Blog 8: Rawls

Rawls made some really good points throughout the text. In one paragraph Rawls stated,"Yet a society satisfying the principles of justice as fairness comes as close as asociety can to being a voluntary scheme,for it meets the principles which free and equal persons would assent to under circumstances that are fair. In this sense its members are autonomous and the obligations they recognize self-imposed (Rawls p.201)" I really agreed with Rawls statement about considering the minorities and the disadvantaged when making decisions. We have to think about how decisions affect those in our sorroundings.

Blog 5: Thoreau

Thoreau is a very opinionated man. Through out the text he voices his opinions about the government and the Mexican War both of which he strongly opposes. Although he opposes the government, he seems to understand that there must be one. He just wants a better one, one that is there as an expedient. I think that the Mexican war is a big issue with Thoreau because to him it was unjust, his country was the invading army bullying a weaker a weaker nation, and that men should no longer submit to being small moveable forts apart of this government he calls a machine. I think that Thoreau has a point when he says that a man would be one step toward obtaining the type of government he wants by making known what kind of government commands his respect, because if a person doesn’t voice opinions then nothing will be changed. In the text he speaks of how Paley often speaks of inconvenience, but knows that what’s just must always be done. As an example he spoke of wresting a plank from a drowning man, but knows that he has to give it back, yes, it would be inconvenient but he knows that he couldn’t, in good conscience take another mans plank, leaving him to drown, just to save his own life.

Blog 4 Carter: The Separation of Church and State

Carter is basically speaking about how and why the separation of the church and state came about. The separation of the church and state was originated in the First Amendment to protect religion from the state, and to secure religious liberty. Carter named few religious cases were the state and church were in quarrel. One of which was the Lemon vs. Kurtzman which is often referred to. Carter states that according to surveys the removal of prayer in public schools is the most unpopular within the controversial rulings between church and state. Prayer being removed from public schools was extremely justifiable according to Carter, and I totally agree. We don’t all pray to the same god so praying in favor of just Christianity or one other choice religion would have been unfair to those of different religions. Although I agree with the fact that our government can never be fully rid of religion, I fully believe that our religion should be protected from government interference.

Blog 3: Arendt

Arendt gives insight to the horror of concentration camps, and shows how it dehumanitizes its inmates. From my understanding she spoke on how it was impossible to evaluate the psyche of a former inmate, because all their moral values and beliefs, have and will continue to disintegrate because, they have been hidden from the world, and considered as non existent. Arendt also spoke on how the true horrors of a concentration camp would never be revealed, even if there was a survivor, because they had been made not to have existed which, would create confusion and cause a distraction from what is essential. I think she is trying to say that it would become such amazement that the person or persons were alive that the nation would less focus on the cruelty and crime that has been committed and more on his/her story of what took place in the camp. Arendt describes the inmates moving back into the human world as Lazarus being resurrected which, to me, could actually prove to be an accurate description of how life could be for a survivor. Because they will have lived under some ones rule for far too long, leaving them in fear and unable to think for themselves. In captivity someone will have told them when to eat, sleep, and drink. So unfortunately the fear of doing something out of order will stay installed in them, and I don’t think that they would any longer be capable of surviving in the real world.