Blog Response 2

People should not have to place restraints on their power--as Thrasymachus said, power determines justice. The Athenians had the strength to defeat and subdue the Melians, so if they wanted to conquer the Melians, nothing should stop them. As far as the analogy of accepting a bully punching me in the stomach and taking my money, I suppose I would have to accept it. As a smaller and less powerful person, I cannot physically defend myself from such a bully. Yet, while the bully may be punching me now, there is nothing to say that in the future the tables wouldn't turn, and that I would not end up being the boss of that bully, and able to return every offense of the bully. There is a quote "Most men with nothing would rather protect the possibility of being rich than face the reality of being poor", which I feel fits with this situation. The Melians might never be able to return the offenses of the Athenians, but there is the slight possibility that they could assume the dominance of the Athenians, and then they would want to be able to sack Athens in return. Until that point, however, the Melians should not complain, lest the offenses become worse.

However, I do think that the limitation of not hurting others is a valid point. The Athenians could have easily taken over Melos, and stuck with simply collecting taxes and dues. However, the Athenians continued to the seemingly unnecessary step of killing all the men and enslaving all the women and children on the island. Not only does this seem a pointless and unnecessary action, it seems rather counterproductive. The men who could have helped the island thrive, so the Athenians could make a profit have been killed, and it has given the children a reason to seek revenge on Athens when they grow older. If people restrained from hurting others, they could still harness their power for their political advantage, and use it in a way that does not harm weaker people too much.

BLOG POST #2: IS WHAT'S RIGHT INDEPENDENT OF POWER?

2. Considering the three Sophists we read in class (Protagoras, Critias, and Thrasymachus), answer the following: Is there anything at all that humans ought to do—in other words, should we willingly place any restraint on our conduct, no matter how powerful we are? Discuss what the Athenians in the Thucydides excerpt should have done given their enormous power.
--If you believe they should have restrained themselves, is this not a sign that you yourself are relatively powerless and weak, and that you're simply trying to enslave the strong with your naïve view of fairness?
--If you believe they behaved correctly, is this not a sign that you would not complain if someone bigger than you punched you in the stomach each day to get your lunch money? The powerful are always right, right?
Something else to consider (optional): Some people think that we are free to do whatever we wish as long as we don’t hurt someone else doing it. Is this a good rule for what makes an action moral and right?

POST DUE: Thursday, Nov. 4 by start of class.
2 RESPONSES TO POSTS DUE: Tuesday, Nov. 9 by the start of class.