What is time?

As we read in chapter 10, time is difficult to define, and even though it is an important factor in our everyday life, I think almost everyone would like to have control of this symbolic, but independent measurement.

When I establish a conversation about time, many people usually say: “ It flows like water”, which means that it leaves your hands with ease, making you want more and more. But, have you ever thought about why was time invented?

Savater tried to explain that time was established, so that humans could have a point of reference, to meet, and/or make different activities in a day, which really makes sense. It also explains that it is just a measurement, for knowing in which stage of the day we are at.

Time is independent from anything, which means that it is in constant movement, and he tries to explain that living and non-living things depend on it, for suffering transformations, such as age transformations.

Savater also showed Hegel’s opinion about showing a specific moment in time, such as “now”. When we call something “this”, it is subjective if we do not see it, but if we show “this” (ex. a lamp), it is not subjective anymore. But, when we say “now”, it will always be subjective, because the moment we just called “now” is gone, and I cannot pick it up again.

Time will always be a part of our daily life, but we know that it will be always impossible to hold it, that’s why we need to take advantage of it, before it is to late.

Time and Movement?

What is time? That is a pretty tough question. It sounds so simple and the answer can't stand every argument that people have about it. We live every day of our lives with notion of time, we classify our movements with time, we plan our activities with time and we say we are living in the "present". Somebody once said past is history, future is a mystery but present is a gift, that is why it is called present. Well I think this sentence is talking metaphorically as if we couldn't go back or forward in time, assuming that the only thing we can control completely is what we do every new second that passes. I don't agree with is completely. Though I understand that what I am in the present is the product of what I was, what I have experienced and what I have or haven't learned from it, I still doubt whether I change because time passes or time passes because I change? For this question I took a look to Albert Einstein's Relativity Theory. He states that each object has its own time, we use a time that is connected to other's and so on and so forth, yet when the speed of a movement gets closer to the speed of light, time seems to be wrong or doesn't match with ours as it can move between our time at a speed we can't even imagine. That makes me think if I am really seeing what is in reality or whatever IS. My whole view of reality is being modified completely as I don't believe in impossibilities anymore, I just wanted to figure out the How? I believe now that the light that passes in front of our eyes is the same that was since the beginning of the human race and before and is the same that is existing in this moment(IRONIC) whether we stopped existing in a future or we transformed or we went to live to another planet! I am trying to figure out why, but everything looks like is losing the perspective, like we live with such paradigms that punish these thoughts and the world is just not the world and everything is not what it was explained to be omg. Now there are many things we need to consider before making conclusions and the fact is that we would need some extra-special glasses to see bodies with a high speed that are passing through us, or something similar. I don't think that what seems to be death or inanimate is what people describe, but bodies moving at a very slow speed or at a very high speed, now it looks like movement in relation with time creates realities and we are sensing what moves at a speed similar to ours.

Last!!! Chpt 10

As soon as I started reading this chapter I realized it was going to be interesting. It is very interesting because it talks about the time and how does it happens. It is very weird that in our class with twenty something students, we couldn’t come up with a definition for time. The nearest we got to the definition is that time means a measure of moments. It is true but at the same time is not a complete definition for this easy and very common word. The book gives us an example of the turtle and Achilles. I don’t know where did Zeno got this idea from but it is true. It explains that if the turtle starts first Achilles would never be able to catch up with the turtle. For example, I am Alejandro and I born in May 20th, 1991, Mario who was born in May 22nd 1991 will never be able to catch up those two days. As long as we both live, I will be older than him two days. Even though he is better or he is faster or whatever there is no way that he can reach me. There is also a very important statement that it was very weird for me. The book tells us that there is no past or future there is only one tense and it is the present. It might be three tenses but instead of being past present future they would be present of the past things, present of the present things, and present of the future things. This is very weird but if you think a little bit about it, it can be considered to be true. These are just because we can only live in the present and have memories and see what’s coming but we can only habit in the present.

Lost in Time

I think this chapter was interesting; it brought up the theme of time, something that we all know and are aware of, but we cannot explain it exactly. The book mention that Aristotle linked the time with movement, meaning also for the change of state; time passes because things happen. I think I can agree in a way with this statement because every second that passes, there is something in the world that happens.
As an example, even before we had the mechanical devices that measured the time, the people had other ways to measure the time, and it relates to things that happen. When the flowers appeared on the field, or when the migrant birds came back, and even say to express winter, when it is cold; all these that people used to measure the time were represented by something happening. So, this means that the world is in constant movement, or change, because the time keeps going.
In class it was told that when one sleeps, time seems to stop, but then it was said what about the dreams? There is something happening. And also, by a friend, what about inside the body? Everything keeps changing. I think that this theme can be confusing, like the question which one came first? I would be on the side of time come first, because in order for something to happen, there has to be a change in time, or a change of moment, which is basically the same.

Is it beautiful, or you just like it?

Something is not beautiful, just because you like it. That’s weird, don’t you think so?

In chapter 9, Savater gave us the example of the Egyptian pyramids, which maybe I like them and we can say that they are impressive. Later he said, how could you consider them beautiful, if many people suffered for its creation? Now, I was more confused and if he says so, how am I going to be sure of what is beautiful then?

Well, it may seem difficult to understand, but after time reasoning, I got the point. Once I went to Guanajuato, I went to see one of the many churches of the “Época de la Conquista” in Mexico, which are impressive and they are said to be beautiful, because they show the mix of the Spanish and Mexican architectures. When I was in there, I got amazed and yes, they are very beautiful, but many people said the church had quite exaggerated details, which made it not to like them so much, and I totally agree with them. So, I noticed that for something to be beautiful it needs to follow certain patterns, meanwhile what you like could be whatever, even though it is the worst thing on Earth. And finally, I’ve got to the conclusion that I shouldn’t call something beautiful, just because I like it.

Beautiful

Beauty, what a word that encompasses so many concepts, sensations, symbols, ideals, giving the pleasure to perceive it or pulling away whatever it takes to try to make it real. Beauty... millions of people desire it, unable to see how beautiful they really are, how beautiful is everything around them, how misunderstood is beauty. But how to say if something is beautiful or not? Is it a sensation, is it an emotion, is it a purpose, what human law can tell if something is beautiful or not? Philosophers, theologians, humanity in general can't agree in a single definition... because it may be that there isn't. Why we try to give everything a meaning if we haven't even identified the essence of what we have, or think we have... Beauty, represented and perceived in countless expressions or projections. Purpose or without a purpose, beauty is true, is that which comes without being planned, is that which grows out of nothing and becomes more valuable, is that which pleases us without having to please us, is that which exists and waits to be sensed, perceived and maybe appreciated, is that which drugs us with its unexplainable sources, is that which stimulates what had to be stimulated, is that which converts us in a touched human being, touched with the grace of life, with something bigger than humanity, something inconsistently abstract that has the ability to traspass barriers of realities and cause an unpredictable reaction in every person, in every animal that has the capacity to appreciate, perceive, accept and live that misterious abstraction called beauty.

Beauty

I really liked this chapter because of so many things. First of all, some people can’t realize what something beautiful is in reality. If you ask an artist what is beautiful for him, he will say that maybe a painting. If you ask a party guy what’s beauty for him, he might answer that hot girls. If you ask a mother what’s beautiful for her, she would say that her kids. This is not incorrect but people have different perceptions of what’s beauty.

What it is true is that the most beautiful and originally beautiful things are the things created by nature. You can feel it when you are in front of a beautiful thing created by nature. For example, Niagara Falls, the sensation I received when I saw those falls was incredible. It is a unique sensation that I have only felt once.

I will criticize the people who believe that the only beauty and the most important one is the aesthetic. I think that is ridicule. For example, you can see an actress which is physically beautiful but in her inside she is the worst girl. Some of them feel like if they were made by God or something like that. That is NOT beauty. I rather stay with a pretty girl who is nice with me and nice to my people. A girl that cares about me and will always be at my side when I need her. I don’t need nice hot chick with a nice and voluminous body. This is what people have been lately misunderstanding.

This is why I think some people do not know the reality of what beauty means at these days.

The Shiver of Beauty

In this chapter I read an interesting quote by Immanuel Kant, “Beauty does not correspond to a concept”. This means that there are no rules for something to be determined as beautiful. I agree with this because there are many things that influence our opinion about if something is beautiful or not, and they are different for everybody, it is not following any set of rules. One thing that influences us to think that something is beautiful is the taste, that is, your personal points of view and what you like.
Even if everybody has different taste and ideas, there will be always people that agree that something is beautiful while others would argue the contrary. Savater said it is wrong to imply that something is beautiful only for you. If I understand what he means, I agree, because I think there are always people that will agree with you.
An example can be Jackson Pollock, that we saw little in class, many argue that it was not that beautiful, and it was not very difficult. Well an argument can be, as he was the first one, he caught the attention with the lines and the colors; so, it is why there are people that find it beautiful.
The book mentions that beauty can cause a kind a pleasure, a good feeling. Therefore, as beauty is subjective, the good feeling caused by it is also subjective. This good sensation caused by beauty will change from person to person, as we have all different taste and ideas.

Acting with freedom

When I say freedom, many things come to my mind, such as doing whatever I want, and chose my life path. But, are we really free? Can we make whatever we want? I don’t think so.

During this chapter, I learned many things that are real, and happen in our daily lives. Many people consider freedom, as having or making whatever they want. They are WRONG, because freedom is just the right to choose between different, but specified paths. But, what does that mean? For example, I say that I want one million dollars; I can choose the way I want to get them. I can work hard, or either rob a bank. I am free to choose, but this freedom is limited, because if I take the easy way, the country rules will arrest me, take my money away, and reduce my freedom. Newton said: “For every action there’s a reaction”, and that is true. I need to take the responsibility of my actions, and obey rules.

Another argument Savater said is that there are different kinds of freedoms, because one thing is what I want and another thing is to obtain it. I totally agree with him, because in Earth many people want many things, but they are limited to their possibilities. For example, many people want to have a Bugatti in their garage, but they can’t get it. They have the freedom to want, and to have. But, when we talk about possibilities, they can’t get what they want.

Condemned Freedom

In this chapter, there are several points of view belonging to the concept of freedom. I strongly agree with the Sartrean formulation of us being unable to choose whether we are free or not, he points out that we are condemned to freedom. This thought made me question about the essence of freedom itself. I don't think freedom itself is true as we cannot choose if we want to have it or not (Of course talking about freedom not as a noun). We are born with the capability of choosing among options and taking decisions, though we can't yet choose if that is what we want for our lives or not, it comes with the whole package, it comes with us. I refuse to say freedom is pure, I believe it is just an illusion although I consider choices as real, because they determine each reality we Choose to live in. I perceive my reality as I choose to perceive it, there is no one who will ever possess me and take away that freedom from me, yet I wonder what happens when people kills other people? For me thats stealing, not only life but the freedom other people had to choose whether they wanted to still live or commit suicide, their time is fastened and their lives end because of the freedom of an individual. So what I think is that Freedom may not be totally true but it is both collective and individual. Individual in the sense that you have your own freedom and can choose to do, think, or want to not be(or be), but collective in the sense that you should respect others' freedom to maintain everybody's freedom free?

I really liked this chapter for many different reasons. The main reason is that it talks about freedom. Freedom is something we must learn how to use. We are all born with freedom. We acquire it as soon as we live but the main point is that there are some people that don’t know how to use it.
Every single person in the world has rights and responsibilities. But in order to get our own rights we must first have done our responsibilities. Some people argue that people they don’t have rights but most of the times they don’t have it because they don’t do what they are supposed to.
Some people also don’t know how to use freedom. Some people just think that freedom is just doing whatever they want but that is incorrect. I think you can think whatever you want, you can believe whatever you want but you can’t do whatever you want. You can do it but you must respect the laws of the place you’re living in. If you don’t respect it, you might start losing your freedom. In every place of the world it is prohibited to assault a bank. If you do it, you go to jail. In this case you’re doing what you want but without respecting the laws, so you start losing your own freedom.
There are also countries that had fight for freedom in the past and sometimes still in the present. But most of them, are fighting for being independent and being free of doing what they want and ruling themselves.
To conclude, people must not confuse the meaning of freedom, otherwise if they don’t respect the rules or laws. They will start losing their own freedom.

Freedom in Action

I think we all have thought about the consequences our actions can have, and we are conscious that even if we are free to decide things and actions, we are responsible for them. I know I am responsible for my all actions and the consequences, good or bad that come with it. Even that we are free to decide, want things, and even don’t want; we need to be conscious about our actions, because we are fully responsible of them. Like Savater said “to accept that we are free implies accepting responsibility for what we do.”
I think an important thing we should ask ourselves before deciding to act is to think about the consequences that this action can lead to; this can help us sometimes to avoid some consequences. I am conscious that even if we think about it, we can always do mistakes, we are humans; but we can save troubles.
A great quote that clearly exemplifies the responsibility that we all have for the actions we do is this one said by the character Ben Parker in the first movie of Spider-Man "With great power comes great responsibility." I know it can be referring to Peter Parker’s new power, but what can relate is that Peter have the responsibility on how he choose to use this power, for good or for bad.
As a conclusion, it can be said that when we are faced with a decision, we are free to do it or not; we are free to act or not, and we are responsible for this decision and its later consequences.

Your order could be my chaos

During this week we talked about chapter 5, and I found many interesting issues, that we can argue about. One of them was the one about order, which is a theme very subjective, but as Savater said: “Your order could be my chaos”. That means that the majority of the people are used to have certain type of order with their things, that for many others, it could be chaotic.

In my life, for example, I always have problems with my brother because of my house organization. He always leaves the things wherever he finishes using them. Like the wireless phone, he always leaves it in the sofa, or in the bed, and when I am looking for it, I never find it. That’s the reason I always return the phone to the base, so I can find it easily.

Another interesting issue we talked about in class was the one about the finite or infinite Universe. When you ask people what they think about it, they just simply answer according to their religion, culture, or maybe by guessing. But, when I reasoned it, I came to the conclusion that the Universe is infinite and continuous expansion, because if it wasn’t, there would be something else outside it, and I could have reached the end.