#humanitiescore

[eagerforeternalrest-blog]

Diomedes, Fist of Athena

At first glance, it may seem that Diomedes has no control over his actions when Athena intervenes with the war in book five of the Iliad. However, Diomedes is not Athena’s puppet, their intentions have merely aligned on this occasion. Therefore, I believe Diomedes does have agency in this passage, he is gladly accepting Athena’s assistance to arrive at a goal they share, destroying the Trojans and their allies.

At the very beginning of this passage Diomedes is confronted by Athena. She asks him why he and his men are not in the battle. Prior to this, Athena had given Diomedes command to not harm any of the gods in battle. He answers her question openly, “’I will tell you all, gladly. I’ll hide nothing. … It’s your command still ringing in my ears, forbidding me to fight the immortals head-on … Too well I know that Ares leads the charge’”(Homer, 5.941-951).  Diomedes is simply heeding Athena’s original command, he wants to please her because it will be much easier to defeat the Trojans with her help. In this case, we can also see that Athena does not approve of Diomedes’ choice to retreat from the battle and stand idle, by his actions upsetting her, it is obvious she does not have complete and total control over Diomedes.

Since Athena is upset with Diomedes’ decision to not fight Ares, in the following passage she physically helps Diomedes in the battle. She commands him to head straight for Ares, “’Up now! Lash your racing Horses at Ares first, … no shrinking away here’”(5.957-8), and jumps into Diomedes’ chariot to help him firsthand. “Athena levered Sthenelus out the back of the car. … springing aside as the goddess climbed aboard, blazing to fight beside the shining Diomedes.” She even “seized the reigns and whip” of the chariot and sent the horses charging for Ares (5.971-2). When the god and the warrior began their battle, Athena diverted Ares’ spear and forced Diomedes’ spear right into Ares’ gut(5.982-7). When Athena mentions to Diomedes “no shrinking away here” she is fearful that he may act out of cowardice, showing that she does not have dominion over Diomedes. To avoid this situation, she takes the reigns herself and thwarts Ares’ strike. The goddess makes it very hard for Diomedes to to deny her offers and commands, but through her language we can see that he does have a choice in how things play out.

Even though Athena commands Diomedes to act in a certain way, he still has the ability to act on his own accord, this is evident in the language she uses in her commands. Also, since Athena is having trouble changing the tide of battle indirectly she chooses to act directly, riding beside Diomedes and charging headfirst for Ares. This shows that she does not have control over Diomedes, but more so that she was feeling helpless in the battle unless she acted herself. Overall, Diomedes is not completely governed by Athena’s will, however their goals are nearly identical and because of this he will heed her commands.

[eagerforeternalrest-blog]

The Crux of Human Nature

Have you ever wondered why someone would do something so horrible? How about yourself, have you ever found yourself asking how you were capable of doing that? I’m not here to talk about loathing or even self-loathing, I’m here to help clear up the confusion. Studying the humanities can lead you to a better understanding of humanity itself.

Surprisingly, over the thousands of years that human beings have persisted on this planet, it has been found that many of the same drives and pressures back then affect us today. Society, love, power, lust, greed, pride, gluttony, these are all external and internal factors that will influence human behavior for the rest of their existence. By taking a look at the aspects of influence that alter our perspective we can only hope to understand the actions of others and help ourselves by trying to clear these pressures from our heads and think as clearly as possible. Studying the humanities, in this sense, is instrumentally valuable in two large ways.

Studying the humanities can make you a better individual. By looking at texts from far beyond our time, it teaches you to think from more than just your own perspective, it teaches you to look at things from many angles. You begin to consider how they felt or what they would’ve done. It also teaches you to be more just and rational with the decisions you make. You think less of yourself as the paramount being in life and see everyone as more of an equal. Selfishness dissipates from your conscious thought and you begin to value the idea of equality more so than before. Since you are human as well, you have a better understanding of yourself and the various pressures you face in daily life by studying those that effect others.

By understanding the pressures and drives affecting an individual, one can begin to predict their behavior or at the very least understand their actions after the fact. Instead of creating a nightmare of emotions caused by the confusion of an individuals actions, by understanding their motives and reasons for having those motives you can sleep much better at night. 

For example, lets use this train of thought on the attacks that took place on September 11, 2001. If we look at these attacks from a perspective of trying to understand the reasoning behind the involved individuals motives, we can save ourselves the confusion of why they did what they did and focus on how to prevent things like that from happening again. Many of the individuals, if not al,l were a part of a religious extremist group and knew very little other than this religion in their upbringing. Many of their friends and family are also a part of this group. This group breeds hate towards western civilization and love the civilization they are currently a part of, because they have known no other type of world. This group feels that death while doing a “righteous” act will grant them a direct route to paradise. With these pressures combined (society, poverty, anger, ideology, salvation, etc.) we can see how their judgement and perspectives have skewed them into acting in such a way. Without studying the humanities, it would be harder to see these pressures for what they are and one would be emotionally torn apart by confusion as well as the grief due to the events that occurred.

Overall, I feel that studying the humanities is extremely valuable and can help you in every day life by dealing with others and bettering yourself. What other study can help you so much in the understanding of human nature? Our lives revolve around it, we experience life through it, it would be a torment to go through life knowing so little about ourselves.

[warwithinhumanity]

What does a study of humanities mean to me? Why is humanistic study important or unimportant? How does war feature in this course of study?

Mankind has over the years developed a wide variety of different types of ways to interpret their surroundings. These interpretations vary in several different ways. The geographic aspects of this planet divided the human species causing them to form their own thoughts and opinions towards the world around them. Religious views and cultures were then formed around the interpretations they have formulated as a group. Studying the humanities means finding out about how human interactions are linked to their interpretations of their surroundings. 

It is important to learn about the humanities because it is essential to know about our past for as it is said "those unaware of their past are condemned to repeat it." It is also important to acknowledge the differences in our views within our species to prevent any types of conflicts to escalate into a war. Wars are usually formed because of a lack of agreement or because of another factor that may lead to a conflict. "All war is a symptom of man's failure as a thinking animal" for when they cannot come into agreement through an intellectual debate they resort to physical violence driven by instinctual emotions such as rage. "Animals have never had a war. Who are the real animals?" Humans have the ability to establish strategies and tactics making it a far worse outcome than any conflict between any other species of animals on this earth. Studying the humanities help to make connections and to get a better understanding of the thoughts that were going around in people's heads in certain periods of time. The past is sometimes is interwoven with the present and even more in the future, so it is critical compare the interpretations then with the interpretations now. It is practically in the name "HUMANities". Why would it not be important to study about own race?

WORK CITED

Izenberg, Oren. “The Iliad and the Meaning of the Humanities..” Humanities Core. University of California, Irvine. Irvine, CA. 6 October 2014. Class lecture.