invisible hand

Invisible Hand is an interesting article that mainly highlights Adam Smith's theory that is still so widely used in economics today.  A main idea is how when the demand of something is high, then then price will go up.  it is possible for a market to fail for certain reasons, but this idea is very efficient for decision making in the economic world.  The Invisible Hand explains how consumption of different resources will be very important to the economy's welfare.  The article mentions how there is an invisible hand that helps the market get to a healthy level for the society, but I don't exactly understand the analogy being made with an "invisible hand".  What is invisible and why is it invisible? What is the hand and why not something else like a car or person?

ch. 18

Europe's modern development has a  lot to do with the industrial revolution.  The industrial revolution period goes from about 1750 to 1900 and is what lead to the scientific revolution.  This is where Europe began its dominance.  First off, human population grew immensely over time to where it got to a billion people in the early 1900's. There was  wide usage of new energy sources and there was a culture based on innovation.  Europe had the most interaction with so many different cultures.  It was very diverse in who they could do business with.  This promoted change and new, creative ideas.   The Americas was the source for food, raw materials, and silver.  Britain, being the biggest country in Europe, was a big deal during the industrial revolution.  There was a speedy railroad development, an expansion in mining, manufacturing and services, decrease in agriculture and a wide transformation in daily routines.

Ch 17 continued

In 1830, 1848, and 1870, there were some smaller revolutions that took place.  There were movements for equality, which lead to more social equality and freedom.  Between 1780 and 1890, slavery was abolished throughout the world.  People that were critical of slavery were thinkers of Enlightenment.  Religious groups began to speak their minds about the negativity of slavery.  People started to realize more and more that slavery was not necessary for the economy to grow and maintain itself.  For many people, this movement meant a big change in their lives.  This is for the victims and also the slave owners.   At the same time, I'm sure most of the population knew that it was the right movement.  For those who were not brought up in a way to know that equality if for every one and is not dependent on color, then that is sad.  Abolition was strongest in Britain.  With this movement, I believe that it was a very positive thing in history, and I'm sure people would agree.  However, many of the results that came with the movement of abolition were unexpected, meaning that not everything seemed to be so positive right away.  Of course with this colossal change, not everything was going to change overnight.

Ch. 17

Between 1775 and 1875, the French Revolution was the heart of a revolutionary process around the Atlantic.  however, this impacted way more than just the Atlantic world.  The French invaded Russia, Poland, and Egypt.  Many countries were beginning to open up to more women right and abolishing slavery.  Nationalism was formed by these revolutions.  These introductions to equality opened the doors for communism and socialism.  Latin America, Europe, Haiti, and North America have all influenced each other through their revolutions.  They had a lot of ideas in common.  They were also all coming out of enlightenment.  The main common idea politically here was popular sovereignty.  From 1775 to 1787, The North American Revolution had a conservative political movement, had a colonial society, and was where Americans believed that they were making a new world order.  From 1789 to 1815, During the French Revolution, they were experiencing bankruptcy, and their risings were created by social disagreements, which was far more violent.  From 1791 to 1804, similar to the French Revolution, The Haiti Revolution involved a lot of violence.  What I found remarkable about the Haiti Revolution was that  it has the only wholly successful slave revolt in world history which sparked plenty of hope and also fear. From 1810 to 1825, there was the Spanish American Revolutions, inspired by earlier revolutionary movements.  They were limited at first and made it a longer process than in North America.

enlightenment

What I learned from this is that enlightenment is about learning and gaining knowledge.  Not only for one individual, but for the knowledge and growth an entire community.  Knowledge does no good to be kept a secret.  Enlightenment could mean opening ones eyes to realize something new or different, or something they were close minded to before, but then see that it could positive to open their mind to an idea.   Actually, referring back to the question of what it means to be an enlightened person, I think that being an enlightened person means to be able to have an open mind to new ideas.  Enlightenment also has some to do with philosophy.  Someone's reasons should always be free to the public because of the reason that enlightenment should not be kept a secret.  Every person and idea could get better based on the enlightenment that is shared upon each other, because then everyone could work together to build each other up and improve on every idea.

ch 16

Christianity spread to many countries in the western part of the world and started to become very popular between 1450 and 1750.   At the same time, Christianity was beginning to be challenged by science.  The scientific theories were starting to confuse the beliefs in Christianity.  The crazy thing about scientific evolution coming into play in this time frame is that people would have to be willing to face major sacrifices to even put a scientific theory out to the public.  People did not like finding out that their beliefs of how the world has come about and evolved might not match up to science.  i can understand how this might startle people because it can make someone feel like they have been living a lie.  It can make people question everything they have ever known.  That would make me feel lost and confused.  This topic is interesting because the dilemma between whether religion or science is right is still going on in the Western world today.

Christianity was mostly in Europe in 1500.  There were some divisions within the Christian community.  The main one was between Catholics and Protestants.  Catholics had power while the Protestants protested against them for various reasons.  Some of those reasons included how they disagreed with the luxury life of the Pope.  Only priests could interpret the Bible  for Catholics.  This surprised me.  Something that didn't surprise me too much was how a lot of tax money was used to build big beautiful Cathedrals.  This is mainly because I have known about several massive and gorgeous Cathedrals.  Everyone could interpret the Protestant Bible.  However, both are Christian.  Another big difference was how the Protestants didn't like how the Catholic church had "icons" because God should be the only one worshipped.  They didn't understand that the icons just help the people have a way to relate to them because they were real people that became saints through their righteous acts in a way that Jesus would have.  They are icons but not worshipped as if they are another God.  They are recognized for living a life through God, the way He would want.  Saying that the saints are icons being worshipped like another God is like saying that the Sisters of Notre Dame are worshipped as Gods.  Something that I strongly disagree with was how Catholics were thought to be polytheist because they think that the "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit" was considered as not having "One God" as compared to the Protestants.  What they did not understand is that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all one in God.  They are all one God in different forms.  Hearing that misconception really bothered me.