Skip to main content

Recovering the Fumble // Abigale Bell


Utopia - A place of ideal perfection especially in laws, government, and social conditions ("Utopia").

Don't we all have fantasies of a perfect world in our heads? Maybe it's just me, but I often picture what the world would be like if laws were perfect; if children were brought up in just the right way to become perfect adults; if poverty didn't exist. 

As I read Plato's Republic, I am struck by the detail with which Socrates and his colleagues devise a perfect civic system. They point out what they see as flaws in society and argue the best way to create a world with no flaws.

A friend describes to me, recently, one of his favorite pastimes; fantasy football. He explained to me how he chooses the best players for his team based on how they have played in the past and how he predicts their performance to be in the future. His goal is to choose players who will score the most points each week and ultimately have the best football season. 

To me, this is very similar to what I see in The Republic. Socrates and the others are putting together all the best "players" or components of civilization for the perfect city. They draft a team; choosing the best methods of rearing young citizens. Socrates is starting from scratch; creating what he envisions as the flawless city where everything is as it should be. The flaw in this thinking may be that as much as we may strive for perfection in life, we can never fully attain this kind of utopia. 

We live in a fallen world. Sin made a perfect life impossible. In the beginning, the best fantasy football team was a reality. Humans lived in the garden of Eden where every need was provided for. There was no hunger; no struggle. The world was in perfect harmony until sin entered the picture. Now we live in a world that is separated from God, separated from any chance at perfect harmony except through Jesus Christ. Any attempt to regain the utopia that was Eden is lost until Jesus returns.

The fact that a perfect society is unattainable does not stop us from wanting it. We are always searching for ways to make life better. This is no different for Socrates. What makes the perfect city? For Socrates, the important things were evident. I wonder, if I were able to create my perfect world, what I would include? How would I build my fantasy team?

"Utopia." Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/utopia. Accessed 28 Sep. 2020.

Commented on Haley's and Braylan's posts.

Comments

  1. Logan TurnerSeptember 28, 2020 at 9:48 PM

    I never thought to describe The Republic with an analogy comparing it to a fantasy football team, but somehow, the analogy works. By cherry-picking only what he wanted, Socrates was just like someone choosing players. The problem though, is that fantasy football ignores how this fantasy team would actually act. For example, what if one of the players doesn't like another? This would impact the performance of the team as a whole if this theoretical team were made real. I believe that is something that Socrates is falling victim to.

    ReplyDelete
  2. abbieheddenSeptember 28, 2020 at 10:37 PM

    In the theme of fantasy football, it's interesting to think about the fact that there are innumerable different teams created by individuals, and yet they all have their own standards and reasons for why theirs is the "best one". I bet that if everyone described their perfect world, it would be just like those different teams - everyone has one, they're all different, but everyone claims that theirs is the best. This is why I'm so glad that Heaven wasn't made by humans!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Word Painting in Vesta—Lily Caswell

  Word painting in Weelkes’s As Vesta Was from Latmos Hill Descending is quite interesting. And because that is a really long title, I’m calling it Vesta from now on. Word painting is basically when the melody matches up with the lyrics. So in Vesta, when it says “ascending” and “descending”, there are obviously scales going up and down. The madrigal was written for six voices to sing unaccompanied, so when they start to come together, it matches with the lyrics; so if the lyric says “two by two”, there are only two voices; “three by three” there is another voice added, and so forth. All the parts combine in exclamation before Vesta before it is left “all alone” to the highest soprano. All the way to the end of the piece, word painting continues when shouts of “Long live fair Oriana” with the bass sustaining long notes. Word painting in and of itself is a highly interesting topic because a musician takes the words of a poem or a sonnet and writes a melody line that pertains to cer...
4 comments
Read more

Honor and Gain; Which Do You Seek?

 Pericles.... thanks? I can only imagine that's what the family and friends were thinking after they heard his historic funeral speech honoring the departed. What do I mean? Well, Pericles briefly mentions the men who have fallen at the beginning of his speech, but then goes on to discuss how great Athens is, and how the contributions the city has made to the world are unmatched.. why? I understand that he is also commending the citizens of Athens and empowering them to continue to make their city greater, but I thought this was supposed to be a funeral speech about dead war heroes, not about Athens. Another thing I found interesting is what Pericles said on page five about honor: "For it is only the love of honour that never grows old; and honour it is, not gain, as some would have it, that rejoices the heart of age and helplessness" (Thucydides, page 5). Have you ever watched a show or movie, or read a book, about a duel between two men? There is always an unspoken agre...
Post a Comment
Read more

Aristotle Might Not Like Me...Or Jesus//Haylee Lynd

      Aristotle says that the man who does not get angry at the things he should be angry at "is thought unlikely to defend himself; and to endure being insulted and put up with insult to one's friends is slavish" (Aristotle 41). While he states that passivity is preferred to excessive anger, he still gives great criticism to it.  In contrast to Aristotle, the man who Christians believe to be the most just is Jesus who states in Matthew 5:39-40, "...do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well." Essentially, arguing that one is not to respond in anger when insulted or hurt, to not defend one's self. Most individual's are unable to achieve this. Our natural instinct is to defend ourselves, especially in physical cases. However, Christians strive to be like Jesus in this way. I would also argue that it is a very admirable wa...
2 comments
Read more