Some questions to think about:
- The writing in the Inner Classic is more like poetry than prose. How does this style and arrangement enhance the argument?
- The Inner Classic (a huge body of writing on human health) is from around the same time as the Hippocratic Corpus (a huge body of writing on human health) though they are from different parts of the world (China and Greece). What are the interesting similarities/differences in the arguments they make in the excerpts we have read?
- Adam Smith is commonly considered the father of economics. What does "economic health" mean in today's political conversations and debates? What does that definition have to do with the "health" of individual people?
The style of writing in the Inner Classic is more like poetry than prose. This seems to enhance the argument because it makes it ore interesting to read if its not like every other piece of writing. It can possibly grab attention and make the reader think deeper. The use of metaphors and unique word arrangements can also help the audience to maybe learn or relate the explanation and argument to something they are more familiar with. The way it was written was easy for me to read, and I enjoyed reading a poem for once rather than simple paragraphs. It added some creativity to learning about health, and adds authority to the writer if he can write a deeper, detailed poem-like piece in relation to health and medicine. The way he wrote it also accentuated the focus on balance and on what to do in each season to remain the healthiest. It helped the information to be separated properly, and I think it personally was interesting to read a poem and learn about his stance on health at the same time.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Abbey. The poetry made the piece easier to read. It wasn't wordy like other readings we have had so far. The words may not be common language, but they still present their own feelings and attitudes. When talking about the seasons it reminds me of the readings from Plato and Hippocrates how certain seasons or winds cause illness. In the Inner Classic, the author gives a solution to help with the illness and what the reader should so, such as resting more. The style is simple, just as the illness and cures are simple. The author gives advice about your mind to help you further. I feel as if the author has the "mind over body" expression running through their mind. The argument seems more convincing, too. Since the author is offering a serene place and painting a picture for the reader, there is not enough room to think otherwise. The reader is in for a ride with words from the poetry writing.
ReplyDeleteThe style of poetry Inner Classic makes it a better argument because it is short and concise. They have a stanza to make a case and support it with evidence, so it makes it easier for the audience to comprehend, for example, that the four season affect health rather than reading a whole paragraph on prose. I really liked that Inner Classic incorporated the seasons with the body because you were given examples of the relationship they have with one another. In addition, the audience was always introduced to each season in the same way, when to sleep and when to wake up, so like Amanda said, it had advice and a resolution. The arrangement was organized and structural because it began in order such as, spring, summer, autumn, and winter. The bodies were also described every season and how they each changed along with them. Whenever they talked about the ying and yang, and the qi, and I felt that they were trying to incorporate the soul as part of health. We have not talked much about it, but I think that the point they were trying to make is that a soul with peace leads to a body at peace which leads to good health.
ReplyDeleteI think that indicators of economic health include the unemployment rate, inflation, the national debt, GDP and number of other economic statistics that measure economic activity. While many of these can affect individual health, I will just focus on the effect of the unemployment rate. High unemployment rates mean that there is an above average number of citizens without jobs. There is certainly a wide range of individuals within this category, starting with the homeless and ending with successful, educated individuals who may have lost their jobs due to no real fault of their own. Either way, the mental toll that unemployment takes on an individual has to be significant. The stress of wondering where the next paycheck will come from and how one will feed themselves or their families is a burden that can only bruise one's psyche. As we discussed in class, a healthy individual is not only physically fit but must also be very mentally fit. When the economy is in a recession and unemployment rates are high that means more and more individuals are struggling to make a living. The overall health of these individuals is undoubtedly suffering to due to mental reasons alone. Simply focusing on the mental effects of unemployment, I think one can draw a rather direct correlation between economic health and individual health.
ReplyDeleteWhile ancient Greek medicine and ancient Chinese medicine are both influential and have many similarities, I feel the Chinese counterpart goes into a whole deeper level with nature and balance than does Greece's. Hippocrates talks about the four humors and how the north and south winds affects one body, but to me the concept of Ki or Chi as a life force that directs everything that your body does is a more complex concept that the Greeks lack. The Chinese have developed their entire medicine around increasing or maintaining their chi, and this includes herbal medicine, acupuncture, qiqong, etc. Humorism can be seen as the concept to Greek medicine, but when compared to chi, it is not as fundamental or as strong. Chi is the abstract concept that involves how every living beings can move and function. It is the energy of the living and of the universe.
ReplyDelete"Economic Health" is a huge topic in today's political conversations and includes indicators such as government spending, GDP, inflation, interest rates, the unemployment rate, and international trade. Like Jim does above, I will focus on the effects of the unemployment rate on individual health. As Jim points out the mental stresses of unemployment, I would like to bring up the effects of unemployment on a person's physical health. The inability to find or hold a job is the reason many Americans fall into poverty. The often poor living conditions, malnutrition, and poor access to health care for people in poverty can lead to disease. There are many studies that have been done that link poverty to obesity and obesity-related diseases like type II diabetes in America. People in poverty don't have much money to spend on food and have to choose foods that are convenient and cheap. In the food industry these cheap and convenient foods are often unhealthy and can be considered considered “junk” foods. The link between poverty and disease is one huge way that economic health can affect individual health.
ReplyDeleteI think the poetry style of the "Inner Classic" is effective because it is different. It is striking to hear an argument written poetically and keeps the reader's attention. I also thought that the rhyming made the subject seem more sacred. The author is talking about the body in such a beautiful way it makes the reader interested in his point of view.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading the excerpt from Inner Classic, I kept thinking of Buddhism and the concept of Nirvana, a state of total peace and one with everything. I don't know too much on the subject, so I may be misguided on the meaning. I liked the Inner Classic reading because it was an easier read than the others and had footnotes to help explain things, just made it better for me to understand. It sounded more like a guide for a stress-free lifestyle, so I got that it was being stress-free = healthy individual.
ReplyDeleteA point that Smith makes in the introduction to "Weatlth of Nations" is that the health of individual people depends on the economic health of the nation to which they belong
ReplyDelete. The economic health of a nation is determined by what we call GDP per capita, which is the GDP divided by population size. Smith first communicates this idea in I.I.2. The economic health of a nation is not given by GDP, the "annual labour" as Smith calls it.
In Smith’s “Introduction and Plan of the Work” the major concept would be the issue of Employment or unemployment and the affect it has on the many nations. I found section I.I.4 of this piece to be more interesting than the rest. In this section the author compares laboring people of a savage nation and that of a civilized nation. In a savage nation, every able-bodied person will be employed in any form of useful labor (hunting, fishing etc.). However, these nations are so poor that there are not enough necessities to go around so they destroy or abandon their infants, elders and those with diseases to die of starvation or to be devoured by wild animals. On the contrary, civilized and thriving nations, like our present day nation, there is an overwhelming amount of people who do not work at all and still consume more of the products and necessities than those who do work. This is only possible because the entire labor of the society is so large that everyone is supplied. In this civilized nation a workman “even of the lowest and poorest order…may enjoy a greater share of the necessaries and conveniences of life than it is possible for any savage to acquire.” I found that this comparison helped me understand that economic health is closely if not directly related to the health of the people in each nation.
ReplyDeleteThe "Inner Classic" style of writing is that of a poem, containing metaphors. It is appealing because he incorporates health with the four seasons and ying and yang. Huang Di is trying to explain Chinese medicine in the late century of 475-221 BC by using simple terms. He seems to be saying that a balanced and free flowing qi results in good health.
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