Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Blog Posting #1
Today in class I really thought about how powerful written language really is. It was interesting to think that written literature can be an accurate part of history and reach 6 1/2 billion people. Moving on to the issue of cannibalism... I do not think humans are born with the gene to be cannibals. I think in extreme and desperate situations SOME humans will rely on cannibalism to survive. I'm not sure whether I think we are simply not born with the gene or whether we all have the gene to be cannibals but society suppresses this in each of us. Without language there would be no good or evil. It is because of language and society that humans have placed certain thoughts, actions and ideas into either the good or evil category. These topics can be so extensive because there are many tiers of severity within "good" and "evil." For example, telling a lie is evil but most would agree that it is not as bad as eating another human. I would describe myself as an optimist, but in a different way than a lot of people. I think that everyone desires to be "good" and your life is a constant battle to push away evil thoughts and actions-- but then it makes me wonder are people born good or evil. Some would say we are born evil since we are constantly battling the negative... others would say that we are good since we desire to push away the evil.
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I would also consider myself an optimist...but not to an extreme. I agree with your thoughts on humans as cannibals. Every example of human cannibalism I have heard of has, of course, been in extreme survival situations. Im sure there are a few "evil" people in the world that fantasize about it (like I saw on Lockup), but it is veryyyy rare and I cant see how it's possible for all 6 1/2 billion humans to have the gene, and only several instances are acted upon!
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree with your argument about humans not having the gene to be cannibals. Humans choose to be cannibals if they would like to be, due to the situation they are in.Such as, killing someone and eating them in order for them to stay alive. It's like survival of the fitess. Also, I believe people are not entirely born with evil, some have their good values as well. It also depends on how a person is raised.
ReplyDeleteGood points. I guess the problem with Miles' argument is that he tries to equate the genetic propensity toward cannibalism with actually being cannibals. Of course, this is a logical fallacy. Just because one SHOULD be X, doesn't make them X until they actually do X. At the same time, such logic reveals that something (language or otherwise) has stepped in to thwart what SHOULD be. The trick is figuring out why we aren't cannibals, though we are supposed to be. Easy task, eh?
ReplyDeleteI like what you say that without language we would not have good or evil. Without language we would not have alot of things like logic, reasoning, ideas, feelings, emotions, relationships. Interesting to ponder on.
ReplyDeleteI liked your comment about the tiers of evilness. I think it exemplifies just how specific and intricate our thoughts can become by means of language.
ReplyDeleteI think it's interesting that you can even categorize it further. For example, is it more evil to tell someone that their bad haircut is actually quite attractive or to lie to the police about the location of a suspected mass-murderer? What if the suspected mass-murderer didn't actually commit a crime? Language opens up a whole world of theoretical situations.
I think you bring up very good points, but I have a question. If we are "good" then why would we need to push away the evil thoughts? If everyone was "good" then we wouldn't even have evil thoughts. I often see the glass as half full, but that is just me. I don't think that people that are in prisons for committing horrible crimes pushed the evil thoughts away, but instead they were already evil and therefore didn't have many "good" thoughts.
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