Enlightenment

1. In the age of enlightenment, religion was much more exposed than it had been in the past, and that led to many people realizing what they really believed in, not just what they were told to believe in.

In the age of enlightenment, expansion in all categories of life was major theme.

In the age of enlightenment, progress was made in civilizations/communities no matter what perspective you look at it.

2. The one word that really jumps out at me immediately is PROGRESS. Progress really what the age of enlightenment was all about, especially compared to the middle ages. During the middle ages there was almost no change. Without progress, most of the things on the list would be impossible. Housing would never expand to bigger, better houses, like from manors to villas. We would have never gained all the access we have to the outside world without progression in the technological region, for example the printing press allowed us to gain access to worldwide news much easier. The word progress really, to me, defines what the age of enlightenment was all about.

3. The age of enlightenment was all about learning, realizing, expanding, and growing. All these terms are basically ways of describing what the word Enlightenment itself means. To be honest, the age of enlightenment was really all about enlightenment. The people were enlightened with out of country news that they had not heard much of before. People were enlightened on building newer, bigger better buildings in general. the economy grew in overall, and people became richer. People were enlightened about God, and they could finally decide what they wanted to believe in the religion aspect of life because they could now own their own bible due to the printing press. The best way to describe the age of enlightenment is really by reading its name.

4. Voltaire was very pro-civil liberties. He strongly believed in one's rights to express themselves they way they like. His most strongly advocated subject was freedom of religion, which is about accepting all religions and being able to believe in what you want. The article i found was all about Muslim-Americans trying to make a bridge between them, and the most common islamic people of their culture. I feel like this directly connect to voltaire, and the Muslim-American people are doing just what Voltaire would have done; at least try and break the stereotype about muslims and make an effort to be accepted. They have right to believe what they want to as well and the Islamics are not being accepting of that.

For article click here...>>> http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/17/us/17bcarts.html?_r=1&ref=religionandbelief

5. I feel like my background in general has made an obvious impact on who I am as a person today. It may seem a bit obvious of a statement, but i don't take for granted who i am surrounded by in my family. My family is great; they are down to earth good people, especially my parents, and that has really had a lasting impact on me so far in my life. I am very grateful to have such great parents who have taught me to do the right things in life, and make good choices. Your parents really have the biggest impact on you in your life because they raise you to be who you are.

Machiavelli

Machaivelli was born May 3rd, 1469 in Florance, Italy. He is an italien philosopher, who is one of the main founders of politcal science as it is these days. He wrote during The Renaissance, the european cultural movement. HIs main novel, The Prince, was written for him to gain influence with the ruling Medici family in Florence.

Sources: Wikipedia, The Prince, Machiavelli

"The wise man does at once what the fool does finally"

One of my basketball coaches was a very smart man. He always knew the right play to call at the right times in the game. he would watch the other team's defense and base his play calls of of that. For example, if our big man was open after rolling off the pick and roll, he would notice it in an instant and tell our point guard to look for that pass. A different coach might not have noticed that so quickly and now he wouldn't have the opportunity to take advantage of that flaw in the other team. In this quote, my coach was the wise man because he noticed right away what a fool would of noticed at the end of the game where it is useless at the point.

"It is much more secure to be feared than to be loved."

I think that this quote is somewhat bad advise for a leader in this day and age. I believe that if you are feared, generally you are not very well liked. If you are not well liked then people will most likely want you out of the leader role. Or say you are a country that could potentially be involved in a war going on around you. One may say that if you are feared you will not be attacked, but if you are feared, again i think that means that you are generally not very liked. With not being well liked, you may be feared but countries will still want to attack you. If you are loved then there will be no reason to be attacked because the countries have nothing against you, therefore no reason to attack you.

"Before all else, be armed."

I think the incas could have used this quote to there advantage right before the battle where the spaniards surprise attacked the incas and Atahualpa. The incas were virtually unprepared for this attack, and i think they were stupid to not bring weapons. The situation was just way to perfect for Pizarro and his men to attack and i would think Atahualpa would have realized this prior to meeting with them in the square.

leadership

Based on what you know about yourself, what kind of leader is most effective for you? Think about the kind of leader in your life who is able to motivate you or get you to do what you didn't think you could.

The kind of leader that motivates me is a leader that I find inspirational. To me an inspirational leader is one who is confident, willing to take positive risks,and will listen to ideas and tries to incorporate them into their decisions. Obviously I like a leader who agrees with me the majority of the time, but sometimes them disagreeing with me is a good thing because it opens my eyes to new ideas.

Another characteristic of a leader the motivates me is their ability to be persuasive. It is really helpful when someone can persuade you to do something that maybe you didn't want to do, or were hesitant on doing, but then it turns out great in the end. You also want a leader who is well liked so that others will follow him too and more of his ideas will get across if they have more followers. It really depends on the situation for me to determine what kind of leader I prefer. for some situations I may prefer a stronger-minded, more hard core type of person. For other situations the leader may just be someone who i more look up to yet they may not be very vocal about their beliefs. These are just a few characteristics that I look for in a leader that i would look up to in life.