1) After speaking to my parents back home, I was informed that my great-great-grandmother's name was Frances Gaynor, and she was born in the year 1835. Her parents were a part of the Ashanti tribe in western Africa. She was also one the first of my ancestors on my father's side that was born in St. James, Jamaica. Her parents were brought to Jamaica to work in the cotton fields as slaves, so she was born to slave parents. Shortly after she was born, slavery was abolished in 1838. Although she grew up post slavery, the country was still under the effects of colonialism as although the slaves were "free", they were not provided with the opportunity to be educated and free from their white masters. I was also told that she used to work in the cotton fields, and used to weave cotton for a living at minimum wage. She was described by my father as a very religious woman who was a Baptist. It was also interesting to note that she lived a very full life as she died at the age of 106!
2) Emerson says "The virtue in most request is conformity. Self-reliance is its aversion. It loves not realities and creators, but names and customs" (Stuhr 28). What I believe Emerson is trying to convey here is that people should not be conformists to society as society tends to smother people's true natures and does not allow them to flourish to the best of their abilities. In other words, society constrains the individual to fit into what their expectations should be. What Emerson is saying is that we should try to make our own judgments about the obstacles that we face in life. We should also resist conforming to societal expectations, as he believes only you can know what is best for you, and you should make your own decisions and take control of your life instead of letting society decide for you. This idea is echoed when he says "Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members" (Stuhr 28). He doesn't believe society has its members best interests as heart, and that only you can decide which way you want to direct your life, and how you should handle difficult situations. He believes that in order to truly be a man you should be a nonconformist. He also speaks alot about human nature as well as values, when he says "Good and bad are but names very readily transferable to that or this; the only right is what is after my constitution, the only wrong is what is against it" (Stuhr 28). Basically he is saying, that when it comes to one's moral responsibility you should be the sole judge of the difference between what is right and wrong. In Emerson's eyes you should be the one making moral judgments about issues, and if it feels right to you then it is, and you should be the only factor when makin a moral judgment. For Emerson, to conform to society is to lose your identity and ultimately lose yourself.
Emerson also says later on in the essay that "A foolish consistency is the hobglobin of little minds, adore by little statesmen and philosophers and divines" (Stuhr 30). This ties in with conforming to society, as being consistent is also keeping up with societal expectations. Emerson believes that being consistent is limiting yourself, as well as limiting your mental abilities. This also means that you are limiting your ability to flourish in the world as an intellectual, and expanding your mind and knowledge. He compares consistency to only concerning yourself with your shadow. Being consistent also has to do with being accepted and praised for your actions. Emerson doesn't believe that your actions should be consistent in order to "fit in", but it is better to be misunderstood and true to yourself than to be a false version of yourself in order to conform.
3) When considering Pierce's rejection of the Cartesian view of philosophy concerning "foundationalism", one must start with Descartes. Descartes sought out to eliminate all uncertainty throughout his meditations. He believed as all rationalists do that human knowledge can be attained through reason. Throughout the meditations he started off by denouncing everything he knew by stating that our senses are through which we receive information from the outside world, and our senses fail us. The unreliability of our senses as a valuable source of information, all that Descartes could account for is that he exists and he is a thinking thing. Throughout this method of doubt, he eventually came to the conclusion that something was true and right one you were absolutely certain about it. From a pragmatist's point of view, the method through which Descartes attained his information by doubting everything he knew was impractical. Pierce believed that our faculties would not lead us astray in discerning things in the outside world but that it was a reliable source from which humans could attain information. He believed that Descartes method of denouncing everything in the world was illogical, because there was nothing that existed that we could not be absolutely certain about. He also believed that it was not concrete to base knowledge on the mind. He believed that the mind was a "foundation" to build upon, but not the sole determining factor.
According to Pierce, phenomenology or "the phenomenological recovery of human experience" is really the study of humans and all the eccentricites that occur within the human mind. Pierce believes that simply observing human behaviour, as opposed to approaching things in a scientific method such as with biology, chemistry and physics, was in fact harder as humans were so versatile and unpredictable, whereas science tended to be somewhat more controlled. This means that observing human behaviour must be a continuous process in which people are constantly revising and consulting one another, as the human mind is never constant. Everything we deduce is a conscious act, and the only way to discern the truth about life is to be self-aware, active, technical and intricate in your observations and deductions.
2) Emerson says "The virtue in most request is conformity. Self-reliance is its aversion. It loves not realities and creators, but names and customs" (Stuhr 28). What I believe Emerson is trying to convey here is that people should not be conformists to society as society tends to smother people's true natures and does not allow them to flourish to the best of their abilities. In other words, society constrains the individual to fit into what their expectations should be. What Emerson is saying is that we should try to make our own judgments about the obstacles that we face in life. We should also resist conforming to societal expectations, as he believes only you can know what is best for you, and you should make your own decisions and take control of your life instead of letting society decide for you. This idea is echoed when he says "Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members" (Stuhr 28). He doesn't believe society has its members best interests as heart, and that only you can decide which way you want to direct your life, and how you should handle difficult situations. He believes that in order to truly be a man you should be a nonconformist. He also speaks alot about human nature as well as values, when he says "Good and bad are but names very readily transferable to that or this; the only right is what is after my constitution, the only wrong is what is against it" (Stuhr 28). Basically he is saying, that when it comes to one's moral responsibility you should be the sole judge of the difference between what is right and wrong. In Emerson's eyes you should be the one making moral judgments about issues, and if it feels right to you then it is, and you should be the only factor when makin a moral judgment. For Emerson, to conform to society is to lose your identity and ultimately lose yourself.
Emerson also says later on in the essay that "A foolish consistency is the hobglobin of little minds, adore by little statesmen and philosophers and divines" (Stuhr 30). This ties in with conforming to society, as being consistent is also keeping up with societal expectations. Emerson believes that being consistent is limiting yourself, as well as limiting your mental abilities. This also means that you are limiting your ability to flourish in the world as an intellectual, and expanding your mind and knowledge. He compares consistency to only concerning yourself with your shadow. Being consistent also has to do with being accepted and praised for your actions. Emerson doesn't believe that your actions should be consistent in order to "fit in", but it is better to be misunderstood and true to yourself than to be a false version of yourself in order to conform.
3) When considering Pierce's rejection of the Cartesian view of philosophy concerning "foundationalism", one must start with Descartes. Descartes sought out to eliminate all uncertainty throughout his meditations. He believed as all rationalists do that human knowledge can be attained through reason. Throughout the meditations he started off by denouncing everything he knew by stating that our senses are through which we receive information from the outside world, and our senses fail us. The unreliability of our senses as a valuable source of information, all that Descartes could account for is that he exists and he is a thinking thing. Throughout this method of doubt, he eventually came to the conclusion that something was true and right one you were absolutely certain about it. From a pragmatist's point of view, the method through which Descartes attained his information by doubting everything he knew was impractical. Pierce believed that our faculties would not lead us astray in discerning things in the outside world but that it was a reliable source from which humans could attain information. He believed that Descartes method of denouncing everything in the world was illogical, because there was nothing that existed that we could not be absolutely certain about. He also believed that it was not concrete to base knowledge on the mind. He believed that the mind was a "foundation" to build upon, but not the sole determining factor.
According to Pierce, phenomenology or "the phenomenological recovery of human experience" is really the study of humans and all the eccentricites that occur within the human mind. Pierce believes that simply observing human behaviour, as opposed to approaching things in a scientific method such as with biology, chemistry and physics, was in fact harder as humans were so versatile and unpredictable, whereas science tended to be somewhat more controlled. This means that observing human behaviour must be a continuous process in which people are constantly revising and consulting one another, as the human mind is never constant. Everything we deduce is a conscious act, and the only way to discern the truth about life is to be self-aware, active, technical and intricate in your observations and deductions.
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