Author: n.acosta

Throughout his essays, Montaigne re-tells different stories to convey the idea that our brain can control all of our physical reactions without the need to be touched. At the beginning of the essays, he tells the story of someone who died even before being executed. This person’s imagination went beyond and he feared so much what would happen to him next that he provoked his own death. This is the case for many humans since when we allow our mind to wander, depending on our thoughts this can provoke different physical reactions such as dizziness or nauseous when we are afraid. Montaigne tries to demonstrate that our brain is responsible for everything, including it own name and all our thoughts about it.

Pizan advices her readers to change the way they read the work of male authors by exposing their lack of credibility & sexist views. Throughout the first part of The Book of The City of Ladies Pizan demonstrates the misogynistic views presented by male authors, and their lack of knowledge of important women throughout history (biblical, historical, & mythical figures). Pizan accuses male authors of agreeing to distribute the same lie about women and also making women feel bad about the form they were born in since according to male authors they were the vessels of sins. Pizan demonstrates how she disagrees with the negative and misogynistic attitudes towards women imposed by the male authors.

Augustine starts his confessions by admitting he does not know if he is living life or his death and thus questioning human origin. He starts describing his infancy and how he does not have an answer as to where he was before being born, but all Augustine knows is that once he was born, he was already a living creature: a soul and a body united. Augustine proceeds to describe infancy as a form of torture since babies cannot truly express their desires or needs, thus totally depending on someone else to take care of them. He considers that he was a sinner ever since this stage since he was making demands on everyone whenever he cried and thanked no one for giving him something when he needed it. From here, Augustine proceeds to clarify that God is the one in charge of uniting the being or the soul with the body and that as we grow older, these two are more attached to each other.

Phaedrus and Socrates have different opinions as to which behavior is better: a lover or a non-lover. As Phaedrus narrates Lysias’ discourse, it is clear that he thinks a boy should be with a non-lover rather than a lover. Phaedrus describes lovers as madmen. According to his dialogue, lovers put their interest aside only to satisfy their beloved, which is foolish. Lovers are also known to neglect their concerns and do hateful things to other people in order to satisfy their sweetheart. According to Phaedrus, this type of behavior should be avoided since if a person is willing to hurt others and even betray his friends/family to satisfy the person whom they love, they should not be trusted. On the other hand, Socrates thinks these behaviors should be more appreciated than that of a non-lover. Non-lovers are only looking for physical pleasure in exchange for material things while lovers want the best for whom they love, not necessarily in exchange for something. Socrates also explains that non-lovers desire to feel superior in their relationships, while lovers look at the other person as equal, and look to get wiser together. Additionally, Socrates thinks that a lover will also try to help their beloved with material things (such as provide an education) even when the relationship is not about an exchange of pleasure for material items.