It Ain't a Mystery that Philosophy Connects with Art History!

Today is such a tiring day.
I keep falling asleep on my desk doing my work.

So on Fridayyyy in class, we talked about St. Augustine & his philosophy!
In his philosophy, he claimed that:

• One must remove the faulty impressions of sensory knowledge to attain divine wisdom.
• God's grace allows us to access his good. By looking inward (introspection) and then upwards (for grace), one can achieve salvation and happiness
• Only "Inner Experience," studied through Introspection, was valid (later called Beatific vision; it comes from beatitudes!)
• He believed that science and philosophy not conducted in the service of theology

Sounds similar to something we learned all the way back in 1st semester? Yes, you are correct! It is the Allegory of the Cave (light).

Art History Connection

• One needs "light" because light equals to light of God. And the light came from the windows of the churches
• One sees the beatitudes through the reflections because on stained glass windows, there were biblical stories.
• People were illiterate like Augustine. Therefore, art allowed even the illiterate to learn and receive the "light"
• Art is the way to go get to purification!

Manichean Philosophy (before Gothic Art) said that the world is ugly and the second coming of Jesus is almost here.

• People began to realize that Jesus is not coming and now they need to help the people get a vision of Jesus through light by going to the right church
• Church were important not only for the light but it also contained relics that performed miracles

*The idea that one can only get to purification through the light coming inside the church, demonstrates once again the increasing power of the church as many more people began seeking the church for it was the only way to salvation.

xoxo

I'm Bigger, Hitler's Littler

Although I could care less about Adolf Hitler, reading this article made me realize what more of a silly he was.
I honestly did not know Hilter published the book. I thought he was busy enough slaughtering all those innocent people.
Hmm anyways, Chapter 11 of Mein Kampf is called "On Nation And Race" and this packet contained many fallacies that I was able to point out or my classmates & Mr.Basinger.

Starting from the first sentence, one can see an example of Ad Hominem. Ad Hominem literally means, "againt the man," the ad hominem fallacy refers to an attack on the person making the argument instead of the argument itself. Mr. Hitler said, "THERE are some truths, which are so obvious that for this very reason they are not seen or at least not recognized by ordinary people." He is pointing out that "ordinary people" cannot see things that are right under their nose but he can, therefore he is superior over "ordinary people." Hitler needs to feel that he is extraordinary and he thinks that whatever he believes in is correct.

False Analogy is when an analogy is descriptive, but does not offer proof of a connection between the two things being compared. One can see Mr. Hitler's use of this fallacy when he wrote, "Every animal mates only with a member of the same species. The titmouse seeks the titmouse, the finch the finch, the stork the stork, the field mouse the field mouse, the dormous the dormous, the wolf the she-wolf, etc." Damn, Hitler must have really liked mice. Hitler was trying to say that every animal mates only with a member of the same species and that humans should not be an except to this rule. Hitler believes that different races means of different species but there are no such thing as sub-species among humans. Hitler made a false analogy because we (humans) are all homo sapiens. Our society today proves this point wrong because so many bi/multi-racial people have been coming out on top and making a big impact. For example, Hines Ward who has an amazing and contagious smile!

Faulty Use of Authority is the attempt to add credibility to a claim by citing the opinions of supposed experts. One can notice the use of this fallacy when Hitler claims that it is the "Divine Plan" that some people are superior over others. Who are we to go against Mother Nature? This claim is wrong in so many ways. Hitler is trying to say that people believe in a racist God. Umm, oh hellll no. God loves everyone equally regardless of sex, race, age and etc. No matter how much I dislike one person, that's not going to change God's love for them.

Begging the Questions occurs when the arguer assures that the question being argued has already been proved. Hitler claimed that the "Aryans are superior." Aryans is a modern word referring to the blond-haired, blue-eyed physical ideal of Nazi Germany. Hitler said that without proving anything because he just assumed that it was fact.

*Reading this packet made me want to look back at the history of the Holocaust and as we all know, it was some scary sheeeeet that I hope never, ever happens again.

xoxo

Anti-Evolutionists Dominates

Fridayyyyyyyyyy!
In class, a couple days back, we read an article relating to biology.Oooh, me and ugly's favorite class. To be more specific Evolution vs. Intelligent Design.

Intelligent design is the assertion that "certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection." -Wikipedia

In Biology, the only side we hear behind who or how the universe was created is Evolution. And yes, there are many people that support this "theory" or whatever. I for sure don't. What happened to Creationism or Intelligent Design? I don't think we should limit what we learn in classrooms. And I was extremely shocked because almost no one knew the definition of Intelligence design. And Intelligent Design shouldn't just be something that is known to the community of people that believe in it but to everyone, whether or not they believe in it.
Just like in Kansas, I think that California as well as other states should allow a form of creationism to be taught in school. Why? Because it's the truth and it's amazing, silly! Additionally, evolution is nothing more than a theory. In other words, it's not a fact.
Do I believe in Evolution? Hellll nah. Creationism/Intelligent Design? Hell yessss. A few months back, I visited Ugly's church on a Friday Night. I watched a very interesting documentary on Intelligent Design and it opened my eyes to a lot of things. I got a great insight on how Intelligent Design is supported and why people like me believe in it.
The article "Intelligent design rears its head" had one claim that stood out to me. The article stated, "So fine and intricate a mechanism couldn't have been produced by unplanned natural forces; only by intelligent design." You might be wondering how this is indeed true? It is supported by one of the laws we know and follow to be true; Second Law of Thermodynamics. This law states that a system will go from a state of order to disorder unless energy or work is applied. In other words, the law is saying that without the input of energy or work, anything will crash and burn. This is the biggest argument Creationists have for their belief. According to this law, "God" input energy by creating the universe rather than a random natural forces. I honestly did not know that science even supported Intelligent Design.
Christianity and Islam both believe in Intelligent Design. However, they differ in the way they view the world with this belief in mind.
Christianity says: Don't question the words and don't study it. Live according to the Bible and follow it always because that is the truth.
Islam says: You have to study the world to understand God, and this is stated in the Qur'an as well. Through science and math, one can get a better understanding of God. And so in their religion, science and math is greatly emphasized.
*And this is why Islam will have a stronger side in the Crusades because of their science and technological advancement. They will dominate the Christian World due to weaponry, and advanced war strategy.

Hebrews 3:4 (New International Version)
For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything.

xoxo

Rock, Paper, Scissors

On Friday right after school, I went shopping with my mama and ate some delicious Korean noodles. Then we took those pictures that comes in fours squares, hehe. And finally, bought my WWJD bracelet.
Then Saturday, I thought I was gonna be able to sleep in so I didn't sleep until 5:30 in the morning doing computer. However, I was woken up by my mom at 9:30 in the morning telling me I have to go take a diagnostic test for AP Biology. -_- It was all goood because it wasn't too bad and I saw some familiar faces.
Sunday was a lot of fun. I got to hang out with my honey bunches of oats for about 11 hours or so. Although I am extremely sore with bruises all over my body, I gained a lot more than I lost. My first time broom balling, although the kids lost playing against the dads, we got rewarded with delicious tacos, chili soup and homemade desserts. The only sad part about the day was not being able to oovoo with Sara and Jess. Regardless, Sunday was an unforgettable day.

xoxo

Stupid Cupid<3

Today is officially Valentine's Day.
Amanda Silver and I were talking about how we wish that February 14 landed on a school day and I agree.
I remember in elementary and even in middle school where everyone had those small Valentine Gram for the whole class. Disney Princesses for the ladies and Power Range for the fellas.
Yesterday was a cute day; I now know the feelings of some people and some of them, I would have never thought. Wow.
I went shopping today and took pictures with my momma. I finally got my WWJD bracelet that I wanted since early December of 2008.
Three-Day weekend; I think I am starting to enjoy this month. Minus my second period, sorry second period teacher. The work load sucks. However, it's a fun class.

I'm excited for the weekend because OOVOO time! Come join Sara, Jessica and I. And plus, I get to catch up on Lost. & maybe watch the movie for Art History. Prato = Love!

I really enjoy my fourth period these days; converting my love ones.

Get some sleeeeep skunkbags!

xoxo

Obama for yo' Mama!

Argument and debates; isn't that what philosophy is all about?
Well, today it certainly was.
After going through the debate, I had a lot of things that were going through my mind.
This topic seemed like something that would be discussed in Core 11, but I am glad it came up because I really enjoyed it.

Obama is honestly the #1 celebrity of 2008 & 2009.
Basically we discussed whether affirmative action should still be relevant in our society even with a new "minority" President; Barack Obama.
I thought that both Monique and Toryn did an amazing job and yes, Toryn was attacked a bit more than Monique but M still represents!

I believe that affirmative action should take place in our country even with an African American President. And as many of my classmates brought up, there are many people in the country who do not have the opportunity to further their education after high school simply because of money. I strongly disagree and was rather heated when Toryn pointed out that getting special attention like affirmative action will motivate one, primarily blacks to succeed because I think that it will not push the person to do better, at all. One will feel, some way or another that they are getting this "special attention" because they are a minority and without it, they will not be able to attend college and eventually succeed. If I was in the position, I would feel rather discriminated because if I was "white," I wouldn't receive this attention because I'm better and more rich.

My sister came back from their "Race Unit" Assembly today and she mentioned that not one person can listen to someone talk and not be judgmental. I completely agree because while the debaters were talking, all I was thinking was that my parents have been through worse & also that they are not trying as hard as "Koreans" per say. I think that Asian parents do push their kids to their limit but not to fulfill all the stereotypes but simply because that's what we know to be the best for us. There are many people who graduate high school and would rather make money rather then spend it on college. However, families like mine were raised differently. No college education means working at McDonald's.

I feel that affirmative action is mostly directed at African Americans. Although they have a long, painful history in this country, there are other minorities that need more attention that African Americans. I feel that affirmative action should still take place in this country but should be more careful of the recipients of the action. I am sure with some research and a interview or two, we will be able to give money to ones who need it the most. Hopefully with the new president, it will open a lot doors to "whites" because many of them still deny that racism exists in our country.

xoxo

The D.L.

Continuing from my previous post; I was so sad about Sara's flash drive.
I looked for it everywhere. I finally accepted the fact that it's gone but now I really know where the hell it went.
Oh myyyyyy! I just found her flash drive in my pencil case -_-
How could I have missed that! Yay, now I can upload the photobooth pictures.
However, when I opened the file, there was only 3 pictures but we took at least 30.
Aw! Anyways, we look cute so it's all goood :D

Today, the class began with a scene from the movie, Apollo 13.
I watched this movie in middle school. The funny thing about this movie is that today in math class; which I have before core, Butler talked about Neil Armstrong and his landing on the moon in 1969.

We discussed about how the movie relates to last night's packet; Inductive/Deductive Logic aka "The D.L."
The movie relates to deductive logic because there is a specific pattern that the astronaut uses to press the buttons
The D.L. can be defined as going from what one knows(given) that is absolutely true and ending up with a conclusion that must be true

There are three forms/types of "The D.L"

• Syllogism
• Modus Ponens
• Modus Tollens

Syllogism: Aristotle is the creator of this type and there are three parts to it:

• Major
• Minor
• Conclusion

Examples of Each!

• Major: All humans are mortal
• Minor: Socrates is a human
• Conclusion: Socrates is mortal

*Each of the premises has one term in common with the conclusion & this idea can be referred back to the equation we learned in Algebra:

A=B

B=C

C=A

*According to this equation B = Humans, A = Mortal, and C=Socrates

*We are taking a general claim and transforming into a specific claim

Rules of Logic: Modus Ponens

If p, then q

p (premise)

--------------------------------

therefore, q

Example:

If Iran has Weapons of Mass Destruction, we'll invade Syria

Iran had Weapons of Mass Destruction (premise)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Therefore, we'll invade Syria

Rules of Logic: Modus Tollens

If p, then q

not q

-----------------------------

Therefore, not p

*If premise "p" is true then premise q is also true. Premise q is false

Example:

If it's raining, it will be cold

If it not cold

Therefore, it is not raining.

*TIP! One way you can identify the difference between M.P and M.T

P = Positive = Ponens

xoxo