Author: WyattPitts

The French materialists. According to Wikipedia, “French materialism is the name given to a handful of French 18th-century philosophers during the Age of Enlightenment, many of them clustered around the salon of Baron d’Holbach. Although there are important differences between them, all of them were materialists who believed that the world was made up of a single substance, matter, the motions and properties of which could be used to explain all phenomena.” Basically they were a group of 18th-century French philosophers during the enlightenment. 

Adam Smith and the “invisible hand”. Adam Smith was a Scottish philosopher and economist. The “invisible hand” is referring to free trade. According to Wikipedia “Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports.” If you are good at making chili, but you need the ingredients. You probably don’t grow the ingredients so you can trade some chili with someone that grows ingredients for the ingredients. 

The War of the Austrian Succession. According to Wikipedia, “The War of the Austrian Succession was a European conflict that took place between 1740 and 1748. Fought primarily in Central Europe, the Austrian Netherlands, Italy, the Atlantic and Mediterranean, related conflicts included King George’s War in North America, the the War of Jenkin’s Ear, the First Carnatic War and the First and Second Silesian Wars.”

Should the police be allowed to enforce a politician’s verbal restriction against making a video of him at an open meeting? An open meeting is a meeting where anyone can join and talk about any topic. There aren’t many restrictions in open meetings, but video’s are allowed. 

Should the police be allowed to enforce a politician’s verbal restriction against making a video of him at an open meeting? No. For one if someone wants to make sure that they don’t miss anything so they record it. They can always watch the video so they can remember everything. 

How important is the idea of covenant sanctions in the week’s readings? This past week I have been reading from the King James Bible and it has been very interesting. The wording is very different from any Bible that I have ever read. The King James Bible was an early modern translation of the Bible for the church of England. This is called the King James Bible because it was sponsored by King James IV and I. Here are some differences in the wording. 

KJV: Matthew 5:13-16: 13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. 14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

ESV: 13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. 14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

I prefer the ESV because it is easier for me to understand. 

How important is the idea of covenant sanctions in the week’s readings? In what I have read this week, I found out that a broken covenant brings negative implications.

The main ideas we associate with the Enlightenment. During the Enlightenment people thought they could do certain things. They thought that human reasoning could be used to discover truths about the world, religion, and politics to make peoples lives better. Another idea was skepticism about received wisdom. Everything had to be tested and proven correct. 

According to Wikipedia “Leonhard Euler was a Swiss mathematician, physicist, astronomer, geographer, logician, and engineer who founded the studies of graph theory and topology and made pioneering and influential discoveries in many other branches of mathematics such as analytic number theory, complex analysis, and infinitesimal calculus.” According to csmonitor.com, “Euler was the first to introduce the notation for a function f(x). He also popularized the use of the Greek letter π to denote the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. Euler also made contributions in the fields of number theory, graph theory, logic, and applied mathematics.” 

The Ptolemaic-Aristotelian view of the universe. According to Vassar College, “In this cosmology, the earth does not revolve around anything else or rotate around its own axis. It is surrounded by ten concentric spheres made of a perfectly transparent substance known as “quintessence.” These spheres revolve around the earth, carrying the other celestial bodies.” This is very different from what we believe today. We believe that the sun is the center of our universe and eight planets, with their moon revolve around the sun.

My teacher in Government 1A has asked me to write about any chapter I have read from How to ARGUE with a LIBERAL… AND WIN!, with the topic “How could voluntary arrangements solve this problem if the state did not impose the politics of plunder?” I have chosen the chapter “Government should control prices, but not people.”

This cannot happen because the government cannot control the prices without controlling the people. Price controls are basically the prices that the government tells stores to sell their products at. It’s also when the government tells tells people how much of something they can buy. This normally happens during a war or inflation. If the government tells people how much they can sell stuff for isn’t just price control, but it’s also people control. 

How could voluntary arrangements solve this problem if the state did not impose the politics of plunder? You could budget and you could save your money and not waste it on junk that you don’t need

How was Don Quixote’s knight-errant oath in conflict with his deathbed oath? According to Wikipedia, “Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was an Early Modern Spanish writer widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world’s pre-eminent novelists. He is best known for his novel Don Quixote, a work often cited as both the first modern novel and “the first great novel of world literature”.” This book is not read as much as it used to be and people almost never finish unless their instructed to. 

This book is about an old man named Don Quixote who loved to read about the medieval age. This included knights, castles, and things like that. He reads so much that eventually loses his mind and believes that it’s all real. He decides that he wants to be a knight so he polishes some old armor that has been in his family for a long time. He also cleans a sword and takes an oath of knighthood. Most of the book is about Don Quixote traveling and making a fool of himself. More than once he mistakes travelers for magicians and tries to kill them. The most famous scene is when he mistakes windmills for giants even though his squire/best friend tells him that their windmills. Don Quixote doesn’t listen to him and charges at the windmills. The windmill knocks him off his horse and he gets up realizing that the “giants” were windmills. After a long time of things like this he finally returns home saying that he will be a sheep farmer for a year. When he gets back home he lays in bed, falls asleep, then wakes up a few days later. His family calls a doctor who says that he is dying. On his deathbed Doc Quixote comes to his senses and makes an oath. In his oath he repents of his sins and dies a happy man. 

How was Don Quixote’s knight-errant oath in conflict with his deathbed oath? In his oath of knighthood, he swears to protect the weak and uphold justice, but he does a lot of questionable things because he lost his sanity. In Don Quixote’s oath of repentance, he is on his deathbed, and he comes to his senses. In his oath, he realizes his sins, he repents of his sins, and he dies a very happy, new man.

Mannerism and the Baroque. According to Wikipedia “Mannerism, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, when the Baroque style largely replaced it.” Mannerism comes from the Italian word maniera which means style. According to Wikipedia, “The Baroque was a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s.”

Peter the Great. According to Wikipedia, “Peter I, most commonly known as Peter the Great, was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from 7 May [O.S. 27 April] 1682 to 1721 and subsequently the Russian Empire until his death in 1725, jointly ruling with his elder half-brother, Ivan V until 1696.” Peter spent some of his life looking for ideas to help improve Russia. Whenever he became king he did almost everything differently. For example, almost everybody had a beard, but Peter made it illegal to have a beard unless you pay a fine. 

Frederick William. According to Wikipedia, “Frederick William was Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia, thus ruler of Brandenburg-Prussia, from 1640 until his death in 1688. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he is popularly known as “the Great Elector” because of his military and political achievements.” 

According to Wikipedia “Price controls are restrictions set in place and enforced by governments, on the prices that can be charged for goods and services in a market. The intent behind implementing such controls can stem from the desire to maintain affordability of goods even during shortages, and to slow inflation, or, alternatively, to ensure a minimum income for providers of certain goods or to try to achieve a living wage.” Price controls are basically the prices that the government tells stores to sell their products at. It’s also when the government tells tells people how much of something they can buy. This normally happens during a war or inflation. According to Investopedia, “The term “price controls” refers to the legal minimum or maximum prices set for specified goods. Price controls are normally mandated by the government in the free market. They are usually implemented as a means of direct economic intervention to manage the affordability of certain goods and services, including rent, gasoline, and food. Although it may make certain goods and services more affordable, price controls can often lead to disruptions in the market, losses for producers, and a noticeable change in quality.”

People control is when someone tries to control someone else by means of force, threat, and bribery. The government controls people everyday. A few years ago a not so deadly sickness (covid) broke out and the government told everyone to stay in their houses because they would die if they got covid, even though only very unhealthy people were. 

Price controls are people controls. Yes. As I said earlier “Price controls are basically the prices that the government tells stores to sell their products at. It’s also when the government tells tells people how much of something they can buy. This normally happens during a war or inflation.” Telling people how to set their prices or how much things to bus is controlling them. 

Was Lady Macbeth correct? ‘What’s done is done.’ This is a phrase from William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth. According to Wikipedia “William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world’s pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England’s national poet and the “Bard of Avon”.” According to Google books, “Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s finest plays, and presents a man’s conscience and the effect of guilt on his mind. A dark and bloody play, Macbeth explores reality and illusion; witchcraft and the supernatural; ambition and kingship; the natural order; light and life, darkness and death; blood and dead babies.” This play begins when three witches prophesied to Macbeth that he will become king if he kills the original king. Macbeth got encouraged by his wife to do this so he did. Soon there is a civil war to overthrow Macbeth. At the Battle of Lumphanan Macbeth is killed by Malcom who is the son of the king of Scotland. Why is this play so famous? According to Study.com, “Macbeth is still very relevant today as it tells us about the role of jealousy, greed and overarching ambition in the downfall of men and women. Many students read this drama to realize how self-defeating it is to be led by these emotions.” People read this play to try  and figure out how to avoid the emotions of these characters in the play. 

Was Lady Macbeth correct? ‘What’s done is done.’ Lady Macbeth says this in the third act whenever Macbeth is felling guilty about killing people. Lady Macbeth also feels guilty about these murders up until her suicidal death. 

Was Lady Macbeth correct? ‘What’s done is done.’ Yes. You cannot change the past so don’t focus on the past. It almost never effects your future. She was right to say this, but wrong to conspire to kill the king. She felt so guilty about this, it led to suicide. 

According to Wikipedia “Mercantilism is a nationalist economic policy that is designed to maximize the exports and minimize the imports for an economy. In other words, it seeks to maximize the accumulation of resources within the country and use those resources for one-sided trade. It promotes imperialism, colonialism, protectionism, currency manipulation, and tariffs and subsidies on traded goods to achieve that goal.”

The War of the Spanish Succession started when King Charles II of Spain died childless. In his will he left his throne to Philip, Duke of Anjou, grandson of King Louis XIV of France. England, Holland, Prussia and Austria thought that this would jeopardize the balance of power in Europe.  A war broke out and Philip still sat on the throne when it ended. 

According to Wikipedia, “The Edict of Nantes was signed in April 1598 by King Henry IV and granted the Calvinist Protestants of France, also known as Huguenots, substantial rights in the nation, which was in essence completely Catholic. In the edict, Henry aimed primarily to promote civil unity.”