Tuesday

The analysis of today’s readings reminded me essentially of how this class is run on a daily basis. Dostoyevesky seemed to be saying that whenever you introduce a concept that differs from what people already hold as true, you are inevitably going to receive backlash. This reminded me of how Mr. Shapiro leads his discussions, notably with Talia and Jon. The reason that he discusses with them so frequently is because of the fact that they are “strong nerved individuals” who obviously are steadfast in their beliefs. These people are the focus of the author’s discussion, because of the fact that they see things such a narrow point of view. He believes that if all “facts” are manmade, we have to regard them each with the same merit. The laws of mathematics, the laws of evolution, the idea of creationism, in the author’s mind, each hold the same value in terms of worthiness of discussion and consideration. I think that is why certain people in this class get so uncomfortable with the ideas that this author discusses, because they cannot fathom the idea that, in reality, some guy just said one day “that’s the way it is” to the belief that they run their life by, and it may not be the only way of looking at the world.