Blog 1 – Pamela’s Introduction and summary

Part 1
Hello everyone.

My name is Pamela and I am from London, England.  After several years of attempting to   get my degree part-time, I finally decided that I need to go to school full-time. As a result, I just resigned from my full-time job and will be working part-time. My goal is to become a bid/grant writer and this course will make me more marketable and increase increase my skills.

Part 2
I have always had a strong relationship with technology. That is, I have never been afraid or intimidated by it. Technology is knowledge made into something tangible that we can use. It changes our lives and moves us from one stage to another. It is really the driving force behind mankind and it’s why we are today. Fueled by the quest for knowledge, technology has taken us from age to ages and is still keeping us alive today. Whether I am home using the or my own reasons or at work furthering the office agenda, technology plays a big role in my life. Technology is everywhere and without it, we would cease to exist.

My relationship to language, similarly to technology, is a profound dependency. It is used in every factor of my life although it is manifested in various forms. How I communicate with my family may be different than the office but it is purposely spoken to produce the desired results. Then, there is the unspoken language, which is manifested in my body movements and facial expressions. Sometimes the language that speaks the loudest is the silence that goes along with my expression. Though, I would have to say, my most fulfilling form of language expression is in written form. Whether I am the author or the reader, I enjoy seeing thoughts captured in writing that will continue on long after the mind has moved on.

Part 3
“Man the Finder”
“Early man never committed himself to a single source of food or to a single mode of life; he spread over the whole planet and tested life under radically different circumstances, taking the bad with the good, the harsh with the temperate, glacial cold and tropical heat. His adaptability, his non-specialization, his readiness to come up with more than one answer to the same problem of animal existence-all this was his salvation.” (381)

Literally:
Of all the segments in the reading, this passage resonates with me the most.
In the very literal sense, Mumford explains that mankind actual how man has populated the earth and was to exist because of his willingness to venture into unknown and new places.

Intellectually:
Mumford explains man’s intellectual ability as a quest for knowledge and the insight to recognize it and build upon it. It was man’s desire to live that impelled him to search for his implicit purpose, distinguish good from bad and to go through the hardest of challenges to find solutions.

Emotionally:
Mumford speaks to the emotional state of man as willing to go through the hardest of challenges and conditions. From the emotions of man came his strength to continue and rise above the worst of situations. It was this emotional strength that empowered man to not give up but to use the information to guide his journey and thus, save his life.

Introduction to Phaedrus

“Plato now chooses to describe the effects rather than to elaborate the causes of falling in love, which apparently must always occur at first sight. These effects are described in thinly disguised symbols: the stump of the wing swells and grows, causing an irritation which is compared to the pain of the gums when one is cutting teeth. When the beloved is out of sight, the new growth heals over and throbs with pulsations like an artery. Altogether, the soul has a bad time of it, being unable to sleep by night and be quiet by day.” (xi)

Literally:
Plato describes love as a literal feeling of pain. It is something that starts small and grows until it reaches a point it becomes it is almost unbearable.  He also mentions that love can literally make people do bad things but a logical approach to love is better.

Intellectually:
Plato chooses to focus on the effects of love because although their are many reasons why people fall in love, the effects are the same.

Emotionally:
By Plato description of love, it appears the love has a dramatic affect that is very tormenting. The emotional effects of love can cause one to loose sleep and put a strain on how we feel. We can become ruled by passion and not our senses.

Summary
I found both reading to be quite challenging but both gave me thoughts to ponder. It was interesting to look beyond what I already know and open my mind to look at things in deeper way. Both readings on examine what is under the layers of the surface and are very insightful; one concerning the relationships of Rhetoric and dialectic and the other concerning the important influence of nature on the survival of man.