Article 2- Change is Everchanging

            Change is a word that is very laxly used in everyday life; but what is the true definition of the word “change”?  The word change is a verb that means “something that is made different, or replaced”.  Every being, a human, an animal, or even a plant, goes through a change sometime during its life.  Change can be used to address a child forming into a young adult over a period of time, or a small caterpillar transforming into a beautiful butterfly.  Although change can be a helpful and valuable occurrence, it can also be very detrimental.  Change can cause arguments, disagreements, conflicts, feuds, etc. between living beings.  This leads to the question, “Is ‘change’ a good thing or a bad thing?”

            There are two kinds of change that were previously mentioned, good change and bad change.  When something changes, it is either for the better or for the worse.  Usually when something changes for the better, it initially starts out as a problem.  When something changes for the worse, it is usually unintentional, and just seems to fall to pieces.  Whether it is good or bad, change cannot fully satisfy every person, place, or thing involved.

            A modern day example of change that cannot please all parties involved would be Barack Obama’s presidential campaign and his campaign slogan, “Change for America.”  Before he became president, Republican, George W. Bush was the President of the United States.  Barack Obama campaigned and believed that he could help change America for the better.  The relentless promotion of Obama’s “Change” campaign won him the duty as the President of the United States of America.  Of course this victory was voted on by the people of the United States.  The registered Democratic Party supporters voted for Obama, and the registered Republican Party supporters voted for his opponent, John McCain.  When Obama was elected president, this did not satisfy the Republican Party because their representative was defeated. 

Change is an overall good phenomenon.  When someone says the word change, what do you think of?  When some sort of change is called for, it is to make an enhancement or an improvement.  Not a single being or thing would make a change to be worse than what they already were in the first place.  Change always occurs to solve a previous hindrance.  If an entity made no mistakes and was so superior, would there be a need to change?

            It is not the actual change that causes concern, but rather, it is the effect of the change. Even if the change is thought about before making the decision to follow through with it, the outcome is undetermined until the change is put into effect.  Making a change can be the cause of many different outcomes, sometimes good and bad.

            Good change can take place from a previous wrong-doing or mistake.  For example, if you get a bad grade on a test, you will change your study habits, so next time you will make sure you receive a better grade.  Good change customarily causes all parties involved to be content and pleased with another’s decision to change.  Good change can bring people, places, or things closer together as well.  Going back to the example, if you improve your grade from the previous test, it makes your parents at ease knowing that you are improving.

            Making a change for the better may seem like the right thing to do at the time, but you may regret that decision in the long run.  For example, you decide to change the face wash that you are currently using because it is causing your skin to become dry and flaky.  You purchase a new face wash that claims that it will make your skin look healthy and refreshed in just one week.  You begin using the new product, and it makes your skin look healthy and refreshed just like the box said it would; no more dryness!  However, on the seventh day, your face begins to breakout and become filled with acne.  This change was appropriate for the time being but only lasted for a brief period of time.

            Change even occurred in the Neolithic period, too!  In the Early Bronze Age, approximately 3000 B.C., there was a culture at the Indus Valley, called the Harrapan Civilzation.  They were based in two major cities in modern-day Pakistan called Harrapa and Monhenjo-Daro.  The area where the Harrapans resided was occupied in full by deserts and hills, with one river running through the center.  The coasts of the river were where the ancient cities were formed for obvious reasons.  It was a simple route for the necessities of everyday human life; bathing, eating, and drinking.  Along the river, the Harrapans created city-wide public sewer facilities.  This allowed people of the civilization to use the bathroom in some form of toilet instead of going in the river, their main source of water, or on the fields, which they used for agricultural purposes.  The Harrapans were also very talented in agricultural work because they had time to focus on it, for their food and shelter were already secured.  The intelligence of the Harrapans caused the establishment of the toilet system, which is still in use during modern times.  What if it wasn’t for the Harrapans’ invention of the toilet?  We would still be using the land to use the bathroom.  Their invention changed the way we live today.  Since the Early Bronze Age, toilets have been modernized, and more inventions have been made based off the original creation of the toilet.

            The simple, six-letter word, change, can be the initial step in creating a plethora of new creations.  Many things have changed over time, just like the toilet.  Both Neolithic and modern day inventions have been enhanced because of change.  As inventors continue to embark on new ideas, they will continue to beneficially change the way things are made.  A change is always made not to worsen matter, but to improve and enrich prior discoveries.
"LongstoneIsleofWigh." Wikimedia Commons. Web. 28 Jan 2010. <http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LongstoneIsleofWight2.jpg>.

Impromptu Invention!

2. You accidentally discover an invention that can immediately help millions of people; but only if you act immediately. On the other hand, if you just wait three months, you can secure a patent and get rich. Which do you choose and why?

I would choose to accidently discover an invention that can immediately help millions of people.  I would not mind having to act immediately because it is much better than waiting for three months for something that can only benefit me.  I would choose the first option because I would be helping others and not just myself.  I could still benefit from this decision because if my invention was successful enough, I could make a profit off of it as well.

Ask Employees How to Fix It. Web. 27 Jan 2010. <http://bizgov.wordpress.com/2009/09/17/ask-employees-how-to-fix-it/>.

Article 1- Who Says Hegelian?

In order to pass a test, you must know the material.  In order to know the material, you must study.  In order to study, you must have notes to study from.  In order to have notes to study from, you must pay attention in class.  Does there appear to be a sequence in the happenings of these events?  What if you removed one of these sequences in the problem?  Let us say you did not have the material to study from; you would not pass the test.  For an event to occur, a previous, or past, event must happen to trigger the forthcoming and so on.  The same is true in history.  History is a collection of past events.  There are four ways that can be used to describe history; cyclic, vortex, linear, and the Hegelian Theory. 

The Hegelian Theory was established by a German philosopher named Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel.  It is clearly the most valuable way o explain how the events in history occurred.  The Hegelian Theory states that events happen in order due to the following formula, thesis + antithesis = synthesis.  In simpler terms, a happening leads to a later happening which leads to an even later happening that solves the initial issue and creates a new problem.  To put the Hegelian Theory into simplest terms, it is cause and effect.  Georg Hegel said, “The thesis is an intellectual proposition.  The antithesis is simply the negation of the thesis, a reaction to the proposition.  The synthesis solves the conflict between the thesis and antithesis by reconciling their common truths, and forming a new proposition.”  Another example of the Hegelian Theory would be if little Timmy fell off his bike.  Timmy then got a scrape on his knee.  To make the scrape feel better, his mother put Neosporin on it.  The outcome is that Timmy’s knee feels better, but he has a sudden allergic reaction to the ointment.  Now we not only have a solution, but we also have another issue.

The Civil War can be used as a prime historical example to explain the Hegelian Theory.  When Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States, then referred to as the Union, the South seceded from the rest of the United States, forming the Confederate States of America.  Tons of different battles took place in the United States due to the secession of the South.  As a result of these events, President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.  Is there a pattern seen in these events?  The election of President Lincoln fueled the South to secede from the Union.  The secession of the Confederates caused a war to break out between them and the Union.  The war caused the Union President, Abraham Lincoln, to be shot and killed as the solution.  The assassination of President Lincoln also brought about a new problem, who would catch the man that shot the Union’s president?

The Hegelian Theory, compared to history being cyclic, makes much more sense.  When history is stated as “cyclic”, it means that history moves in cycles, like reincarnation or the seasons.  If history was cyclical, where did it begin?  Was there an event that began history?  If anyone even attempted to answer these questions, where would they begin?  According to the cyclical theory, events take place in cycles.  Events in history would have to repeat themselves exactly if the cyclical analysis was true.  However, The Hegelian Theory has a slight movement of cyclical motion if put into perspective.  Two problems equal one solution that causes another problem.  That cycle continues and supports the Hegelian Theory.  The Hegelian Theory is still a more valuable choice then than the cyclical theory when trying to describe history because it says that events need preceding events to trigger the later event to solve the problem.  This may seem confusing, but if this theory is put into simpler terms, it makes much more sense than saying that history is a cycle.

The theory that says history occurring in a vortex states that history is always fluctuating, it becomes huge and then falls.  If this statement was true, events in history would have to end in a disallowing manor.  Not all events conclude in a negative way.  Positive events can come out of positive events, and negative events can come out of negative events.  History doesn’t necessarily always have to end in a negative way.  The Hegelian Theory is a better way to explain history compared to the vortex theory because it states that at the end of each problem, there is a solution; contrary to the vortex theory which says that there is never a solution.

The last theory that is somewhat comparable to the Hegelian Theory is the theory that states that history is linear, meaning that it is shown by a timeline, in chronological order.  These two theories are very similar, but differ slightly.  They are corresponding because they both follow some sort of timeline and cause and effect.  The Hegelian Theory and the linear theory both say you need a previous event in order for another one to happen.  They both represent the method of using cause and effect.  However, the linear theory does not give a solution to any problem; it just keeps going in a straight line until the end of time.  The thesis of the Hegelian Theory states the problem, the antithesis adds to the problem, and the synthesis solves it, and creates a new problem, for it to keep repeating.

The Hegelian Theory is the easiest and most effective way of putting events in history into a sequence.  The antithesis feeds off of the thesis, and the synthesis binds the two problems together into a solution and a completely different problem.  There is no “right” or “wrong” answer when explaining which theory you think is the most accurate to describe history.  It is possible for history to be examined as cyclic, vortex, linear, and into the perspective of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel.  However, the most valuable, ideal, and helpful is the Hegelian Theory.

"Thesis, antithesis, synthesis." Wikipedia. 24 Jan 2010. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.,           Web. 27 Jan 2010.     <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thesis,_antithesis,_synthesis>.

The Significance of...

Megaliths
Organized groups assembled monumental stone burials in northwestern Europe.  The one at Île Longue, for example, built ca. 4100 B.C., incorporates a chamber with a corbeled dome and a passage faced with huge slabs.  Megaliths in western Europe symbolized the structure of organized groups.  The respected the dead by building burial tombs.


Agriculture
Wheat and barley, a common Eastern crop, was westernized in 5500 B.C.  Farmers cleared forests to make way for larger fields and honor the cattle with a ritual burial.  The ox-drwan plow began to change the face of agriculture.  The beginning of agriculture is important because it showed that the civilizations settled and were no longer nomads.  They settled and began to make a living for themselves by farming and domesticating animals.


"Western and Central Europe, 8000–2000 B.C.."Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. 2009. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Web. 25 Jan 2010. <http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/?period=02&region=euw>.

History is...

• Linear- shown by timeline; chronological order
• Cyclic- moves in cycles; example: reincarnation, seasons
• Vortex- constant fluctuation; becomes huge, and then falls
• Hegelian Theory of History
• Thesis + Antithesis = Synthesis

I

Event 1: John, strongest kid in class, doesn't tie his shoes.

Event 2: John picks on group of kids, bullying them.

Event 3: = John chases the kids, but slips out of his shoe.

II

Event 1: John sprains his ankle+

Event 2: John gets jumped on the way home from school.

Event 3: John goes to the hospital.

III

Event 1: John has a broken arm+

Event 2: John needs surgery.

Event 3: John's family doesn't have enough money for the surgery.

I believe that the Hegelian Theory best explains history because an event has to cause the next event to happen.  The events of the past fuel events for the present and future.  In history, if you removed one event that took place, the outcome of the forthcoming could be completely different and so on.  For example, the election of Abraham Lincoln triggered the Civil War, and the Civil War triggered the Reconstruction of the south.  The Reconstruction of the South brought about a new conflict of slavery.  Everything happens for a reason because of something done in the past.

"Pompeii Garden of the Fugitives." Wikimedia Commons. Web. 21 Jan 2010.

          <http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pompeii_Garden_of_the_Fugitives_ 02.jpg>.

History

• Linear- shown by timeline; chronological order
• Cyclic- moves in cycles; example: reincarnation, seasons
• Vortex- constant fluctuation; becomes huge, and then falls
• Hegelian Theory of History
• Thesis + Antithesis = Synthesis

I

Event 1: John, strongest kid in class, doesn't tie his shoes.

Event 2: John picks on group of kids, bullying them.

Event 3: = John chases the kids, but slips out of his shoe.

II

Event 1: John sprains his ankle+

Event 2: John gets jumped on the way home from school.

Event 3: John goes to the hospital.

III

Event 1: John has a broken arm+

Event 2: John needs surgery.

Event 3: John's family doesn't have enough money for the surgery.