Cultivating Humanity: Citizens of the WorldWritten by Martha C. Nussbaum
“True courage, they held, requires freedom, and freedom is best cultivated by an education that awakens critical thinking.” pg. 55
I would have to agree fully with this quote that was found in this week’s reading for Sustainability. When I think of freedom, I envision choices. Without choices, the world would be filled with people living the same life styles. People would be living in uniform. I think that individuality is key in life because it gives a person opportunity to display their emotion; their preferences; their choices. In Cultivating Humanity: Citizens of the World, Nussbaum talks compares the two cultures for the Athenian, and the Spartans. She discussed the importance of education.
When comparing the two cultures of Athens and Sparta, Athens was universally educated, while Sparta was compared to having a preference for uniformity. The Athenians praised the “freedom of inquiry and debate”, while the Spartans preferred to deny “the importance of free speech and thought”. The Spartans were seen as people who didn’t choose to serve their city because they weren’t taught on the reasons why they should serve their city. They were taught that it was necessary that they served their city, and that their loyalty was demanded. But truthfully, the Spartans didn’t have feeling or their heart in their loyalty. Why? Because if they were to be set free and without the “constraint of law and rule”, they would most often act badly, and never learn to choose for themselves. This is because they were taught that a good citizen as an obedient follower of traditions. The Spartans were to follow the rules, and be uniformed and this resulted in the Athenians viewing the city of Sparta full of people who did not choose to serve their city.
Athens, on the other hand, used cross-cultural inquiry to examine cultures like the Spartans. Their process of cross-cultural inquiry showed them what establishments and regimes worked for other cultures, and what didn’t work, and thus lead to consequences. Comparing cultures allowed the Athenians to think freely without constraints. They were encouraged to be aware that life “contains other possibilities”. This meant that life wasn’t straightforward, uniformed, and that everyone had the same thinking.
I admire the Athenians greatly because they realized that freedom required being knowledgeable in every aspect in life. They were encourage to “think outside of the box”, and examine other cultures. When examining other cultures, and what they can do to change, adopt or quit their regimes, this brought critical thinking, and critical thinking will in turn help cultivate freedom. Freedom of choice, freedom of speech, and freedom of thought.
That’s it for this week! I hope you enjoyed my thoughts, and especially what I learned from this week’s reading on how we can cultivate humanity. See you next week!
I would have to agree fully with this quote that was found in this week’s reading for Sustainability. When I think of freedom, I envision choices. Without choices, the world would be filled with people living the same life styles. People would be living in uniform. I think that individuality is key in life because it gives a person opportunity to display their emotion; their preferences; their choices. In Cultivating Humanity: Citizens of the World, Nussbaum talks compares the two cultures for the Athenian, and the Spartans. She discussed the importance of education.
When comparing the two cultures of Athens and Sparta, Athens was universally educated, while Sparta was compared to having a preference for uniformity. The Athenians praised the “freedom of inquiry and debate”, while the Spartans preferred to deny “the importance of free speech and thought”. The Spartans were seen as people who didn’t choose to serve their city because they weren’t taught on the reasons why they should serve their city. They were taught that it was necessary that they served their city, and that their loyalty was demanded. But truthfully, the Spartans didn’t have feeling or their heart in their loyalty. Why? Because if they were to be set free and without the “constraint of law and rule”, they would most often act badly, and never learn to choose for themselves. This is because they were taught that a good citizen as an obedient follower of traditions. The Spartans were to follow the rules, and be uniformed and this resulted in the Athenians viewing the city of Sparta full of people who did not choose to serve their city.
Athens, on the other hand, used cross-cultural inquiry to examine cultures like the Spartans. Their process of cross-cultural inquiry showed them what establishments and regimes worked for other cultures, and what didn’t work, and thus lead to consequences. Comparing cultures allowed the Athenians to think freely without constraints. They were encouraged to be aware that life “contains other possibilities”. This meant that life wasn’t straightforward, uniformed, and that everyone had the same thinking.
I admire the Athenians greatly because they realized that freedom required being knowledgeable in every aspect in life. They were encourage to “think outside of the box”, and examine other cultures. When examining other cultures, and what they can do to change, adopt or quit their regimes, this brought critical thinking, and critical thinking will in turn help cultivate freedom. Freedom of choice, freedom of speech, and freedom of thought.
That’s it for this week! I hope you enjoyed my thoughts, and especially what I learned from this week’s reading on how we can cultivate humanity. See you next week!
-Tai
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The quote that Tai choose from this reading, is one of the same quote I thought was very important when I did this reading. Tai made a very good argument with this quote and it made me see that there was much more to this quote than I thought. At first when I read this quote I thought that it was talking about how freedom and education was connected because not everyone could be educated, but when reading this it made me realize that it is much more than that, and it made me expand my thinking. Now I can learn to think critical just like the Athenians.
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