Hello,
For this particular post, I'm going to focus on a few small things regarding our discussion on Thursday rather than on one subject. So, I hope you can clear a few things up for me. So, here goes...
1. What did that lesson on Greek art and mathematics have anything to do with what we've been discussing up to this point? Was there a point to it that I was missing? I mean, don't get me wrong, it wasn't bad, and it was interesting. But I fail to see the relevance...
2. When Dr. Mitchell asked us what we would think if we saw these Greek statues and sculptures WAY back then if we were a typical rogue merchant or trader from Persia or whatever. One of you said, "We would know perfection..."(I have horrible memory, so feel free to correct me on this) Now, I disagree with that. I would HIGHLY doubt your typical uneducated merchant who probably couldn't even SPELL his name would say or even think that. Heck, he probably wouldn't say what I said. He probably would've said, "nice statue" and then he would move on. Or he wouldn't even give these sculptures a second thought. Now, I'm no historian, and as mentioned before, I have terrible memory, so feel free to correct me on any of this.
3. That it's considered futile for us to become something greater. This has always bugged me before, but now I believe that this is a great opportunity to throw this out there. It was brought up that it's considered funny that we as man try to imitate God's creations in an attempt to be something greater. It's always bugged me that there exists this belief that we are doomed to fail if we try and become something greater. Now, I'm NOT saying we'll be as great as God. Not at all! But surely, we CAN be greater, can't we? It seems sort of defeating to believe that we'll never become something greater. I believe we can be. Maybe not as great as God, but great nonetheless. From what I gather, we are considered to be a "fallen" race. Well, why not just get back up? I believe that we as man are capable of many great things and that we CAN be something greater. It seems odd to try and suppress that potential.
Now, I REALLY hope I'm not coming off as rude or insulting. I assure you, that is NOT my intention. I simply had a few things that irked me about our last discussion and I wanted to just...Put my thoughts out there.
------I commented on Lucas H's blog post.
A couple thoughts on #1 (which is an excellent question):
ReplyDeletea. The course has been looking at the whole idea of "form," and of the "ideal," which we moderns often dismiss as mere fantasy. But the Greeks discovered that forms really did exist as mathematical realities. The statues illustrate the abstract concepts. Even in statuary, the physical realities do not conform precisely to the mathematical ideal, although they come close. It strives, but ultimately fails, to approximate the Ideal mathematical form.
That brings us to #3, imitating God. Humans are in a difficult place. On one hand, we intuit our own potential, and have an innate desire to become better, more perfect human beings, and to re-order our surroundings for our own good. On the other hand, our attempts are ultimately doomed to failure, despite our partial and temporary successes. But that does not mean that we should not make the attempt, for it is in our nature to do so.
-Dr. Schuler