Response to Abby

Abby stated that she believes human life happened randomly by chance and we serve no purpose.  I'm not going to say that I believe God put us here for a purpose, but I don't believe our existence is an accident.  Abby says "genes happened to mutate in such a way that ultimately lead to the evolution of a human being".  Just because you believe in evolution doesn't mean you can't also believe in creationism.  I agree that we could have started out as simple one-celled organisms and evolved into the complex beings we are today.  But where did those one celled organisms come from?  Evolution is an amazing thing but it can't create something out of nothing.  Even the most basic elements of the world had to have come from somewhere.  We can only break things down to a certain point before you can't go any further.  This is why I don't think our existence is an accident.  In my mind, the world is too harmonic and balanced for it to be a mere coincidence.  Whether you believe in the traditional idea of "God" or just some higher form of power is irrelevant; but I find it hard to deny that there is something greater than us.  However, my knowledge about both science and religion is pretty limited, so if anyone has any insight on the subject, I would like to hear it.

The Temperaments of Instruments

This post was inspired by "The Musical Temperament" by Anthony E. Kemp, which is what I read for my book review.  Today in class I mentioned that people tend to judge musicians based on their instrument.  For example, string players were described by their fellow musicians as serious and introverted.  Woodwind players were described as introverted, radical and imaginative and brass players were describes as social but having low levels of intelligence and discipline.  When I first read this, I thought it was ridiculous; however, I must admit that I have, at times,  made similar judgements about musicians I know.  Why do we associate certain qualities with certain instruments?

For one thing, the actual sound of the instrument has it's own temperament.  Drums are loud and disruptive; flutes are soft and delicate.  These are just two examples of the many assumptions people make about musicians based on their instruments.  But the more interesting question here is, does the musician take on certain qualities because of their instrument?  Does a drummer start acting louder and more disruptive simply because of his or her instrument?  Perhaps we inherit the temperament of our instrument.  I feel that this could justify the use of music in psychological therapy.  If someone is trying to learn to be more assertive in social situations, then maybe they can learn to express their emotions in a dominating way through a more dominating instrument such as the drums, trumpet, or saxophone.  These three instruments are all assumed to be typically male instruments.  I believe that this also implies that an instrument belongs to a sepcific gender category.

It is clear that our society differentiates instruments by gender; males typically play the  drums, saxophone or trumpet and females typically play the flute, clarinet, or violin.  Firstly, the fact that something as trivial as instruments are placed in gender categories is absurd (not that I think instruments are trivial.  I clearly think they are very important, but in relation to gender they have no significant value).  Secondly, I find it interesting that all of the female instruments are, for the most part, softer and meeker, while the male instruments are louder and stronger.  This mirrors our society's views on gender.  The idea that females play certain instruments and males play others is not an innocent coincidence.  It is just another aspect of our world that reinforces the dominate patriarchal society.  

Instruments say more about their owner and their owner's place in society than we give them credit for.  They are not simply the objects musicians use to make music.  After reading The Musical Temperament, and drawing my own conclusions from it, I have to agree with Davies that an instrument is an extension of the person playing it.  Our society's views on individual instruments strengthens stereotypes and the categorization of certain people.

Question:  Can other inanimate objects have their own temperament?  If not, than why can instruments?

 

Response to Amy (Murder)

This is a response to Amy Rosvally's blog.  She asked, "If a government official were to kill someone during a torture session, would it be considered murder?".  My answer is yes.  I am disregarding what the law states in my answer because the law is not always right and I believe the law ought to be challenged at times.  

All intentional killing is immoral.  This includes killing during torture, war, the death penalty or abortion.  Our laws make exceptions for a handful of situations, which just makes the issue more unclear.  You can't individually judge specific situations when it comes to killing another person- you either allow it or you don't.  

I stated that all intentional killing is immoral, but how can we determine what is intentional and what is unintentional?  This also makes the issue very unclear when it should be black and white.  If a drunk driver kills someone in a car accident, they weren't intending to kill anyone, but many people treat this situation as if it were just as bad as intended murder, because the drunk driver was irresponsible.  So, our society demands that people take precaution against accidentally killing people.  

Our laws regarding murder are flawed because we allow too much leeway.  Plenty of people literally get away with murder due to supposed lack of intent, self defense, or insanity.  I'm not arguing that these are never legitimate justifications, but I feel that they are overused.  Also, our society doesn't view some intentional killing as murder, such as killing during war.  I think people need to start looking at these situations objectively to determine whether or not it is moral to kill innocent people simply because we are at war with their country.

Question:  Is killing an animal murder?