http://www.livescience.com/52399-doomsday-revised-world-will-end-october-7.html
The above article discusses how on October 7, 2015 the world is (was) supposed to end. The ending of the world was a prediction made by now deceased preacher Harold Camping followers. Harold Camping originally predicted the world would end on October 21, 2011. However, some of his followers have recalculated his findings and conclude that the end of the word should've happened on October 7, 2015. Camping and his followers are not the first to predict the end of the world. A lot of religious groups have come up with different dates and years as to when the world was going to end or when God was going to come back and save the saved and banish to bad people to hell.
As I recall some of the other groups that have predicted a doomsday I couldn't help but think of Rousseau's claim that the arts and sciences are or have had negative effects on us. I also couldn't help but think of his idea that simple man is selfish and morally corrupt. To me, it seems like the expansion of science and discovery of artifacts such as the Mayan calendar as well as religion has created this whole idea of doomsday. However, the intent behind announcing a doomsday always seems to spread religious beliefs as well which makes me question whether or not the sciences have made people morally corrupt as far as spreading their belief and for personal gain. Also, I was reading another article where supposedly man has brought an HIV/AIDS medicine company and has raised the price to about $700 per a pill. Small things like these I wonder how Rousseau would feel about them. What do you guys think about people taking modern da advances in arts and sciences and twisting them for their own advantage?
I think that what Rousseau thinks that once man learns the arts and sciences he becomes selfish and morally corrupt is both true and false. This can be seen looking at the Mayan Calendar and the end of the world example noted. For some people they are trying to take advantage of others and make a profit off of them by selling them the idea that the world is ending and they must be prepared. This shows the negative side Rousseau was talking about. However, some of those people truly believe that the world is ending and are not trying to tell people to exploit them. In some ways people use the knowledge the arts and sciences give them for their own good, but in others ways they just become educated from it and do not use them in a mean of exploitation of others.
ReplyDeleteI agree Hyla. You have made me open my mind to his idea that some people who have doomsday predictions may actually be trying to let their predictions be heard because they sincerely believe in the them. I guess in this case it is beneficial but still it is not beneficial(arts and sciences) when people use it for selfish reasons such as just trying to spread their religion. However, is that a bad thing also trying to spread an idea you think to be right?
DeletePersonally, I don't see how expanding the arts and sciences has to do with making man more corrupt, especially when you think of how the positives of developing education in science far outweigh the negatives. However, I do agree with Rousseau that there will always be people who try and exploit others for their benefit. However, these people have always existed and will always continue to exist, no matter how influential arts and sciences were/are during those times.
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