please respond to any two of the questions below. You may post your responses as comments on this post, and please take the time to read and respond to your classmates’ comments:
1. Look closely at the opening lines of Rousseau’s autobiography. What is the narrator’s purpose in writing these “confessions”? How do you know? Please refer to specific textual evidence in formulating your response.
2. For Rousseau, what is the relationship between feeling and thinking? What does he mean when he writes, “I had feelings before I had thoughts: that is the common lot of humanity” (60)?
3. What was Rousseau’s childhood like? How does he describe it? Include a quotation or detail from the text in your response.
4. How do you make sense of Rousseau’s admission that he found the spankings he received as a child memorably pleasurable? What does he tell us about this experience? Why does he share it? What do we take away from this part of his story?
4. Why do you think Rousseau chooses to include the anecdote about stealing from his employer? What is its importance? How do we explain Rousseau’s behavior in this story?
5. Using your own language, how would you describe the narrator, given his self-presentation in The Confessions?
