issue36 [自由女神小组]第十六次作业 快来砸雹子吧

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Issue36 "The greatness of individuals can be decided only by those who live after them, not by their contemporaries." [05/58; 06/6]
The assertion's premise may consists of two condition: one is, an individual who makes large contributions to his or her society but at the same time makes no less mistakes, the other is, an individual whose greatness can not be covered or accepted by his or her contemporaries. The rest circumstances I have to believe that the greatness of individuals can be decided not only by people who belong to a later time but also their contemporaries.

First, i have to concede that individuals, who made some contributions to their society and these contributions are enough to put them to the team of great people while their mistakes can not be ignored, must be judged by their generations.  For instance, the first woman ruler of empire, Wu Ze Tian, improved her people's life quality and  created new policy to advance the economic development and education, nevertheless, she killed many people including some innocent people, most of all, she is a woman and could have been kind. In her ruling period, some people regarded her as a great female ruler, but some others thought she could not be called great people. Before she was died, she said that her tombstone must bear nothing and she should let her generations to judge her. Nowadays, we all regard her as a excellent or great people.

The second condition that the speaker's assertion bases on maybe, the greatness of individuals were not covered or accepted by their contemporaries. Take the first Van Gogh for example, his works were not appreciated by his contemporaries, but after he died, gradually his works were regarded as invaluable works, and we began to feel his great.

Except the two above, the greatness of individuals can be judged by their contemporaries. Certain art, its very moment when people encounter gives some beauty which cannot be expressed by language, this art inspires the bottom feeling of people, and induces strong sensation. Undoubtedly, the greatness of the artist can be decided by his contemporaries. This is the case in business, Bill Gates, who brings a titantic profits for his company, besides, he endows his large part of property to support poor children, and makes charity career, his greatness can be judged immediately.

There must be some debates in science realm. The speaker may argue that any science theory is likely to be overturned by new discoveries in future. For example, the Ptolemaic with his geocentric, Copernicus’s heliocentric, and during these years scientists deduce that it is very possible that the sun is not the center in Universe. However, people cannot ignore these scientists’ contributions which propel the science advancement. Meanwhile, they are still considered as great people even though their theories are proved to be mistaken by after people. In addition, now that any science theory maybe overturned in future, that is to say, the greatness of scientists can never be judged. Apparently, it is quiet unreasonable.

To sum up, under certain circumstances, the evaluation of the greatness of individuals depends on people who belong to a later time, but in most situations, the contemporaries can judge whether the people are great or not.

[ 本帖最后由 wonderfullname 于 2007-2-10 11:22 编辑 ]