The Tragic Flaw of the Human Mind11/9/2017 In Dan Ariely's Ted Talk, entitled "Are we in Control of our own Decisions?", the speaker explains that even though human beings are able to create incredible inventions (i.e., machines, cars, houses, computers, etcetera), our brains are not as evolutionized as we lead ourselves to believe. Our brains often fail to understand that there is always something trying to influence them. This trick often takes place in the form of options we are given in all aspects of everyday life. Ariely uses the example of three different pictures of men. In the first example, the audience is asked to choose between three men - an average man, a slightly more attractive man, and an uglier (yet slightly similar) version of the more attractive man. Ariely goes onto explain that because of the slightly less attractive version of the second man being used as one of the options, we cognitively believe that we should choose the more attractive version of the second man. To build upon this, the speaker gives us the same example, except the roles are reversed; there is the average man, the more attractive man, and then a slightly uglier version of the average man. Because our mind see the slightly uglier version of the average man, we are apt to believe that the right choice is the average man, because we justify that we are getting the better of the two versions of him. Ariely's speech can be connected to tragedy through the fact that our minds are created with a natural flaw, which is the fact that we constantly allow certain options to influence decisions we make in life. This results in our brains having a tragic flaw, which relates directly to the context of tragedy that we have been discussing in class lately. Overall, this speech has changed my understanding of tragedy, because I never thought about my mind as having a tragic flaw. Yet, after having watched the Ted Talk, I now completely agree with the idea that Ariely was explaining.
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Oedipus' Tragic Flaw11/5/2017 While reading Oedipus and the King aloud in class, I could see the prominent connection between tragedy and the story itself. The ironic ending - in which we discover that Oedipus has lived up to his tragic fate even though his mother had spent her entire life doing everything she could to avoid it - brought the sense of a tragic irony to the forefront as we read the story. The plot twist of the story (being that Oedipus had killed his father and then married his own mother) built on the tragedy as a whole. In regards to the recent online research I had done when we were asked to look up what tragedy was, I would say that this story fit the criteria perfectly. The definition of tragedy is an event causing great suffering, destruction, and distress, such as a serious accident, crime, or natural catastrophe. There is human suffering throughout the entire story; from the beginning, where the town is described as having an epidemic, to the end when Oedipus seals his own fate and is exiled, the plot fits the idea of tragedy perfectly. "Tragedy and the Common Man"11/5/2017 Arthur Miller's essay, entitled "Tragedy and the Common Man," is an argumentative piece in which Miller builds upon the idea that all humans love and appreciate tragedy. The idea that Miller is trying to prove wrong in this essay is the perspective that comes from hundreds of years ago in literature - the idea that tragedy was only for the noble-born. He also argues that well-known tragedies, such as the story of Oedipus the King, affect everybody. Throughout the essay, Miller explains the characteristics of stories that entail tragedy, such as attempts to "gain rightful positions" in society, or common "tragic flaws" that are in almost every tragic story. Points such as these become the base that he uses to build upon his argument. Overall, I would say that I agree with Miller's perspective - tragedy is a type of literature that is intended to be used and appreciated by everyone, not merely people who come from higher positions in society. The article itself confirms what I think in regards to why tragedy is significant, which is that many people are drawn to this type of literature due to how relative it can be to certain groups of readers depending on their experiences. Moreover, this article ultimately enhances why I think tragedy is important. A Kinder, Gentler Philosophy of Success"11/3/2017 In Alain de Botton's speech, he expresses that he believes that those who fail in this society deserve to have failed. His entire speech is centered around the idea that success is earned and deserved, just as failure is. In larger, more developed societies, the chances of failure are much higher, and therefore more crushing. This leads to considerably higher because people feel pressured to take responsibility all the time. However, he does not believe that failure is a representation of how lives as a whole. Moreover, de Botton explains that throughout history, people weren't viewed as being a loser. Rather, people just accepted that some went through unfortunate things because that was just how life worked. Today, however, we have this perspective that some people are "losers" because we have this idea that we now have more control over our lives than before. Overall, I was very interested in this Ted Talk, because it explained a viewpoint that I had not thought of before; his speech certainly presented a different idea about how we view people's situations, as well as how today's society is much different than that of previous years. "The Meaning of Tragedy"10/24/2017 I think that tragedy has to do with unfortunate events. Taking into account how it is used in everyday conversations, the idea of tragedy makes me think that the situation is having a negative effect on those who are involved or connected in some way. Words such as "mournful" and "somber" come to mind when I try to draw a connection to the meaning of tragedy. Moreover, I know that this is an element that has been widely used in countless pieces of literature for hundreds of years. After having done some online research regarding tragedy, I found that it is a form of drama that is almost always based on human suffering. Tragedy is derived from Classic Greek - the oldest surviving form of this form of literature is called Athenian tragedy. It had began as a type of theatrical dance. It was then encountered by the Roman empire when they had expanded into Greek territories. Over the hundreds of years following the Roman's discovery of the Greek's literature-based ways, the Renaissance era was then dominated by the arts during the Middle Ages. AuthorKennedy Griffin |