Journal of Oct B

Oct 12
Sunlight, grass and shade made today’s class warmly cozy. So are today’s topics. First we talked about how to concentrate on solely one thing. It seems hard for guys; however, if you get the feeling, which lead you into a special mental condition, is it not that hard. The next question is what we shall do if we had another month every year. For me, I will probably choose to learn an instrument. It was too late for me to realize the importance of instrument when I am in middle school. The miserable result is that up till now I don’t even know a thing about music or instrument. Finally, I discovered a great treasure—what an ideal place for sleeping!

Oct 16
Today we grabbed a glance on some philosophers and maxims. Among all the maxims, “No pain no gain” may have achieved the most universal and useful position. Although all of the greatest figures in the history have their unique skills or qualities, none of them would have achieved those successes without hard working. When talking about maxims of Benjamin Franklin’s, the E.T. asked about comparisons, I immediately state Confucians, which has deep and significant effects on both the thinking of by past and modern Chinese.

Oct 17
Wow, tomorrow is fall break! So exciting we are. A huge person, Benjamin Franklin, was the focused point of the day. We first reviewed his autobiography in which shows his formidable personality. He never compromised with his destiny. He was a great hard worker and pursuer of perfection. The daily life of him was seriously criticized by himself with the “fault list”. On the list, there were over 10 demerits listed. He checked on them whenever he failed to avoid them. It is so surprising for a person to make the list and followed it every day. His successes are obvious and significant: master of several languages, splendid scientist and one of the most contributing figures in the founding of US. He is a supreme example of showing one’s responsibility to his community, also an idol of us.

Oct 22
Started with the revision which discussing the differences between Puritans and the Native Americans communities, today’s class aimed on the gratitude. Unlike the intolerant Puritans, the Native Americans lived with the nature and simultaneously showed respect to it. It was a good example of gratitude. We also talked about “overwhelming gratitude”, which is the feeling that usually occurred when we get something back which is so important to us and is lost for a long time. To be honest, I am the kind of people who often feel grateful to the surroundings. Although seems somewhat naive, it does bring me as well as others happiness. However, I seldom feel “overwhelming gratitude”, maybe I get used to it already.

Oct 23
When covering some materials on Benjamin Franklin, the E.T. mentioned Deism, which means that there was a god who created the world and then cease to do any influence on it and let it grow itself. Another thing we mentioned is the scientific revolution, which was significant for the heliocentric theory. In my opinion, the purpose of mentioning these events is to show that science is able to do tremendous influence to the thoughts of human as well as religion. The accumulation of rational thinking results in the change in sensitive consideration. As a science student, I have experience it through these years. With the increasing knowledge in science, I began to think more rationally and distinguished the occasions whether to use sensitive or rational thinking. At this point, science and religion have something in common instead of conflict.

Oct 24
Today I was too tired; fortunately, I didn’t miss the important discussion on the analysis on deism. As we all know, we have atheist today. So why the people had not come out with the idea of completely overthrow the concept of god but combined it with the concept of Newton’s world machine to form deism? It may have something to do with the historical root. During the scientific revolution, people began to describe things by reason; the existence of god was seriously challenged. However, the adults at that time had been raised up in a community that every adult believed in god. So they tended to keep the concept of god. Simultaneously, it was not possible for them to avoid the facts of science. All of the above led to the forming of deism. Even till today, we do not abandon religions, but the reason is more complex. Maybe these are all supporting materials on the coexistence of science and religion.

Oct 25
Today we only did a group discussion; the details are listed below:
Q1: Why do we need government?
A1: To keep everything in order; same rights to everyone; keep the society from anarchy
Q2: What powers do we give our government that we don’t have?
A2: Legislative, executive and judicial.
Q3: Why do we forbid certain things in the country?
A3: To keep the equal rights, fairness and justice. Protect the power of government; Keep the economy grows in a correct way.
Q4: What services do you expect from government?
A4: Free education.

Oct 26
Discussing and sharing the views on government.

Oct 29
The discussion of John Locke and his perspectives on government continued. John Locke suggested the idea of “Tabula rasa”, which indicates that everyone is born with a blank mind. To judge this opinion, we import the concept of “epistemology”, the philosophy of knowledge of how to do something or that something is done. We also talked about an individual in Germany who was neither exposed to the public nor received any education until he was 18. However, people found that he was of good memory. It may have some effect on supporting the J.L.’s idea. As far as I am concerned, everyone is born with uncompleted intelligence, as we grow, we gain knowledge and skills and at the same time are led by them, i.e, limited by them. In this case, we could say that we are born with minds which holds abundant feasibility.

Oct 30
During the review of science revolution, we made our way to the dimension of astronomy. The E.T. seemed enthusiastic about it, the knowledge just burst out. This time it was also begun with light. Then we moved to the discussion about planets, stars, dark wholes and galaxies. It was not surprising that the next step was about the time. Though I had grabbed some knowledge on the subject some time ago, the vivid description was still attractive. We need to get out of literature some time, or maybe we are still in literature, aren’t we?

Oct 31
Continued discussion on more details on the structure of universe.