WEEK ONE: The Great Mystery and How Socrates Died

1. Why was Socrates sentenced to death?

Socrates was on trial for his life and had two charges against him. The charges against Socrates were that he did not believe in gods that were recognized by the states and the other one was that he was corrupting the young people of Athens with his teachings. Socrates was ordered to drink the poisonous Hemlock and die. Socrates had never been in any trouble or had to appear in court in his 70 years of life. This trial was the first time he had been involved in legal troubles. He defended himself and was not able to free himself from the accusations. In the book “How Socrates Died” the book states: "The Apologia" represents Socrates on trial for his life, undertaking his own defense, though unaccustomed to the language of the courts, the occasion being, as he says, the first time he has ever been before a court of justice, though seventy years of age”(2). On the last day before his death his friends visit him and he talks to them and tells them that the soul is immortal. One of his friends even talks to him about escaping and Socrates does not want to escape. Socrates in my eyes was a very courageous man and a very strong man. He said he would take his punishment because man had to obey the law and that is what he did even though it cost him his life. He drank the poison and died while he was walking and talking to the people that accompanied him. I think that he died with dignity and he died because he stood up for what he believed in not because he was a criminal. He knew that if he stood up for his beliefs death would be his fate and he decided to stand up to what he believed and his punishment was death in the end.

2. Why is there a conflict (for some) between science and religion?

Maybe there is conflict between science and religion because people misunderstand the meanings of certain things. According to the video “The Limits of Science: Illuminated Ideas in 56 seconds” it is stated that the limits to understanding some scientific matters is limited to our skull. This means that some people view things religions or science with a certain point of view. Since our limits to understanding things according to the video is limited to our skull this might mean that the point of view that one person has can be very different that the view of another. In the book “Matter vs. Spirit” it is stated that “Right then, another professor chimed in and said, “Oh, Dave, that guy who just verbally assaulted you is a fundamentalist Christian and he thinks that your publication contradicts the Bible and insults his religion”(2). It is stated that the Christian professor was offended by the magazine “Plato’s Cave”. Maybe the offended Christian professor didn’t really understand what was written in the magazine and did not give Professor Lane the opportunity to explain what the article was about. While I was reading the book I came upon the part where it says that the conflict primarily comes from linguistic confusion that arises because of what matter implies to some people. To some people matter might a thing that is dark, gray or nothing. As stated in “The Great Mystery” is that our understanding of matter is really distorted and that matter and spirit are opposites. The problem is that we really don’t understand the real meaning of “matter”. We usually don’t have a great understanding or the most recent definition to the word. When people that have different views of life, religion and science and just observe and don’t take the time to ask questions people tend to get offended and conflict arises. I think that not knowing what something means or not having the same meanings of words or ideas can cause conflict in anything especially between religion and science.


FLASH EXTRA CREDIT: WHAT IS MATTER?

Matter is the four forces of the universe it is gravity, electromagnetism, strong nuclear force and weak nuclear force. Matter is not just one thing it is a combination of things. It is what creates a whole person, a whole building or the whole planet that we live on. Matter is everything together atoms, molecules, electrons our body is made up of matter. Our body has a soul, brain and consciousness, molecules and atoms. We are all made up of matter but that does not make our bodies any less important. Everything is made up of things that are smaller and does not make the larger thing weaker. So I think that when a person says we are made up of matter we shouldn’t feel that we are less important. It just means that something needs something else to function. In humans our body would not function without our brain and our brain would not function without a soul or free will. I think that the videos showed me that every person has a different perception or views of things. In the video the example with the app on the apple product shows that what one person sees or hears isn’t always going to be seen or heard by others. In the video professor Lane didn’t hear the noises from the app and when tested in class every student in the class except one other person didn’t hear the loud noise from the app. I think that this might be an example on how people see matter not every person will see the things the way one certain person sees it. Our bodies are made up of different things we need our brain and soul to function one cannot work without the other.