Philosophy & Death

 After first reading the article I would have to say that I found some of the views quite different from my personal views on life and death. Socrates views death as, from my understandings, a good thing. Although he does not agree with the notion of suicide. One of the arguments brought up was, if death is what you strive for then shouldn't suicide be a good thing? To counter this argument he brings up the notion of a relationship between a farmer and their cattle, to yourself and god. Ultimately you are God's possession, so ending your life prior to when god intends is destroying gods possession. I don't share the view points as being someones possession, however, I do not think that suicide should be glorified. I do not believe that death should be better than life, unlike Socrates philosophical view. 

Another philosophical view that Socrates has regarding death is that one spends their whole entire life to ultimately detach from their body. So when you die you reach this goal of separation. Something that I thought quite strange was how Socrates viewed living as essentially a burden. How one despises all of the things that have to do with the body and to only focus on the soul. I personally do not agree with this. I believe that feeding our body nutrients isn't a negative thing. Socrates focuses on how death is better than living, but in my own views I believe that we should live, or at least try to live every day to its fullest. That we should focus on the present and not on the glorification of our soul, wherever that may lead us after death. 

At least for me, I do not know what the future holds. Socrates seems to know that when he leaves this life he will have a new one with just as good company. For me, I don't agree with this because I have no idea what will come after I am dead, and frankly I don't think I will ever have an answer until that time in fact comes. Overall I would say I do not agree with Socrates philosophical view on death, on how you're really only living four you souls detachment from your body. I do not believe in rejecting experiences, nor do I agree with Socrates views on how we should focus on our mind/thoughts apart from pleasures. I think that we should focus on the present because who really knows whats to come. 

-Lauryn

Should Racial Reparations Be Paid?

    For starters I think the timing of this article is perfect due to the current divide in our nation. This ultimately shows that actions from the past still effect the present day, especially when we dive into the topics of racial injustice. The history teaching regarding Brown v Board of Education, Jim Crow laws, and slavery are shrinking every year. I believe that this is vital knowledge that everyone should be learning about. Even if people don't think this effects them or that this is just information from the past- it is beyond clear that the effects of racial injustice still exist today, and therefore reparations should be made. 

    I am not sure how I would go about reparations being paid, I think that having to trace your lineage to prove your relatives were slaves in order to receive the much needed reparations is a bit extreme. I personally believe that there is nothing that can be done to make up for what has happened in the past. Something I believe that should be done is for the history of what has happened to be displayed and put out in a manner where people can see and really comprehend what happened and how this is still effecting people today. It is no secret that people still believe that African Americans are inferior to whites, and I believe some of this stems from the previous history of America. 

    Darby makes an interesting point referencing the disagreements on how reparations should be given, whether to go back to the root cause or treat it as a whole. As I mentioned before, much of the history regarding racial injustice is not taught or been recorded so I think it is quite impossible to go all the way back to a specific event. Besides, I think as Darby mentioned the best way to go about these needed reparations is to focus on self development and freedom. We do need to focus on the current issues effecting lives today, but that doesn't mean we can just forget the past. Overall I would say I agree with Darby, he brings up key issues that our society is facing regarding racial injustice and ways to improve, but I also feel that the past needs to be known to all. This I believe is truly the only way that we can "move on", we need to stop pretending like this injustice doesn't still exists and face the facts and try to improve.