Issue36求拍，必回，谢过先~

827827UID: 2527597

TOPIC: ISSUE36 - "The greatness of individuals can be decided only by those who live after them, not by their contemporaries."


The speaker claims that the greatness of individuals can be decided by those who live after them rather than their comtemporaries. In my point of view, I agree that people who live after those great individuals play a important role in defining the greatness of individuals who live before them.But Comtemporaries also contribute a lot to maintain and broadcast the greatness of the individuals whose achievements benefit the society greatly.

First of all, later generations play a crucial role in defining the greatness of those outstanding individuals. Because they have advantages in evaluaing individual greatness. The first advantage is they could attain far more information about that time in different fields, such as  politic, education, economic. These background information would draw a wide picture about the very period, and give more clue on judging the individual greatness.  The second advantage is time. As it said, time will tell. Later generations have enough time to examine one individual in history. By comparing with others, people who live after them would find their merits, but also flaws. Therefore, an objective judgement would be made by later generations. In this way, so-called greatness would be more acceptable by all. Sigmund Freud, for example, his greatness is not only establish the school of psychoanalytic, but also he is the first few people who did the research on the basis of the belief that human is not the creation of god. His brave claim definitely was a challenge to those religious rulers. People who live at that time would not agree , or maybe criticize the theory of Freud. But from a more recent point of view, we can not deny that this is a revolutionary belief and it makes possible of Freud's theory to some extent.

Although later generation plays a important role, that is not to say they could decide the greatness of individuals. Without the contribution of contemporaries, individual greatness would be no where. Though it is hard to say that whether contemporaries recognized the real greatness of individual, at least they benefited from the accomplishment of those individuals and appreciated that. Bulb, for instance, invented by Edison, benefited thousands of families all over the world. People lived at that time would remember this name for his great invention. Von Gogh, another example, is regarded the most famous impressionism painter. He finished himself because of poor and depression, and he only sold one piece of his work during his lifetime. But why do later generations have a chance to prove he is greatest painter in that period? Because his brother, who lived at the same period with Von Gogh, appreciated Von Gogh's work and believe that his greatness in painting would finally be recognized by public in some day. Without the recognition and appreciation of people who lived at the same period with those great individuals, and the record of contemporary historian, later generation would have no chance to define the greatness of individuals.

To sum up, due to the recognition and the historical record of contemporaries, later generations have the chance to examine and define the greatness of those individuals. Both of them decide the individual greatness.

[ 本帖最后由 firhaday 于 2008-8-17 23:37 编辑 ]

jjyUID: 2223280

挺喜欢你举的关于Ｖａｎ　Ｇｏｇｈ的例子来说明同时代的人的欣赏确实很重要的。
可是，我觉得你第一点提到的关于后人对前人的评价很重要可以再展开来说，分成两段，先可以列出些例子说前人的伟大很多都是我们后来才知道，然后就分析原因，比如说认知的ｌｉｍｉｔａｔｉｏｎ什么的，　伟大作品必须有超前性，可以ｓｔａｎｄ　ｔｈｅ　ｔｅｓｔ　ｏｆ　ｈｉｓｔｏｒｙ．
总体来说，我觉得写的还挺流畅的：）
这是我的链接，请帮我看看，谢谢！　http://bbs.gter.ce.cn/bbs/thread-867520-1-1.html

827827UID: 2527597

谢谢jjy的建议，我会再修改一下的：）

jjyUID: 2223280

不谢，互相学习：）
顺便帮你顶起，加油！

大人先生UID: 2316212

定起，一个Topic最好放在一起修改更加好一些！

大人先生UID: 2316212

这个是我的拙作，请LZ帮忙看一下，同一个Topic，水平有限！
TOPIC: ISSUE36 - "The greatness of individuals can be decided only by those who live after them, not by their contemporaries."
This extreme statement contends that the greatness of individuals can be decided only by those who live after them, not by their contemporaries. However, while I agree with it insofar as the greatness cannot sometimes be recognized by contemporaries, there are too many examples in the field of science, business and art that contradict to this statement.

First of all, I admit that there is indeed some greatness of individuals that are neglected by their contemporaries especially in the physical science realm. For instance, Darwin recieved little from his excellent contribution to the theory that human evolved from other life forms. The sun-centered theory suffered from serious critics in that period. These great discoveries cannot be accepted by contemporaries simply because they cast doubt on the classic theories of their time. The later generations would have more information which allows evaluating and appreciating these important discoveries. In addition, later generations can simply compare these discoveries and theory with others to examine the merits as well as flaws. Therefore objective judgment can be achieved. So, it is indeed the later generations can better assess and decide the greatness of individuals.

However, we can still see many celebrities in physical science field who achieve house holding fames in their contemporaries. Because some scientific discoveries can immediately influence the life of the time, this greatness can be assessed by the contemporaries. For example, Edison was famous because of his invention of bulb. In addition, the peer review system allow for more new theories to be scrutinized by contemporaries. Many important discoveries were appreciated by contemporaries. For example, Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize because of his excellent Relative Theory. Hawking is also treated as one of greatest scientists in physical science. So, greatness of individuals in physical science field can also be decided by contemporaries.

Furthermore, the greatness of individuals in the sports field can be decided only immediately by contemporaries. In the Olympic Games, many athletes become hero immediately after they achieve the Golden Prize. Because the sports field only has the face values, individuals can achieve greatness only in their time. The later generations would have their own heroes. Michael Jordan was appreciated as “God” in the basketball field when he was in the Chicago Bulls. But several years later, he was almost forgot by sports fans.   So, the greatness of athletes can only be decided by contemporaries.

In addition, in the field of business and art, whether the greatness of individuals can be decided by contemporaries depends. Bill Gates is considered as the most successful businessman in the world because his excellent invention of Windows and his successful operation of Microsoft. However, Ford's assembly-line became the standards in automobile production many years later. Mozart's was recognized as one of the greatest musicians in his time. Van Gogh finished himself because of poor and depression. His great works cannot even be sold. So, whether the greatness of individuals can be decided by contemporaries cannot be simply concluded.

In sum, this statement concludes too hastily that the greatness of individuals can only be decided by those who live after them. This situation happens mostly in the physical science field because of the great discoveries always need time to be substantiated. However, in other field, whether the greatness of individuals can be decided by contemporaries should be analyzed on a case-by-case basis.

[ 本帖最后由 大人先生 于 2008-8-17 22:45 编辑 ]