Bureaucracy

What values associated with the World War I Cultural Matrix do we as a society and culture still value? Which ones may have gone by the wayside? Be specific with your examples.

How Pink are We?

Wow! Isn't this discussion awesome?!! (And fun, I might add). This is really the pleasure of my day to sit and read such thoughtful, respectful intelligent conversation. I, like most of you, don't think too much about the working conditions of the workers who make (or pick) the items I buy. I am too much of a relativist for that, I think. You can see, however, that the matter is much more complex than simple righteous anger. This discussion just might mirror what consumers in Industrial England might have said about the textiles they bought . . . .

Anyway, on to this week's topic. In this country, we have political parties and social movements that seem to align themselves or distance themselves from the ideas presented by Marx and Engels in The Communist Manifesto. How would you imagine certain groups (pick your own, Republicans, Democrats, Religious Right, Feminists, etc.) would see their group and their cause in the context of those communist ideas?

Child Labor--Then and Now

I am posting this early this week. Your first response is due by Tuesday, Feb. 17 at 9:25 am.

At the end of class yesterday, I finished with a few questions that we didn't really have the time to discuss, so let's do it here.

When you buy any product, how concerned are you about the origin and production of that product? If some of the values of the Industrial Cultural Matrix are still values today (as you have noted) how much are we willing to accept in the name of progress and affordable goods?

What kind of ethical dilemmas might you be faced with when you consider boycotting certain products because of the use of child labor or other oppressive labor tactics? From what perspective do you make those judgments?

From Enlightenment to Industrial Revolution

Review the values associated with the Industrial Cultural Matrix and then consider the following two questions:

1. Do you think it a natural (or, perhaps more accurately, a logical) progression to move from the ideas of the Englightenment and the values associated with Critical Thinking to the ideas and practices of the Industrial CM and the values associated with Progress? Why or why not?

2. Do you see any of the values associated with Progress (both those that support and those that oppose it) in our contemporary culture? Be as specific as you can with your examples.

I Think, therfore I am

Rene Descartes' "I think, therefore, I am" became the foundational element of the Western Philosphy. My literal translation would mean, If I want proof that I exist, I have to be able to think, "I think, therefore, I am".

I had to research Descartes in order to get to know him better. He was a French philosopher and mathematician. He was educated by the Jusuits. While we was being educated by the Jusits, he realized how much he didnt' know. I learned that Descartes thirst for knowledge. He viewed everything through his eyes as mathematical. In other words, everything had to have a purpose and everything could be explained mathematically. Everything had to be precise and exact in his mind. There could be no room fo doubt.

This is where it doesn't make sense when he admits to thinking that there is a God, because in his mind, there had to be some higher being. Religion is based on Faith and that contradicts his philosophy. I'm glad he realized that there had to be a higher being but when you look back at how he viewed the world it doesn't make sense.

I need to go back to the original statement "I think, therefore, I am". That statement could not be so simple as it sounds because Descartes was too complicated of a man to have said something that didn't have a deeper meaning. For example, Descartes introduced the concept of mind and body into scientific philosophical debate.

I believe he was challening us to start to think differently. I once read somewhere that "the way we think, affect the way we feel, the way we feel, affects the way we act". What if Descartes wanted us to challenge even the most simplist things, for example, Is up really down, or is right really wrong, what if light was really darkness. I know it's sound crazy but, Descartes was way ahead of his time. He was in another class.

The fact that he reconized that the mind and body is one is an example of how way ahead of his time he was. I believe he wanted us to go forward and take everything we had learned and rethink it. I like the fact that he reconized that there had to be a Higher Being, God!!