What is a just community?

Today in class, Professor Kramnick gave us an extension of knowledge about Plato. Plato's follows the Socratic method of logic when discussing topics like how a government should be run, or what a person or community needs in order to be just. I also learned how in Plato's ideal society, the people are split into three main groups: producers, auxiliaries, and philosophers/guardians. When analyzing each group on the individual level, the producers are the workers whose desires involve basic needs, the auxiliaries are the protectors of the community-- or in other words the military, and the guardians are the rulers of the society who supposedly only does what is best for the entire community.

While Professor Kramnick gave us a lecture on mostly facts and an overview on how Plato's reasoning came about, Nolan, our TA discussed with us whether Plato's ideal society was actually a realistic one or not. We also got to argue about whether we felt Plato's community was related to America's system in any way.

Today's speaker: lawyer Nelson Roth

After our lunch break, we had our second speaker of the course. Nelson Roth, a lawyer in the Ithaca law firm, spoke to us today about his most well known case, a murder investigation regarding evidence tampering in 1989. He served as a special prosecutor for this scandal and was able to have David Harding, a long time investigator, admit to tampering evidence and framing the murder on an innocent person. During Roth's presentation, he demonstrated how to record a fingerprint as well as how to tamper it. Cornell is able to bring such experienced speakers to the courses offered here-- that's why I love it so much. Lawyers like Roth, who have been involved in serious crime investigations and has done hands on work, are truly inspiring. 

Lastly, today's reading include more texts from Plato about how he views a just community. We have the final draft of our paper due tomorrow on what freedom means to you. I will also attend the first summer college yearbook meeting at 6 PM downstairs at the Balch Unit 1 Lounge tonight!