Today, let's think about Socrates' theory, "injustice can never be more profitable than justice."

Socrates proceeds his talking based on the idea, "whether the just have a better and happier life than the unjust." He emphasize the need to argue this matter deeply because to think over this matter is relevant to how we should live our life.

He starts his attempt to convince Thrasymachus asking "Would you not say that a horse has some end? " And it seems that he want to define that "the endthe end or use of a horse or of anything would be that which could not be accomplished, or not so well accomplished."

Moreover, he continues his assertion later. I will find it and show you soon.

See you,

Misaki

Do you think "the just is always a loser in comparison with the unjust" ? Have you had any experience that you did not deserve to what you did the right thing? Thrasymachus in the book states that the life of the unjust is more advantageous than that of the just. The reason is that,first of all,"wherever the unjust is the partner of the just you will find that, when the partnership is dissolved, the unjust man has always more and the just less in private contracts." Second of all, "when there is an income tax, the just man will pay more and the unjust less on the same amount of income in their dealings with the State. And when there is anything to be received, the one gains nothing and the other much."

In our daily life too, we may sometimes face this kind of situation. Please look back to the past and find out the experience you might had.

By the way, what we should do to live happy life is that to do the unjust behavior if we follow Thrasymachus' theory.

However, Socrates tries to produce evidence against Thrasymachus who believes "the just have a better and happier life than the unjust."

We'll look at Ｓｏｃｒａｔｅｓ’ controversy against Thrasymachus tomorrow.

See you,

Misaki

Chapter1 of the Book, the Republic

I would like to convey you the impressive contexts what I've found in the book today.

"Any techniques or governance are not supposed to give people who use it their interestes, but supposed to give people who is ruled their interests. In that case, intersts for subjects who are the weak are the more important than interests for the strong."

From these words, I learned that the ruler or the stronger should consider the interests for the subjects or the weak first. By the way, there are the processes how Socrates came to the conclution at last. It is interesting all the persons who appear in the book will agree with Socrates' opinion in the end despite some persons were not totally agree with him at first. This means Socrates was brilliant to bring other persons to have the correct ideas.

See you,

Misaki

Today, I am showing you that how Socrates and Thrasymachus who is also a sophist of Ancient Greece discuss the definition of justice in the book.

Thrasymachus proclaim that "justice is nothing else than the interest of the stronger."
Soon later, his assertion becomes the other way around because of dialogue with Socrates.

Socrates tries to understand what his proclaim really means. So, he get Thrasymachus to provide further information on this.

Then, Thrasymachus says that "rulers enact a law with a view to their several interests and these laws, which are made by them for their own interests are the justice no matter what the forms of government are in each states. Therefore, he strongly believe that the justice is the interest of the stronger."

In the next stage, Socrates questions "Then in making their laws they may sometimes make them rightly, and sometimes not? " What he want to make sure is that "it is also the justice the subjects obey the laws which is not established rightly."

This is just a little part of the context. I'll keep on reading it.

See you,

Misaki

Chapter 1 of the Definition of Justice

Today, I intend to show you what I found in chapter 1 in the Republic. Since I cannot describe entire story in the book, I'm going to write about what I found.

In the first part, the conversation between Socrates and Polemarchus goes on. They are talking about the definition of justice. Socrates embarked on the argument "as concerning justice, what is it? - to speak the truth and to pay your debts - no more than this? And even to this are there not exceptions? Suppose that a friend when in his right mind has deposited arms with me and he asks for them when he is not in his right mind, ought I to give them back to him? No one would say that I ought or that I should be right in doing so, any more than they would say that I ought always to speak the truth to one who is in his condition. "

"You are quite right", Cephalus who is Polemarchusi's father replied.

"But then," I said, "speaking the truth and paying your debts is not a correct definition of justice."

After some discussion continued, they started to talk about an assumed definition of justice, "a friend ought always to do good to a friend, and never evil."
(Source of the dialogue: http://www.mdx.ac.uk/WWW/STUDY/xpla.htm)

Like this, speech on particular topics go on throuout the book. In my situation, it appears to be difficult to understand fully the context though it is interesting to try to understand the contents in the book.

See you,

Misaki

Good Government or Bad Government?

Today, I would like to go back to the issue about political philosophy again and show you the frescoes in order to think why political philosophy is needed to the world. By the way, I discovered the attractive picture on the Internet while I was reading the book titled "A Very Short Introduction POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY". The author says it is the best way to look at the picture, Frescoes of the Good and Bad Government, for the purpose of understanding what is Political Philosophy and why it is necessity.

To begin with, let's take a look at Allegory of the Good Government at http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/l/lorenzet/ambrogio/governme/index.html

What's the first impression on this? This picture illustrate real nature of good government. The man who has an air of dignity on the right side is surrounded by six persons who are the symbol of Peace, Fortitude and Prudence on the left, Magnanimity, Temperance and Justice on the right. And there are crowd of citizens who are bounded with a long rope. Both ends of the rope are tied to the man, the governor.

In continuing of the story of Allegory of the Good Government, it is interesting to look at Effects of Good Government on the City Life and The Effects of Good Government in the Countryside. People in both of the fresco are leading good life thanks to the good governor.

On the contrary, Allegory of Bad Government shows us bad government itself. The man with the appearance of a demon is surrounded by four persons who stand for insatiability, cruelty and smugness. In addition, Effects of Bad Government on the City Life and Effects of Bad Government on the Countryside also suggest the result of bad government.

As a result, the frescoes represents nature of good and bad government, the cause and effect. To explore such things, political philosophy exists. Moreover, how we are govern means how we can lead daily life. Incidentally, The quality of a governor and people around him really affect our own lives. This means what kind of thoughts they have will result in either good government or bad government. What philosophy they have is by no means important for us to be govern.

See you,

Misaki

Impression on the Republic

Today, I am going to talk about the content in the book "the Republic" I have read. The first part of the book shows the ananysis of justice. I got exscited reading the book because I realized suddenly that I was reading the book which was written by very famous philosophist many years ago. And I found it stimulus to thinking an abstruct matter such as justice. It will be helpful and influential even to our lives today. This point really attractes me. Thus, I was fascinated by learning theories created by people who lived long time ago and by finding out the relationship between the theories and modern world.

See you,

Misaki

Overview of the Republic

Today, I am going to describe "the Republic" written by Plato in about 360BC as I suggested in the last blog. In fact, I have the book written in Japanese with me now borrowing from our university. I found that I could take it up smoothly though I felt, at first sight of the book, it would be very difficult to read because of the classic book. Then, the reason why it can be read like the novel we read today is that it is written in the format of Socratic dialogue. That is to say, there are many conversations, for example, between Socrates and Glaucon who is an older brother of Plato, and Adeimantus who is another older brother of Plato. Briefly, in this work, Plato attempted to design an ideal society and government that were free of injustice and conflict. Moreover, through the dialogue, Plato was trying to repeat the way Socrates taught philosophy in exactly the same way by engaging his students on a significant question. Now, I will stop writing, and I believe I should add much more information on the content of "the Republic".

See you then,

Misaki

History of Political Philosophy

Today, I am going to look at history of western political philosophy. It was originated in ancient Greek society where city-states were trying to use various ideas such as Monarchy, Tyranny, Aristocracy, Oligarchy and Democracy. A city-state means a region controlled exclusively by a city. Historically, it refers to the polis of ancient Greece like Athens, Sparta and Corinth. In modern world, Singapore, Monaco and Vatican are city-states. Additionally, Hamburg and Bremen in Germany, Hong Kong and Macao in China are also included in the category of city-states. Then, what are Monarchy, Tyranny, Aristocracy, Oligarchy and Democracy? Monarchy is a form of government that has a monarch as head of state. It is from the Greek μονος which means "one", and αρχειυ, "to rule". Second, Tyranny is a government in which a single ruler is given with absolute power. Next, Aristocracy is a form of government where power is inherited, and split between a small number of families. The term was stem from Greek "aristos" meaning the "best" and "kratein" "to rule" and so aristocracy originally meant "rule by the best". Oligarchy can be put into "rule by the few" in Greek. It is government by a few, especially by a small faction of persons or families. In terms of Democracy, it is translated into Greek "rule by the people". Demos means "people", and kratos means "rule". By the way, One of the first, Plato's "the republic", politeia in Greek and 国家 in Japanese, is very important classical works of political philosophy. Politeia in Greek was derived from the word polis (city-state). I am going to do research on "the Republic" later.
Now, that's all for today. Thank you for coming to read my blog.

See you,

Misaki

Political Philosophy

Before exploreing Plato's own theory, I want to think about what political philosophy is. It is like a title of a book in the course I would like to take. By the way, do you know the term "Political Philosophy"? I have just come across the field of study through preparing for my course I wish to take. Based on Wikipedia, it says. "political philosophy is the study of fundamental questions about the state, gorvenment, politics, liberaty, justice, property, rights, law and the enforcement of a legal code by authority. " In other words, it is the questions such as "What is the purpose of government?", "What characterises a good government?", "What should be the relationship between individuals and society?", "What are the limits of freedom?"or "Is freedom of speech a good idea?" In order to find the answer to these questions, we will look at important texts in the history of political theory. I think we can put politics into our lives. Politics exist around us very closely. However, some people including me don't pay much attention to it. It is necessary for me to question fundemental functions or thoughts for politics in this time. It will be the base of my descision to get involved in politics in my society or in the world.

See you,

Misaki

Philosopher

I gradually got interested in the philosophers in ancient Greek society while I was writing my blog yesterday. What was their role or responsibility in their society as a philosopher? How did they have a influence on politics at that time? What is philosopher? The reason why I came up with these inquiries is that peopel I mentioned in the blog yesterday is all philosophers. And then, I believe their theories had a great power on the political area. By the way, I am trying to gather information about Plato now. I'm sorry that I didn't progress with my study today. I will share what I gain through learning him or his theory with you later.

See you,

Misaki

the Course in Summer 2007

I decided to take the course, Introduction to Political Theory in political science department.
According to course catalog, we will "engage the core arguments of different theorists and come to their own reasoned accounts of political legitimacy." Theorists include Plato, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Burke, Mill, Ghandi, and Barber. And then, we will "examine themes of freedom, equality, democracy, conflict, peace and justice." As a result, we aim at understanding contemporary issues thinking over the way how the theory can apply to it and utilized to modern politics. Therefore, I should do research the main assertion which each theorist such as Plato and Hobbes explained in the beginning for the preparation of the classes. In the end of today's blog, I want to show you brief introduction to theorists as I mentioned above. First, Plato(プラトン) was Greek philosophers. His works on philosophy, politics and mathematics were very influencial. Second, Thomas Hobbes(トマス・ホッブズ) was an English philosophar. And he is today best remembered for his work on political philosophy. Additionally, he made a contribution to several fields like history, geometry, theology, ethics and general philosophy. John Locke(ジョン・ロック) was also an English philosopher. His ideas had great influence on the expantion of epistemology and political philosophy. Then, Jean-Jacques Rousseau (ジャン・ジャック・ルソー) was a Genovan philosopha of the Enlightenment. His ideas influenced the French Revolution, the development of socialist theory, and the growth of nationalism in terms of politics. Edmund Burke(エドマンド・バーク) was Anglo-Irish statesman, author, orator, political theorist, and philosopher, who were in the British House of Commons. Next, John Stuart Mill(ジョン・スチュアート・ミル) was Blitish philosopher, political economist and Member of Parliament, was an influential liberal thinker of the 19th century. Lastly, Mahatma Gandhi(マハトマ・ガンジー) was a major political and spiritual leader of India and the Indian Independence movement. In India, he is recognized as the Father of Nation. From the next blog, I want to focus on these philosopher's biography and their main view point of politics.

See you,

Misaki

about TOEFL iBT

Hello, everyone. It was fine day in Sendai today.
I am preparing for TOEFL exam now since getting the 500 score of TOEFL test is requisite for taking part in the program. The new version of TOEFL test, TOEFL iBT, is much more difficult than the old one, TOEFL CBT. iBT stands for internet Based Test. We have to read 3 passages in reading section for 60~100 minutes in total. Times was running out when I took an exam. And, We move to the next section, listening section. We can spend 60~90 minutes for the section. This part requires you sustaining your concentration throughout whole listening section because it lasts long. I felt as if it was endless. After taking a break for 10 minutes, we are supposed to go to speaking section. This part is the most difficult among four section in my experience. We have just 15 seconds to prepare for our answer and have 45 seconds to answer the question. This section is made up of 6 questions. In the end, we have to finish writing section for 50 minutes. It contains 2 subjects to answer for. Both speaking and writing, it is very important to make our answer logical and well organised using transition word. All in all, I found it very essential to practice jotting down what I have read, heard or what I am going to write or speak for speaking and writing section. The reason is that I answered the questions mainly based on the penciled memo I wrote on the piece of paper. If I fail to write down the main point, supporting reason, example and detail of each listening or speaking section, I won't constract my answer fully. So, please try to jot down essential and effective information to get high score if you are plannning to take a TOEFL exam.

See you,

Misaki

First Blog

Hello! This is Misaki. Nice to see you. I am a sophmore at the Depatment of Elementary Education at the Tohoku Fukushi University. I am writing this blog as a prospective student who will participate in the scholarship program to attend at the course at the University of Washington. I hope this blog will help me to progress with my English, writing skiil. In addtion, I am happy if this blog can help the students who desire to have a great experience in Seattle next time. By the way, I participated in this program last year. The picture on right side is a sheet of drawing paper shaped into a penguin. When I arrived at my room in a dormitory, I found this nameplate on the door. I was really glad to see it at that time because I felt like I was welcomed. I was so glad that I brought it back to my home and attached it to the door of my room. In this blog, I would like to take advantage of this opportunity to share my experience last year with you like this from time to time.

See you soon,

Misaki