Friday, September 6, 2019
Persuading on Genetically Modified Food Essay Example for Free
Persuading on Genetically Modified Food Essay The article called Genetically Modified Foods, has a style that is use to grab an audience emotion while still putting some facts. Right away in the first paragraph you will find ethos. Per Pinstrup-Anderson plays a key role in the article, he is the H.E. Babcock Professor of Food, Nutrition and Public Policy at Cornell University. Giving Per Pinstrup-Anderson a creditability, and having the audience attention. This is the only time in the article when ethos is being used to help their argument. In the next two paragraphs, Pathos and logos are used. It shows some facts as well as getting into the audience emotion. The way this was done was by talking about helping farmers in developing countries produce more food, making it more affordable to buy food, as well as not harming the environment. It goes on to say, ââ¬Å"Many millions of people do not have access to sufficient calories and many more suffer from micronutrient deficienciesâ⬠. Another quote is, ââ¬Å"which avoided mass starvation and helped millions out of poverty and hungerâ⬠. Notice they never gave an exact statistic on how many people are suffering from poverty and hunger, letting the audience see that it is so many people affected, and not just a specific number. It gives it more of a feel then would be given an exact number. In the next paragraph it goes back to logos, in the paragraph it is said science is the answer to fixing the hunger. It describes action that must be taken an order to be able to start helping starving people, as well as how will science help farming, like drought tolerance, mitigation of negative climate change, and pest resistance in crops. Those are just a few of what the paragraph claims to be able to do with a little investment for the technology. The way this paragraph is phrase is by letting the audiences see the processes that have to be done in order for an action to start. That way the audiences may start to have an opinion. At the end of this article it starts to talk about how long test must be done, and how the longer we wait the more expensive food will be as well as leaving millions to die. This passage is using pathos for its persuasiveness. Itââ¬â¢s getting the audience that deep emotion of people waiting and starving. It goes on to say that anti-science ideology and the failure of the government brought the food crisis in the first place. This paragraph points a finger to show they are right, as well as preceding to say we have to change if something is not working. In the second article of, ââ¬Å"The Failure of Gene-Altered Cropsâ⬠, Vandana Shiva is presented as the ethos in this paragraph; she is the founder of Navdanya in India which is the movement of seed keepers and organic farmers. She written many books on how genetically modified foods are failing and how they will affect us. This grabs the audience attention because sheââ¬â¢s a strong believer on organic substance. In the next paragraph it says we need biodiversity intensification that can work with nature instead of going against it, it doesnââ¬â¢t give a specific details as to why. The only argument made was when Doug Gurian-Sherman of the union of concerned scientist published a studied, ââ¬Å"Failure to Yieldâ⬠. In the study it is closely evaluated on the genetically modified for 20 years to see if they would increase yield or to just see better progress. In the end it showed that the experiment failed to increase yields as well as it failed to engineer crops to be insect-resistant nor herbicide tolerance. In this paragraph it was use ethos and logos. Ethos was Doug Gurian-Sherman and his research study, ââ¬Å"Failure to Yieldâ⬠. Logos was the bits of facts that came from Doug Gurian-Sherman research study. In the next to paragraph, it is shown by the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development [IAASTD] has concluded that genetic engineering did not seem very promising in the future. IAASTD found that the small farms that based on agri-ecology would produce much more food. This paragraph had also ethos, being IAASTD. As for the logos was what IAASTD found in the 4 years on figuring out what genetic engineering could hold in the future. The article makes a lot of tactics with logos and ethos to reach the audience, giving a great amount of facts from other credited people. The next three paragraphs have ethos as well as logos. In the passages, the book, ââ¬Å"Soil, Not Oilâ⬠is brought as an example to give that industrial monocultures are more vulnerable to climate changes since the soil kept in organic plants help keep moisture making them less likely to die in draughts. In the next passage it is brought up the false statement by genetic engineering industry that itââ¬â¢s only possible to respond to climate change with modified food. Vandana Shiva made a statement on crops evolved to be better resilient to climate, as well Vandana has helped create seeds for drought resistance, and flood resistance as well as salt tolerance. This give the audience the idea that genetically modified food isnââ¬â¢t always needed when nature can just evolve. The last two passages gets more in depth on how genetically modified food and organically produced food will take us in the future. The passage give the audience a since of the future that genetic engineer for modified food is a waste a time, it does not give a sense of food security in the future and it will cause small farmers to go dept. As for Vandana Shiva Navdanya, it is a conserving biodiversity that tries to not be wasteful in water at the same time make much more food per acre. The best article that is persuasive is the second article, ââ¬Å"The Failure of Gene-Altered Crops. The first article was very persuasive, but it never made it secure enough to make it believable that it close to happening. It produce more emotion then logic tactics, making it very hard to determine whether it is a dream that the nation wishes to reach or something that could be accomplish for the future. Great syntax on making it very emotional with pathos, but argument stance it would be weak. The first article could have been stronger if it talked about other countries that are already doing genetically modified foods. Korea has been doing genetically modified food for years, about 20 countries including the European Union, Japan, Australia and New Zealand have already a labeling system for genetically modified foods, (Hae-Yeong Kim 132). Another good point would be to bring up Matin Qaim, ââ¬Å"Vitamin A deficiency is a serious nutritional problem, causing multiple adverse health outcomes. Simulations for India show that Golden Rice could reduce related health problems significantly, preventing up to 40,000 child deaths every year.(552) In India Bt cotton has reduce some poverty and actually help small famers, now some in China and South Africa, Bt cotton are a first-generation of genetically modified technology. As for the second argument, many ethos and logos were presented. One being Doug Gurian-Sherman published study on how genetic industries isnââ¬â¢t really going anywhere, it has great facts, it was a 4 year study so it showed what was being done in long term. A lot of facts on how genetic industry is failing on making modified food was claimed, but not many on how it could do more harm as well as it would bankrupt some small farmers for even trying to use modified seeds. The plant evolving had a great way point in Gebre Egziabher, Tewolde B( The Use of Genetically Modified Crops in Agriculture and Food Production, and Their Impacts on the Environment A Developing World Perspective) ââ¬Å"Scientists believe that species evolved from a common ancestor through competition and natural selection. They also believe that changes in genes occur in all species owing to mutation, with the probability of mutation of each gene remaining constant under the same environmentâ⬠. (11) Giving this quote would remind the audience that life has a way of fixing itself and just because the technology is here does not give scientist right to use a different approach but instead try harder to help organic farming when it has been secure food source. Cite American Medical Assoc. Gebre Egziabher T. The Use of Genetically Modified Crops in Agriculture and Food Production, and Their Impacts on the Environment A Developing World Perspective. Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica: Section B, Soil Plant Science [serial online]. December 2, 2003;53:8-12. Available from: Science Technology Collection, Ipswich, MA. Accessed April 27, 2012. American Medical Assoc. Hae-Yeong K, Jae-Hwan K, Mi-Hwa O. Regulation and detection methods for genetically modified foods in Korea. Pure Applied Chemistry [serial online]. January 2010;82(1):129-137. Available from: Science Technology Collection, Ipswich, MA. Accessed April 27, 2012. American Medical Assoc. Qaim M. Benefits of genetically modified crops for the poor: household income, nutrition, and health. New Biotechnology [serial online]. November 30, 2010;27(5):552-557. Available from: Science Technology Collection, Ipswich, MA. Accessed April 27, 2012.
Thursday, September 5, 2019
Discussion of the Play Behind the Beautiful Forevers
Discussion of the Play Behind the Beautiful Forevers The play Behind the Beautiful Forevers is based on the book of the same title written by Katherine Boo. It was adapted into a play by David Hare. It focuses on the lives of two matriarchal families living in a slum- Annawadi, which is just next to the Mumbai airport. The slum is surrounded by luxury hotels on all sides, while it is full of trash that has kept on pilling and accumulating over the years. These families in the play largely represent the majority of the families in Mumbai. Families that have been let down by the systems that were put in place to be of assistance to them, the hatred of the poor towards one another and the resilience with which this families withstand all these and stick together throughout the difficulties (Hare 2). The Husainââ¬â¢s story shows how difficult it is to do good in an imperfect world where all systems are corrupt and the individuals are evil. One then wonders how the people at the bottom of the heap of trash can be honest in a world full o f bribes and corruption. The system should be where people run to when they have problems but that does not seem to be the case, the affluent are getting it all; the privileges given by the system because they are able to pay for the services offered, while the police donââ¬â¢t care about the poor people in the slums at all because most of them cannot afford to pay the bribe. Behind the Beautiful Forevers depicted Mumbai as a city of contrasts, where immense wealth and extreme poverty are rarely distant. It also shows how corruption in the public institutions and systems tends to undermine the communityââ¬â¢s quality of life. The play reveals the obstacles to fairness and societal mobility in India. It also shows how young people in Annawadi remain hopeful through their personal philosophies especially in this time of global change. Abdul is the representation of a generation of young Indians struggling to elevate themselves out of poverty. The setting onstage truly depicted the lives of the characters, there was a motorcycle on stage and a tuk-tuk too which was a typical Indian medium of transport and it was even driven on stage. There was use of a strong noise of a plane landing, which brought out the closeness of the slum to the airport. The loud roar of the plane drowns the screams of Kalu as heââ¬â¢s being attacked and later murdered by two drug dealers, who thought that he had given the police information about them. This was a very dramatic scene with the noise at its loudest and the screams from Kalu together with the roaring of the plane set the tone of the play right from the start. As the play began, the shadow of a mighty passenger jet flew low over the Olivier stalls, the closeness of its very loud roar made the scalp tighten. Then, like a deluge of blessings, a cascade of used plastic bottles dropped from the skies. A pack of scavengers with their cardboard scoops went into a frenzied overdrive. This clearly depicts the huge gap between the affluent and the poor in Mumbai. The rich fly above the poor and leave them scrambling for their left over without a care of what is going on below them. David Hare while writing the play did not identify a single main character to pivot and plot the play around. This I believe was a calculated risk he decided to take as the play has various characters that we have to get a hold of and there are also many stories to tell, the play thus keeps rotating on each one of the characterââ¬â¢s lives and the struggles they go through as individuals and also as a family unit, especially when the one legged Fatima due to her jealousy of the Husainââ¬â¢s relative prosperity, inflicts burn wound on herself and later accuses them of being responsible for her injuries. As with most stories that have a strong sense of place the play opened up to universal understanding. The play created tension between the perception of the situation and the energy of the place; this is because the sense of darkness was not because of the awful things that were happening to Husainââ¬â¢s family through the play or the poverty in Annawadi. The Husain family actually at this difficult time, depicted resilience in the face of the problems that later followed, after the one legged woman blamed their family for her injuries. Their integrity came under scrutiny the family fortune was wiped out by the grasping ââ¬Å"justiceâ⬠system as they struggle to clear their name and we see a corrupt system where one has to pay a lot of money to see their own charge sheet. We have a glimpse of the corrupt nature of the legal system and the essential injustices of a society in which the poor repeatedly blame equally poor individuals for their misfortunes. The Husain family however shows an extraordinary story of hope, despair and the unity in and strong ties in the family unit. The writer David Hare portrays the compromises the individuals in the play have to make in order to survive and have and get to the top of the heap with flashes of compassion and understanding, so that the audience actually relates to the cast. For instance: Asha having to sleep around in order for her daughter to get an education. The Husains having to pay the officer at the station just to see their charge sheet and due to the bribes they keep giving they lose all they worked so hard to build. They are back at the bottom where they started. The darkness is because of the one thing that both the poor have learned, though in different ways and contexts but nevertheless the same thing, that the road to happiness and success involves mistreating and trampling over other people. It is this dark thought that pollutes the mind and pollinates the minor and small sins done by individuals and leads them to escalate and the tragedy multiplies. The adults have been depicted as having learned the wrong lesson; this left the children as the sensible untainted individuals in Annawadi. The young people in the play representing the youth in India, were shown as being the future of the country. The future where there will be no corruption as they could not stand for it or condone it. As is today the young people do not believe in corruption, they stand against the vice and even hold demonstrations in the streets to protests against it. The young people can now hold the public institutions accountable for any misappropriation or abuse of office. Public offices still subtly favor a certain section of members in the society, because of their contribution to one or two of the organizationââ¬â¢s projects, it however is not as rampant and if one is found out they could definitely be prosecuted. Thus the young people in the play represent the views of the young people in the world right now. This character in the young people was however often regarded to as an act of revolt throughout the play we saw, Abdul round up on an officer who was asking for money in order to abort his fatherââ¬â¢s trial, Manju who has hopes of being the first woman in Annawadi to gain a degree also rejects the means through which her mother employs to pay for her education. Meena, Sunil and Kehkashan are also not left behind as they are also shown as being perceptive with an unbending, understanding of something they couldnââ¬â¢t get themselves to voice. Abdul brings together an energy that was out of control in the slum area and gets rid of the darkness engulfing them. This might well have been the start of something or nothing really but at least it was the moment the play was more than a vicious cycle that one was unable to escape from. In as much as David Hare has done his best to get the most important themes from the book and release the play as the book is, there are a few things that we still miss from the book. For instance the play does not show Ashaââ¬â¢s involvement in the local politics which was always the driving force behind her ambitiousness; to get to the money and power that runs the Annawadi. The play however managed to bring the described image of the Mumbai slum close to the audience and he did this in a major way through the set up on stage and by focusing on the continuous and endless toil of the characters and the recreation of grim physical context in detail. From the play we also gained the sense of getting to see a living community and the young people in resistance of the corruption that was being accepted by the adults. Behind the Beautiful Forevers was an exciting production as the adaptation managed to preserve the humanity and intimacy of the book. References Hare, D. (2014). Behind the Beautiful Forevers. Faber Faber, Limited.
Wednesday, September 4, 2019
Racial Differences Essay -- Racism Personal Narrative Papers
Racial Differences "CHINK!!!! Yeah..that's rightâ⬠¦look at us with those chinky eyes! Go back to where you belong!" Those words will forever ring in my ears. I was standing in line for lunch while talking to a friend while a couple of boys, fourth and fifth graders, were making fun of the only Asian girl in the school, me, a lonely kindergartener. I will never forget that moment when I realized that I was different. Growing up in a predominantly white community, I had never thought of the issue of race as a child. My neighbor and I were best friends, and I never thought of myself as different. She had blonde hair; I had black. She had blue eyes; I had dark brown. We loved to play with the same things, thus we were friends. It was that simple. But on that day in elementary school, my world came apart, and I will never forget it. I was different, and I didn't know why. After those boys said that to me, I just stared in shock and got my lunch. I acted as though they had said nothing, and I was probably fortunate, considering the horrible things young boys can do. But when I went home, I cried. Why were people making fun of me? I didn't even understand what "chink" meant. It was only the motion they made by stretching their eyes that made me understand. I hadn't realized that I was different from everyone else. At home I spoke Chinese and watched some Chinese movies, but I did not think that m ade me different. I was still a person, a human being. Did it matter that I spoke Chinese and had black hair and dark brown eyes? Apparently to some people it did matter. Every day I went to school with white children and went home to a Chinese family. For other people this was a line, a distinction that set me apart ... ...h group celebrates the stereotype that society has imposed on them, and instead of celebrating individuality; they celebrate the sameness of race. Living amongst white people I was initially teased because of my race, but I was more often liked and accepted for who I am. Living amongst Chinese people, I was initially accepted because of my race,but not liked for who I am. I am an American-born Chinese. These two sides make me. Without either one, I am not complete. When I walk down the street, I can never hide the fact that I am Chinese. I cannot change my Asian features. When I talk to people and voice my opinion, I am American. Yet I do not fit completely into both sides. I am different and proud to be so. Race does not define me; I define myself. I hope for the time when we stop focusing on race and can all embrace our differences and celebrate them.
Tuesday, September 3, 2019
The Theme of Time in Slaughterhouse-Five Essay -- Slaughterhouse-Five
The Theme of Time in Slaughterhouse-Five Many writers in history have written science fiction novels and had great success with them, but only a few have been as enduring over time as Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five. Slaughterhouse-Five is a personal novel which draws upon Vonnegut's experience's as a scout in World War Two, his capture and becoming a prisoner of war, and his witnessing of the fire bombing of Dresden in February of 1945 (the greatest man-caused massacre in history). The novel is about the life and times of a World War Two veteran named Billy Pilgrim. In Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut uses structure and point of view to portray the theme that time is relative. The way Kurt Vonnegut structures Slaughterhouse-Five aids in the portrayal of the theme that time is relative. The novel is broke down into two parts: Vonnegut's story about the novel and the life story of Billy Pilgrim. The life story of Billy Pilgrim which is "presented as a series of episodes with no chronological order" . This mirrors the structure of the novel which has a beginning, middle, and end but not in there respective places. (Dawley 1) Billy states numerous times in the novel that he has become "unstuck in time" and that the time travel periods "aren't necessarily fun". (Vonnegut 23) While the reader never leaves the main plot line of the fire-bombing of Dresden for very long, Billy still travels alot. Billy "has seen his birth and death many times" and "all the events in between". (Vonnegut 23) The reader learns that "the things Billy Pilgrim" cannot change are "the past, the present, and the future". (Vonnegut 60) Many of the time warps are to his later-life as an opt ometrist. During his life as an optometrist he marries one o... ...y the good moments and bad as well that life brings to us. (Dunstan 1) Slaughterhouse-Five gives the reader insight on the meaning of life, time, and war. The thought of humans being able to view their lives moments concurrently and not linearly is erroneous to the reader, yet Kurt Vonnegut brings into the reader's head the idea of time being relative and only existing in human's imaginations. Works Cited ClassicNote. Insanity of war in Slaughterhouse-Five. 29 Jan 2001. http://www.gradesaver.com/ClassicNotes/Titles/slaughterhousefive/essays/insanitywar.html Dawley, Jason. The use of Fragmentation in Slaughterhouse-Five. 29 Jan 2001. http://www.geocities.com/hollywood/4953/kv_fragmentation.html>. Dunston, Brittany. Destruction of Dresden, destruction of Vonnegut's dream. 29 Jan 2001. Vonnegut, Kurt. Slaughterhouse-Five. New York:Dell, 1991. The Theme of Time in Slaughterhouse-Five Essay -- Slaughterhouse-Five The Theme of Time in Slaughterhouse-Five Many writers in history have written science fiction novels and had great success with them, but only a few have been as enduring over time as Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five. Slaughterhouse-Five is a personal novel which draws upon Vonnegut's experience's as a scout in World War Two, his capture and becoming a prisoner of war, and his witnessing of the fire bombing of Dresden in February of 1945 (the greatest man-caused massacre in history). The novel is about the life and times of a World War Two veteran named Billy Pilgrim. In Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut uses structure and point of view to portray the theme that time is relative. The way Kurt Vonnegut structures Slaughterhouse-Five aids in the portrayal of the theme that time is relative. The novel is broke down into two parts: Vonnegut's story about the novel and the life story of Billy Pilgrim. The life story of Billy Pilgrim which is "presented as a series of episodes with no chronological order" . This mirrors the structure of the novel which has a beginning, middle, and end but not in there respective places. (Dawley 1) Billy states numerous times in the novel that he has become "unstuck in time" and that the time travel periods "aren't necessarily fun". (Vonnegut 23) While the reader never leaves the main plot line of the fire-bombing of Dresden for very long, Billy still travels alot. Billy "has seen his birth and death many times" and "all the events in between". (Vonnegut 23) The reader learns that "the things Billy Pilgrim" cannot change are "the past, the present, and the future". (Vonnegut 60) Many of the time warps are to his later-life as an opt ometrist. During his life as an optometrist he marries one o... ...y the good moments and bad as well that life brings to us. (Dunstan 1) Slaughterhouse-Five gives the reader insight on the meaning of life, time, and war. The thought of humans being able to view their lives moments concurrently and not linearly is erroneous to the reader, yet Kurt Vonnegut brings into the reader's head the idea of time being relative and only existing in human's imaginations. Works Cited ClassicNote. Insanity of war in Slaughterhouse-Five. 29 Jan 2001. http://www.gradesaver.com/ClassicNotes/Titles/slaughterhousefive/essays/insanitywar.html Dawley, Jason. The use of Fragmentation in Slaughterhouse-Five. 29 Jan 2001. http://www.geocities.com/hollywood/4953/kv_fragmentation.html>. Dunston, Brittany. Destruction of Dresden, destruction of Vonnegut's dream. 29 Jan 2001. Vonnegut, Kurt. Slaughterhouse-Five. New York:Dell, 1991.
Monday, September 2, 2019
things fall apart Essays -- essays research papers
à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à Book Report à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à à 02/11/05 à à à à à Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart is about different traditional village cultures in Africa. It also speaks about the British who try and take over the village by introducing his religion and making it the higher and better religion. Okonkwo is the narrator of the story. The novel setting is in a small village called Umofia which is located in the southeastern part of Nigeria and it is in the late nineteenth century. Man verses Man is the conflict that is seen in this novel. à à à à à Okonkwo is the main character in the novel. He is a hard working farmer, wrestler, and clan leader who has severa...
Sunday, September 1, 2019
Early Childhood Education and Childcare Essay
Summary ââ¬Å"Why Universal Childcare? â⬠is a great title for an article such as this one. The question enters the reader into a vast pool of potential answers to the question. First off, what does universal childcare mean? For me, I believe that universal childcare means all around childcare, not only in a general sense, but all over the map childcare. Most people donââ¬â¢t see a problem with childcare in Canada, but it seems as if there are some issues pertaining to the system of childcare in Canada. ââ¬Å"In a country of close to five million children of 0-12 years of age, Canada now has fewer than 900,000 regulated childcare spaces. The percentage of children for whom a space is available increased only to 17. 5 percent about a 10 percent increase over the past fifteen yearsâ⬠. (Prentice, 2009, p. 1). A frequent problem most organizations/programs run into is often funding the programs. Without funding, the programs usually suffer and do not meet the maximum amount of care and quality that it should be able to meet. Along with this, the childhood educators/childcare providers may be undertrained. ââ¬Å"The quality of the care is frequently troubling: limited public financing forces programs to operate as cheaply as possible, and requirements for programs are low. The early childhood educators who provide the care are underpaid and often undertrained. Overall, Canadaââ¬â¢s early childhood education and care situation suffers from chronic neglect. â⬠(Prentice, 2009, p. 1). Another reason why this situation may come across as shocking to most people, is because Canada is an extremely wealthy country, so you could expect Canada to have a very strong childcare programs. Childcare programs are always changing, they have changed drastically in the last few years, most programs are now looking for ways to interpret ways of learning and more social support for children. ââ¬Å"ECEC (Early Childcare Education and Care) is about an integrated and coherent approach to policy. It is about providing care that includes all children and all children regardless of employment or socio-economic status. â⬠(Prentice, 2009, p. 4). Integrating social support and learning into these childcare programs will expand the knowledge and adaptability of children when entering their later childhood educations. The history of childcare helps explain why today childcare programs are poorly put together. ââ¬Å"The origins of childcare were in philanthropy and benevolence. From the mid- nineteenth century to the middle of the twentieth century, most of what we know today as childcare programs were provided by educational, philanthropic, or religious organizations, often led by prominent women. â⬠(Prentice, 2009, p. 71). Women were the ones who normally ran the childcare centers, but as we see today, women are entering the paid workforce. The governments did not play a role back then, hence they did not play a part in the responsibility. Today, we count on the government to help fund and organize these programs, which is still aà developing task. After World War II, the federal government stopped funding childcare. This lead out into outbursts which lead to : The Day of Nurseries Act, which became Canadaââ¬â¢s first provincial legislation. This lead to the number of childcare programs expanding. We saw a leading change in childcare happen in 2006, when the Harper Conservatives made childcare one of their five leading promises. ââ¬Å"In the 2006 election the Harper Conservatives made childcare one of their five leading promisesâ⬠. (Prentice, 2009, p. 84. ). Unfortunately, what was promised to parents never happened. Childcare disappeared in importance. How were parents supposed to trust anyone with their ââ¬Ëchildcare moneyââ¬â¢? ââ¬Å"Following the cancellation of the national childcare plan, childcare space expansion showed the smallest increase in regulated child care in some years: an increase of only 26,661 spaces since 2006. â⬠(Prentice, 2009, p. 86). The author is trying to show the reader the importance of history, and how the little things contribute to how childcare as a whole has developed over the years. Also, the importance of funding programs for childcare.
Saturday, August 31, 2019
Kallipolis: the City of the Ideal
Around the time of 380 BCE, a philosopher by the name of Plato wrote one of his most famous works: The Republic. Within the text of this dialogue, Socrates and his fellow conversationalists discuss a morally and socially sensitive issue: what, per se, is justice? Throughout the work, there were several definitions ranging from ââ¬Å"the power of the strongâ⬠to ââ¬Å"rewarding good and punishing evil. â⬠To help bring clarity to their discussions, Socrates proposes that in order to discover justice as a concept, they must apply it holistically as opposed to an individualistic, circumstantial criteria.In order to accomplish this, the group imagines what the ideal city would be like. In this ideal place, there would be three classes of people (producers, auxiliaries, and guardians) which would told they have have a corresponding metal which makes up their soul. Bronze for the producers, silver for the auxiliaries, and gold for the guardians. Each class would be determined b y individual merit in accordance with what tasks they best perform. For example, if a man is best at digging ditches he will dig ditches for the rest of his life.Additionally, the members of one class can only produce children with members of the same class. The citizens of this city (a total of around 30,000 individuals) would all share wealth, food, and shelter communally. Several core virtues such as wisdom (through the guardians), courage (through the auxiliaries), and moderation (through all classes dwelling together peacefully) will be emphasized to help preserve justice. Socrates emphasizes that the goal is to make a city as good as possible so that the populace is as content as possible.The end-goal is not just to make one person as happy as possible. As a pupil of Socrates, Plato's construction of this ideal city, named Kallipolis, was much more than hypothesizing about mortar and stone. For Plato, Kallipolis was meant to reflect two drastically different things on two tota lly different levels. On the baser level, Kallipolis' inclusion of human virtues just as justice and moderation mirrors the individual. On the other side, Kallipolis also represents the entirety of the cosmos with its realm of infinite possibly and wondrous ideals.To Socrates and Plato, this city was a sociopolitical organization which allowed citizens to achieve their potential, serve the state, and live according to the absolute truths which govern our existence. Unfortunately, the ideal Kallipolis is just that: an ideal. It may be all well and good to construct an ideal city in the mind, but unfortunately this utopian system lacks a firm foundation in reality. Kallipolis is a utopia: an imagined society put forward by its author as better than any existing society, past or present.Specifically according to Plato, Kallipolis is not just a better city, but rather is the best city. This makes creating Kallipolis impossible because there was nothing to from the real-world to model it self after. This is what makes construction of a place like Kallipolis to hard to even pragmatically imagine. It is not that obscure for one to even assume that in actuality, Plato never meant for Kallipolis to be a reality, but rather to have it serve as a goal for other poleis or nation-states to model themselves after.Plato planned for the society described in his Republic to not just be a utopia, but to rather be the best utopia, making this ideal even more difficult to properly realize. If one were to look into his work, one would certainly see that Plato never advocates revolution or legislation to bring his Republic into existence. On the contrary, Plato knew that Kallipolis was an impossibility and that the Republic would only live on in the minds of those who read his works.His message was that if all individuals (be they king, peasant, or representative) were just, the ideal city would exist. Thus, people must strive on their own to better themselves if they ever wish to b ring about a better society overall. This is the beauty of Plato's theorem: it is impossible for this utopia to fail because this city is only actually meant to exist as the hypothetical dream of an aging philosopher. Because of this, Kallipolis was able to evade some of the stubborn realities existent on Earth.The purpose for this city is not necessarily to exist, but rather to be the ideal which the contemporary cities (such as Athens or Sparta) and the ruling bodies (the people or the aristocracy, respectively) may be judged. Instead of looking at other countries, cities, and nations which dwelled in the real world to compare one's city to, Plato thought it would be best if a city was compared to the ideal, Kallipolis. Even in modern times, Kallipolis is a suitable standard concerning how a society made of of many different factions can live harmoniously.Personally, it is my viewpoint that this city is just for a community, but unjust for the individual. For this, I would not wan t to live in a governing system such as this. It is reasonable to assume that Plato's city might not be so ââ¬Å"idealâ⬠in the 21st century world of digitalized information and civil liberties. Through a primitive eugenics program, avid informational censorship, and telling a ââ¬Å"noble lie,â⬠Kallipolis' people do not so much choose what they wish to accomplish as much as they are conditioned to perform what tasks must be done.The individual rights of the people are cast aside for the sake of the ââ¬Å"greater goodâ⬠in a very utilitarian system which contains a harsh pragmatism in its application. One needs to look no further than Nazi Germany, Socialist Russia, Fascist Italy, or Communist China to see the problems with this worldview and the mindset it supported. The end game for Plato's Republic is not so much to have citizens who ponder life's deeper meanings, but to rather have mindless drones performing the tasks they were instructed to do.Yet even with th ese numerous infractions against the core of humanity, the ruling body of Kallipolis is incredibly legitimate. The guardians (who are more than qualified for their positions) rule both effectively and efficiently for the sake of the nation-state. Overall, they provide the proper protection for their people and preserve their well being. The guardians attempt to honor the welfare and well-being of all citizens by promoting justice, striving for class harmony, and defending their people within the walls of their ideal polis.However, the flaw lies not in the people themselves, but rather in the system they were placed into. After all, such a sense of loyalty to homeland is desirable, but the system's cost to individuality and free will is simply too much. All Men have certain rights ordained to them at birth by nature (or whichsoever deity a people worships) which include a right to life, a right to liberty, and a right to property. Socrates' and Plato's Kallipolis strips away its citi zens' rights to such things, such as when it dictates an individual's lot from the beginning.First, a person's life will be channelled into one of three categories. Second, (and based on the category) that person will instructed only on what they will be doing the rest of their lives. Finally, he or she will share all personal possessions with others, losing a sense of identity one moment at a time. Kallipolis, with all of its peaceful and harmonious benefits, eliminates certain rights which were made self-evident long before Socrates or Plato ever lived. The elimination of those rights is unacceptable and ought not be tolerated.
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