Humanities Introductions and Meaning to be Human

Humanities Introductions and Meaning to be Human

Instructions/Descriptions

Humanities Introductions and Meaning to be Human

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Students will use their weekly online responses and discussions to complete a 2-page paper which highlights what you have learned in the course.  This SHOULD NOT be a cut and paste of your discussions and responses, this SHOULD BE an evaluation of your responses and a summation of what you have learned from your readings, discussion questions and responses to your classmates.

At the beginning of the semester, I will ask you, “What do you think it means to be human?” and this final paper should readdress this question and how your answer and perceptions of what it is to be human has changed or not changed and why.

I am looking for CONTENT here, and will grade this assignment accordingly.

For the full 200 points you must have the following:

– Structure of the paper is clear and easy to follow. – Introduction provides sufficient background on the topic and previews major points. – Paragraph transitions are present and logical and maintain the flow of thought throughout the paper. – Conclusion is logical and flows from the body of the paper

-Rules of grammar, usage, and punctuation are followed; spelling is correct. Paper contains no more than 3 errors. – Language is clear and precise; sentences display consistently strong, varied struct

-Content is comprehensive, accurate, and persuasive. – Major points are stated clearly and are well supported. – Content and purpose of the writing are clear.

-Paper contains relevant, specific, and personal reflection on the topic

YOUR FINAL EXAM OR CREATIVE PROJECT ARE DUE NO LATER THAN MAY 6th!

Week 1: Introductions and What it Means to be Human

I think there’s many different opinions when someone’s asking “what does it mean to be human.” to me It means that we have the ability to know what’s right and what’s wrong. To improve upon what has come before us, and what we need to do to further educate what will follow us.

Someone who exhibits compassion, creativity and love for others, and to have the opportunity to find out who you really are as a person, and what you are capable of. We as humans are intelligent species, which we have better knowledge than other species like animals.

We as humans are also able to provide for ourselves, especially with the advancements of technology. We as human learn from nature and use what we’ve learned to make machines to better our lives. I believe this is what it means to be human!

Week 2 Discussion: Who Wants to Live Forever: Gilgamesh and Immortality

Discussion Topic: Who Wants to Live Forever?

INSTRUCTIONS:

Please make sure you read the portions of Gilgamesh, including the excerpt I  provided for you, AND Ecclesiastes 9:7-10. This is an exercise in astute reading, so make sure you really pay attention to what is being said in both these pieces.

1. Compare and contrast Siduri’s advice to Gilgamesh with the advice given in Ecclesiastes 9:7-10.

Please address the following items in your post:

• What do these two readings share?
• How do they differ?
• What is the lesson which both Siduri and Ecclesiastes is trying to tell us?
• What have you learned from this advice?

2. Finally, discuss why the issue of immortality is so important to Gilgamesh. Does he fear death, or love life?

MY RESPONSE:

The advice that was given to Gilgamesh by Siduri and that in the book of Ecclesiastes 9:7-10 share some similarities. In both readings, the advice encourages human beings to love and appreciate the things that bring enjoyment and pleasure to them since that is what makes people truly human.

Nevertheless, the two interpretations differ in several ways. In Gilgamesh’s advice, Siduri state that death was appointed by the gods to mankind after they created him and kept eternity in their life while that is not mentioned in the Ecclesiastes reading.

The lesson that both Siduri and Ecclesiastes readings are trying to tell us is that life or mortality is short and thus people should spend their limited life in doing the things they live and enjoying it with the people they love. From this advice, I have learned that the utmost response to mortality is to do things that make me happy, love and appreciate the people in my life.

The subject of immortality is very important to Gilgamesh as he is seen terrified of his own life after the death of Enkidu. Gilgamesh learned that death is inevitable and inescapable for all human beings and that only the gods can live eternally. He wanted to learn immortality so that he can live forever like the gods.

After the death of Enkidu, Gilgamesh is afraid of death and the thought of his life coming to an end and dying terrified him. That is the main reason why Gilgamesh set his quest to the forest to such for Utnapishtim so that he can learn the secret of eternity and how he can live forever like the gods. However, in the end, Gilgamesh learns that death is inescapable and compulsory for every human being.

Week 3 Discussion:

Discussion Topic: Sappho & Love Songs

INSTRUCTIONS:

Sappho’s poetry was written to be lyrical and sung to the accompaniment of a lyre, as you heard in the one video, and many scholars have called Sappho the inventor of the love song.

1. Post lyrics from one of your favorite love songs and tell us what you think the attitude towards love is and how it compares or differs from that of Sappho’s love songs.  Have love songs changed so much in over 2000 years?
2. Now that you have read Sappho’s poetry and the information given to you, how would you describe her views/attitude towards love?

Please use examples from her poetry in your post, and explain why you feel this way.

My Response:

One of my favorite love songs would have to be by Joe and the song is called, I want to know, and the lyrics go

” It’s amazing how you knock me off my feet

Every time you come around me, I get weak, oh yeah

Nobody ever made me feel this way, oh

You kiss my lips and then you take my breath away

So, I want to know

I want to know what turns you on

(Yea, I’d like to know)

So, I can be all that and more

(I’d like to know, yea)

I’d like to know what makes you cry

So, I can be the one who always makes you smile.”

I compare this song to Sappho the Anactoria poem because they both share some similarities. If anyone has seen the video for this song I want to know, it explains it perfectly. This girl is getting treated horribly by her boyfriend (which the singer sees) and he wants to be the ‘man’ for her, someone better than this horrible boyfriend. He’s professing his feelings to her and wants to know everything about her to make her feel good and special, so he can treat her like she deserves to be treated.

Then you have the Anactoria where Sappho is praising the beauty of this woman and expresses her desire for her now that she is absent or gone. I do feel like music has changed over the last 2000 years based on the sound of music which is a reflection of today’s culture. Different musical instruments were developed to play together where it makes today’s music sounds more complexed.

I feel like Sappho’s views towards love are what keeps us as people “going.” Love is having a companion, a partner, and someone that you can open up to and just be yourself. based off of Sappho’s poems from her tone, and the words that she used in them shows that she was a true romantic.

Week 4: Discussion Topic: Your Own “Allegory of the Cave”

Instructions:

Now that you’ve read Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave,” you see just how prevalent this way of thinking still is in our society.

Please answer the following questions:

1. How do the cave-dwellers react to the freed prisoner who returns to the cave? Why do they react that way?
2. Would you want to be released from the cave? Why or why not?
3. What resembles the cave in our/your world?  Facebook, television, other forms of social media, etc.?
4. Who do you think has the power to shape your ideas and beliefs? In what ways is this good and in what ways is it not good?
5. Are there things you know to be true? What are they, and how do you know them?

As always, I stress that these discussions are YOUR opinions and YOUR own insight into the material.   There are no wrong answers.

MY RESPONSE:

1. Actually, the world outside the cave was so appealing as compared to the limitations and bindings inside the cave’s life. When one of them left the cave and saw the world which was so different from their cave’s life. He returned to the cave in order to tell them about real life.

Caves’ men did not believe his philosophical truth and threaten him to kill if he ever tries to make them all free from the cave because they want to keep them away from that life and prefer the cave’s world forever.

2. Yes, I definitely want to get a release from the cave. There is a fact that we become habitual of the life which we live for so many years and it is very difficult for us to leave that routine. As far as the cave’s life is concerned, if I leave the cave and see the world differently, I shall prefer to leave the cave and do not return to any cost.

There is true meaning of life we can use outside the cave; humans love nature and no bindings at all. This is absolutely an innovative thought in our mind that we shall leave the cave as it is demonstrated by the Plato.

3. The cave life described by the author is basically full of bindings, no freedom and caved men have to live their whole in the cave and never think about life outside the world. In short, they are happy and do not have any concern with the outer world. If we relate it to our world, it can’t be a true comparison because there is life, society, laws, nature, relations, technology etc. without which we can’t survive now.

Likewise, the cave’s life as described above does not have any kind of knowledge, education, technology. If they want to come out of that life, they need to come out of the cave and learn the beauty and principles of life.

4. As discussed above the real world, full of means, effective communication, a modern world which is not compatible with the cave’s life. For instance, the man who return to the cave and tried to make the educate about the outer world, they do not even want to listen and threaten to kill him off he tries to set them free.

They do not have the urge to come out from the cave, we can shape these ideas in the way to educate them about the reality of life, necessities of life and tell them that there are more other things to eat except snakes and other insects.

5. As we read in Plato’s description about the cave life, it is clear that there is no life in the cave because he presented the life outside the cave people carry animals, eatables and other things on their shoulders, do hard work and earn money.

On the other hand, the same life in the cave i.e., days and nights are the same, no movement, no innovations, no means etc. still they are happy. We can relate this cave life to those people who are still uneducated, live in backward areas, embraced their cultures. They need to come out, leave their traditions and learn the new meanings of life and this fast world going far away from our thoughts.

Week 6: Rumi and Revelations

“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right doing,

there is a field.

I will meet you there.

When the soul lies down in that grass,

the world is too full to talk about.

Ideas, language, even the phrase ‘each other’

doesn’t make any sense.”  – Rumi

Rumi’s words are powerful but more importantly they transcend all cultures, all religions and, as we have seen, they also transcend time.  For this week’s discussion, take time to read through some of Rumi’s works.  You can use your textbook, but I encourage you just search for more online (see links below).

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Instructions:

1. Choose one of Rumi’s poems that speaks and resonates with you. This should not be hard, trust me, you”ll feel it as soon as you read it, his words have a way of choosing you.
2. Share that piece with us, tell us why you chose it. Please post either the entire poem, or a specific section that you want to share.
3. DISCUSS IN YOUR OWN WORDS: Why you think Rumi’s works are so timeless; as you’ve seen, he has inspired many of today’s artists; why do you think his words still resonate with us today in the 21st century?
4. What does Rumi teach us about Eastern philosophy and what are the big ideas and values we can take away from his work?

MY REPONSE:

Humanities Introductions and Meaning to be Human

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