Is Modern Human Evolution a Social Construct?
Darwin believes that creatures, including us humans, adapt and evolve accordingly to the changes in our surroundings. Natural Selection as Darwin calls it, is every living creature’s struggle towards survival in this world. Taking this concept and applying it in a more contemporary setting such as a high school classroom, we see an ecosystem where societal trends govern the lifestyle of children. Mainstream media manufactures a definition of acceptable, ostracizing children that deviate from the norm, branding them as “weird” and “unacceptable,” leading these children to be bullied. Thus people…read more
Darwin: The Flower
The main part of Darwin’s writing that really stuck with me is how he talked about flowers. This may seem like a very odd thing to say, however, I feel like his piece about flowers and the reproduction of them stuck with me most because it intrigued me. Reading about how Darwin explains, or […]
Thoughts of Man vs. Nature on Darwin’s Theories
During the lecture there was a section on natural theology of the 19th century, which was the culture Darwin was raised in. It was interesting to know the decline in Darwin’s faith in it as he went on with his research, proposing ideas far removed from the theology, like Natural Selection. Then, to what extent…
Black and White, not Black or White
One of Blake’s poems that really caught my attention was The Little Black Boy. The title in itself already gives away the theme of the poem: racism. I mean seriously, who titles their poem, or any piece of literature for that matter, “The Little (insert color) Boy” without tackling racial issues. It’s not even surprising that the title emphasized on the word black, because history can not attest to the fact that the black race is one of the most persecuted of all races. I say this, not with a racist…read more
Darwin’s The Descent of Man: Discriminatory Evolution
While most people would agree that Darwin’s theory of evolution revolutionized modern biology, this does not mean that all aspects of his work was boundary-pushing. Darwin, in The Descent of Man, attempts to use the concept of sexual selection, a “less vigorous” form of natural selection that acts on one gender as they struggle against … Continue reading Darwin’s The Descent of Man: Discriminatory Evolution
Blake’s My Pretty Rose Tree, and how jealousy plays a role in our lives
So basically, a man is offered this beautiful flower and he’s like, “Nah, I’m good. I’ve got a pretty rose tree”. And then he returns to his pretty rose tree, and she’s all jealous so she turns away from him and only gives him her thorns, which makes him delighted. What? This poem brings up […]
The Sick Rose and Blake’s (possibly) Sick Mind
The Sick Rose is a truly layered poem. I think every person I discussed it had a different interpretation of…
Frontispieces in Blake’s Songs of Innocence & of Experience
This week in Arts One we discussed Songs of Innocence and of Experience by William Blake. We only had one seminar meeting discussing this week because there were no classes yesterday, Remembrance Day. In our one class we focused in part on considering, based on the poems in Innocence and Experience, what “innocence” and “experience” […]
Rousseau’s Discourse on Inequality: Is Progress Worth It?
In his Discourse in Inequality, Jean-Jacques Rousseau describes the stage in society known as nascent man to be the “golden mean” (115) between primitive and civilized humans, portraying it as the “happiest epoch” of human history. But what about nascent man makes him happier than all others, if we look at the seemingly endless luxuries that … Continue reading Rousseau’s Discourse on Inequality: Is Progress Worth It?
Galileo, The Bible, and Friedrich Nietzsche
I’m not intending to have this blog post come to a coherent conclusion because what I’m currently typing is really just a stream of consciousness… After reading Kurt’s essay on Galileo, it got me thinking about how objective is the Bible if it were considered a gateway to understanding the knowledge of truth, as well […]