macro level riddles involve the big questions that emerge from the interaction of large groups or even nations.
micro level riddles involves smaller puzzles of everyday life arising from interpersonal dynamics and small group behavior.
Monday, September 24, 2007
riddles- provide questions from the different types of riddles discussed in class. Ask a riddle of your own from each of the different types?
riddles -is a statement or question having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as a puzzle to be solved. Riddles are of two types: enigmas, which are problems generally expressed in metaphorical or allegorical language that require ingenuity and careful thinking for their solution, and conundrums, which are questions relying for their effects on punning in either the question or the answer.
Examples - why do people fell in love ?
why do some people hate somebody?
why do people believe in God ?
Examples - why do people fell in love ?
why do some people hate somebody?
why do people believe in God ?
3 sociologists:what were they trying to achieve in the study of sociology?
- Louis Pierre Althusser (Pronunciation: altuˡseʁ) (October 16, 1918 – October 22, 1990) was a Marxist philosopher. He was born in Algeria and studied at the prestigious École Normale Supérieure in Paris, where he eventually became Professor of Philosophy. He was a lifelong member and sometimes strong critic of the French Communist Party. His arguments and theses were set against the threats that he saw attacking the theoretical foundations of Marxism. These included both the influence of empiricism on Marxist theory, and humanist and reformist socialist orientations which manifested as divisions in the European Communist Parties, as well as the problem of the 'cult of personality' and of ideology itself. Althusser is commonly referred to as a Structural Marxist, although his relationship to other schools of French structuralism is not a simple affiliation and he is critical of many aspects of structuralism.
- Max Horkheimer (February 14, 1895 – July 7, 1973) was a German philosopher and sociologist, a founder and guiding thinker of the Frankfurt School/critical theory.Eclipse of Reason
Horkheimer's book, Eclipse of Reason, deals with the concept of reason within the history of Western philosophy. Horkheimer defines true reason as rationality. He details the difference between objective and subjective reason and states that we have moved from objective to subjective. Objective reason deals with universal truths that dictate that an action is either right or wrong. Subjective reason takes into account the situation and social norms. Actions that produce the best situation for the individual are "reasonable" according to subjective reason. The movement from one type of reason to the other occurred when thought could no longer accommodate these objective truths or when it judged them to be delusions. Under subjective reason, concepts lose their meaning. All concepts must be strictly functional to be reasonable. Because subjective reason rules, the ideals of a society, for example democratic ideals, become dependent on the "interests" of the people instead of being dependent on objective truths.
Writing in 1946, Horkheimer was strongly influenced by the Nazi legacy in Germany. He outlined how the Nazis had been able to make their agenda appear "reasonable", but also issued a warning about the possibility of this happening again. Horkheimer believed that the ills of modern society are caused by misunderstanding of reason: if people use true reason to critique their societies, they will be able to identify and solve their problems. - Maximilian Carl Emil Weber (IPA: [maks ˈveːbɐ]) (April 21, 1864 – June 14, 1920) was a German political economist and sociologist who is considered one of the founders of the modern study of sociology and public administration. He began his career at the University of Berlin, and later worked at Freiburg University, University of Heidelberg, University of Vienna and University of Munich. He was influential in contemporary German politics, being an advisor to Germany's negotiators at the Treaty of Versailles and to the commission charged with drafting the Weimar Constitution.
His major works[1] deal with rationalisation in sociology of religion and government, but he also contributed much in the field of economics. His most famous work is his essay The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, which began his work in the sociology of religion. In this work, Weber argued that religion was one of the non-exclusive reasons for the different ways the cultures of the Occident and the Orient have developed, and stressed importance of particular characteristics of ascetic Protestantism which led to the development of capitalism, bureaucracy and the rational-legal state in the West. In another major work, Politics as a Vocation, Weber defined the state as an entity which claims a monopoly on the legitimate use of physical force, a definition that became pivotal to the study of modern Western political science. His most known contributions are often referred to as the 'Weber Thesis'.
Power VS Authority? What is the difference?
Power can be seen as various forms of constraint on human action, but also as that which makes action possible, although in a limited scope. Much of this debate is related to the works of the French philosopher Michel Foucault (1926-1984), who, following the Italian political philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527), sees power as "a complex strategic situation in a given society [social setting]". Being deeply structural, his concept involves both constraint and enablement. For a purely enabling (and voluntaristic) concept of power see the works of Anthony Giddens.
The imposition need not involve coercion (force or threat of force). Thus "power" in the sociological sense subsumes both physical power and political power, including many of the types listed at power. In some ways it more closely resembles what everyday English-speakers call "influence", although some authors (like D. Wrong) make a sharp distinction between influence as a more general concept, and power as intended influence.
More generally, one could define "power" as the more or less unilateral ability (real or perceived) or potential to bring about significant change, usually in people’s lives, through the actions of oneself or of others.
The exercise of power seems endemic to humans as social and gregarious beings.
"The phenomena called authority is at once more ancient and more fundamental than the phenomena called state; the natural ascendancy of some men over others is the principle of all human organizations and all human advances."Bertrand de Jouvenel
In politics, authority (Latin auctoritas, used in Roman law as opposed to potestas and imperium) is often used interchangeably with the term "power". However, their meanings differ. "Power" refers to the ability to achieve certain ends, 'authority' refers to the legitimacy, justification and right to exercise that power. For example whilst a mob has the power to punish a criminal, such as through lynching, only the courts have the authority to order capital punishment.
Since the emergence of social sciences, authority has been a subject of research in a variety of empirical settings; the family (parental authority), small groups (informal authority of leadership), intermediate organizations such as schools, churches, armies,industrial and bureaucracies (organizational and bureaucratic authority) and society wide or inclusive organizations ranging from the most primitive tribal society to the modern nation-state and intermediate organization (political authority).
The jurisdiction of political authority, the location of sovereignty, the balancing of freedom and authority, the requirements of political obligations have been core questions for political philosophers from Plato and Aristotle to the present.
The imposition need not involve coercion (force or threat of force). Thus "power" in the sociological sense subsumes both physical power and political power, including many of the types listed at power. In some ways it more closely resembles what everyday English-speakers call "influence", although some authors (like D. Wrong) make a sharp distinction between influence as a more general concept, and power as intended influence.
More generally, one could define "power" as the more or less unilateral ability (real or perceived) or potential to bring about significant change, usually in people’s lives, through the actions of oneself or of others.
The exercise of power seems endemic to humans as social and gregarious beings.
"The phenomena called authority is at once more ancient and more fundamental than the phenomena called state; the natural ascendancy of some men over others is the principle of all human organizations and all human advances."Bertrand de Jouvenel
In politics, authority (Latin auctoritas, used in Roman law as opposed to potestas and imperium) is often used interchangeably with the term "power". However, their meanings differ. "Power" refers to the ability to achieve certain ends, 'authority' refers to the legitimacy, justification and right to exercise that power. For example whilst a mob has the power to punish a criminal, such as through lynching, only the courts have the authority to order capital punishment.
Since the emergence of social sciences, authority has been a subject of research in a variety of empirical settings; the family (parental authority), small groups (informal authority of leadership), intermediate organizations such as schools, churches, armies,industrial and bureaucracies (organizational and bureaucratic authority) and society wide or inclusive organizations ranging from the most primitive tribal society to the modern nation-state and intermediate organization (political authority).
The jurisdiction of political authority, the location of sovereignty, the balancing of freedom and authority, the requirements of political obligations have been core questions for political philosophers from Plato and Aristotle to the present.
What is sociology? Why do we study sociology?
Sociology is the study of societies and the way that they shape people's behaviour; beliefs, and identity... Probably the most important thing about sociology is that it enables us to make sense of the rapidly changing world that we live in. Some of the main changes that we have seen recently in Britain have been:
-an economic transformation, as old industries have declined and service occupations have rapidly expanded
-changes in family life as more people have begun to live on their own, more women have found employment in paid work, and divorce rates have continued to rise
-the transformation of work by information technology and the spread of more flexible and less secure forms of part-time and temporary work
-increasing inequalities as more people have experienced poverty and exclusion, and the gap has widened between rich and poor...
Perhaps most fundamentally of all, sociology enables us to understand ourselves. The way that we think, behave, and feel, indeed our very sense of identity, is socially produced. People often speak of human nature as though deep within us there lies some reservoir of natural impulses that determine the way that we behave. There is, however, no such thing as human nature, for the way that we think, behave, and feel is shaped by what sociologists call the process of socialization. This provides us with language, gives us our values and beliefs, establishes our identity, and so turns us into members of society.
-an economic transformation, as old industries have declined and service occupations have rapidly expanded
-changes in family life as more people have begun to live on their own, more women have found employment in paid work, and divorce rates have continued to rise
-the transformation of work by information technology and the spread of more flexible and less secure forms of part-time and temporary work
-increasing inequalities as more people have experienced poverty and exclusion, and the gap has widened between rich and poor...
Perhaps most fundamentally of all, sociology enables us to understand ourselves. The way that we think, behave, and feel, indeed our very sense of identity, is socially produced. People often speak of human nature as though deep within us there lies some reservoir of natural impulses that determine the way that we behave. There is, however, no such thing as human nature, for the way that we think, behave, and feel is shaped by what sociologists call the process of socialization. This provides us with language, gives us our values and beliefs, establishes our identity, and so turns us into members of society.
what is society? Why do we have society?
A society is a grouping of individuals, which is characterized by common interests and may have distinctive culture and institutions. In a society, members can be from a different ethnic group. A "Society" may refer to a particular people, such as the Nuer, to a nation state, such as Switzerland, or to a broader cultural group, such as a Western society. Society can also refer to an organized group of people associated together for religious, benevolent, cultural, scientific, political, patriotic, or other purposes.
Peoples of many nations united by common political and cultural traditions, beliefs, or values are sometimes also said to be a society (such as Judeo-Christian, Eastern, and Western). When used in this context, the term is employed as a means of contrasting two or more "societies" whose members represent alternative conflicting and competing worldviews
Peoples of many nations united by common political and cultural traditions, beliefs, or values are sometimes also said to be a society (such as Judeo-Christian, Eastern, and Western). When used in this context, the term is employed as a means of contrasting two or more "societies" whose members represent alternative conflicting and competing worldviews
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