What do you think human nature is all about? Why are you taking this course? Why might thinking about death & dying and human nature be important to you, your family, your education?
My expectations for this class are to learn about the different cultures ways of handling death and their rituals. As well as, how others deal with death and how they cope.
I think that human nature is all about the way that we as human beings live our lives. It is important for me and my family to think about death and dying because it is going to happen to all of us, it is inevitable. Death and dying will also come sooner to some members of my family, therefore it is something to be thinking about for all of my family. For example, something to be thinking about would be how will we react and how will we cope with our losses.
I think human nature is the nature of our actions, decisions, thoughts, beliefs, etc as human beings. I think that in looking at human nature we will be trying to explain why we do the things that we do and think think the things that we think. I feel that it is important for me and my family to think about death and dying and human nature because it will help in coping with and understanding the two recent deaths in my family as well as, for me, understanding why my friend committed suicide. I know that my mother is having a very hard time with my Aunt's death and she asks me almost every day if I think that she made the right decision in choosing to take my Aunt off of life support. I would love to be able to help my mom get through this and feel confident in her decision. I think that it is also important to look at death and dying and human nature in regards to my education because as a nurse I will have to deal with death from time to time and I will have to help the family members of the deceased with the experience.
When I think about human nature I think about why people think and act the way they do. With being a biology major, when I think of human nature and the way people function, I feel like it basically boils down to animal-like behavior for survival and their own well being or their own wants and desires. I guess that would be a Darwinian type of approach to this subject matter, but I do believe there are exceptions to that idea. For example, say there is a group of starving individuals and somebody gives the group a little bit of food, some will fight to the death to get as much food as possible for their own survival, but others might give the food they got to others who are more in need. I do not know what causes these two polar opposites in people...maybe environment or mental health? I am taking this course for a core requirement, but also because I want to know more and become educated on the philosophy of death and dying. I have had no close deaths that have truly effected my life. I think hearing other's stories and learning from their experiences is the best way to learn about something. The topic of death and dying should be talked about and in our culture I feel like it is something that is never really discussed. It should be discussed because it is in the circle of life and everyone and everything will have to experience this at some point in time; rather it be a pet or a person. It is something that should be talked about so that people are not fearful of death or of losing loved ones. Maybe this way when somebody loses a loved one, they can accept it and let go of the agony sooner.
As the others stated before me, I think human nature is what all humans have in common--it defines how we react and respond to things. Part of human nature deals with death and loss, and how we inherently react. Our responses are "natural" in the sense that reacting to a death or a loss is common among everyone... It just varies. Even other species deal with loss. For instance, my best friend's mother passed away when we were in the 5th grade. Her dog would continuously pace inside her mother's room, waiting by her side of the bed, and then wait for her at the from door when she was supposed to come at night. My cousin also owned two cats, and one passed away before the other. The remaining cat would stay up all night "calling" for the other cat--obviously really distressed and lonely, since they had lived together for almost 15 years. Death is obviously a natural occurrence, but what makes us "human" are our reactions to it. I think the philosophy of death and dying is important to talk about--because not many people my age value their lives. You don't have to be a particularly religious person, but realizing your own vitality and appreciating every day you spend alive is something that can fill your life with meaning, and ensure that you accomplish the things you set as goals. People whose lives were cut short had no way of knowing that they would be, and nothing separates ourselves from that possibility. It's scary, but it's reality. I also will appreciate this class, because I have two older grandmothers who are getting older in life and having more and more medical problems. I've only dealt with the loss of distant family members, so I've never had to truly experience the loss of someone near and dear to me like these women are... I've started to realize that they might not be here in the next 5, 10 years, and I spend my time with them much differently now. I think this course will help me to understand the different ways to cope and deal with loss.
My expectations for this class are to learn about how people view death differently. Also to see how people view the act of dying and what happens after death. I also would like to see if coping mechanisms are different between cultures.
my expectations for this class is to learn about different cultures and how they view and deal with death. but more personally, i hope through our readings and discussions that i have a more personal understating of how i view and deal with death. life is not promised and uncertain. going into nursing i will see that regularly and i think this class will help in dealing with dying patients and their families.
My expectations of this class are to take away many concepts about death. It is going to help me personallly cope with death in my family as well as in the nursing field. Like i had said in my introduction death can be a very touchy subject for me because I have a family member currently fighting cancer and although he can pull through it I always know there is a chance of being taken away. So I believe thinking and talking about death and dying will be very important for me. I think human nature is the shared feelings, behaviors, qualities, etc. that humans have and put out as a reponse.
My expectations for this class is to help me understand and cope with death on all different levels- in nursing, with family, with friends, personal losses. Like I said in my intro, I believe death has both pros and cons (that sounds awful in a sense). Death is good for those who are suffering, but leaves distress in its wake. I put up a book in the Books, Film and music section and this book presents death in the kind of way that I think of death: I think that if death were an angel, that he is empathetic to those who are left in his wake and for the souls who he takes. This class is going to help me expand my way of thinking and accepting death and I believe it will help me in the medical field, because death is inevitable. We can't run from it.
I think that human nature is not just about how we react to things, as most everyone else has said, but rather; i think that it is more of how we experience events in our lives. I feel like human nature is based around how we experience something, process it, then how we decide to react to it. Human nature isn't just emotional or logical, it is a combination of our emotions, logic, and physical actions.
I feel that thinking about death and dying will be good for me because, as Laura stated, not many people our age value their lives. We're young and we think that nothing bad could ever happen to us, but that is obviously not the case, and I think that talking about it will help us realize that and learn about ourselves through that.
My expectations is that this class will hopefully help me in my nursing career by helping me cope and understand the process of death and dying. I hope that this course will prepare me a little more when I face difficult decisions or difficult situations surrounding dying and death (whether that be a client, family, friend, or myself). I look forward to seeing different views on some of the topics we will cover in class.
My expectations for this class are to hopefully be able to cope with future death experiences and to be able to understand others' way of dealing with the same process. Part of attending a liberal arts college is in the mission statement; liberal meaning "free" and arts meaning "of the mind". I hope to free my mind of any past accusations and be open to any new information in order to settle my own beliefs. I think human nature is all about understanding our surroundings but more importantly ourselves and how we relate to other persons.
I think human nature is how we live our lives, interact with others, and the environment. I think this course will be very interesting because I have dealt with so much death in my life. I am curious to see what I will learn about death, how other cultures differ from our own in dealing with death, and if there will be any tips on how I can deal with it better. Death and dying could help me in my life life to better understand what people are going through and how to deal with it. It will help with my education because I want to be a nurse and will be surrounded by death. I know I will come in contact with it at some point in my career so I need to learn more about it and how to help others cope with it.
When I think of human nature I see it as the things we as humans do. Some humans may act for specific reasons but others act without reason or without thinking through their actions. Human nature can be understood or misunderstood. An expectation that I have for this class is to help me understand death. I am not a person who enjoys talking about it because I view death as being sad, especially when death occurs unexpectedly and not having time to say goodbye. I would like to learn about how others cope with death in order to possibly help me cope with death better in the future. I can admit that I am scared of death because of my most recent experience.
I think Human Nature as the natural experiences every human has throughout their lifetime, and how we all respond to those experiences, death being one of them. my expectation for this class is to help me understand death more, and also mechanisms of how to cope with it. Like everyone said, death is something we have to go through and when targets someone we love, it's gets hard for people to come. My parents are pretty old and who knows how long I will have them, but it would be could to know some mechanisms or learning more about the experience so I will be able to deal with it better when the time comes.
I'm honestly unsure of what my expectations are for this course. A recent death of a close friend of mine is even make me say, "what did I get myself into?!" I thought about dropping the class because I thought it would be hard to deal with. I'm questioning everything I ever thought about death now as it is, which I think most do when they are dealing with a loss. But after the funeral today, I think I am going to stay enrolled. It probably won't be easy, but I feel that maybe this course will help me answer some of the things that I can't seem to answer. And even after this class is over and all is said and done... how many think they will know all the answers to life and death? I don't think its something we can figure out in a single semester, (no offense Dr. Cate!), but rather we find out along this journey that we make throughout our entire lives. So I don't know what to expect in this course. I do, however, know that I do not expect to have anything figured out come final week. I will only be equipped with new ways to look at human nature to perhaps guide me through figuring out whatever needs to be figured out for the rest of my life.
My expectations of this class are I can have more interactions with classmates as we come from different culture and probably we will see things in different perspective.
I want to have more understanding of death through exploring different theories. It must can help me to think of dead comprehensively.
I got really excited about taking this class because I have been trying to cope with a loss in my life. I am also very lost from a religious standpoint because I have found it difficult to agree with Catholicism and this has made things weird with some of my friends. Also I ponder the thought of death on a nearly daily basis. One of my favorite quotes about death comes from Peter Pan "To die will be an awfully big adventure."
My expectations for this course is for it to be very interesting. Death is a tough subject to talk about among others so I am expecting it to be fun and exciting in a weird way. I also want to understand death better through exploring all the many issues we face in the world today.
My expectations are to learn about how others see/view an experience related to death. I try to see more of a medical/scientific point of view. I'm curious to see another's.
I am very interested other peoples opinion about death. I know when I try and talk to my family about death and living wills etc.. I usually don't get an answer. It is never really talked about in my house. I really wanted to take this class because I deal with death all the time at work and I get "used to it" trying not to sound cold, but I try and stay sensitive to how the family is understanding and reacting to the dying of a family member and maybe getting some more insight on how people feel might help with caring for the families I see because sometimes it can be difficult.
- What do you think human nature is all about? I think that human nature describes prevailing attitudes, practices, and beliefs towards which most people gravitate. In other words, human nature explains the core identity of any person.
- Why are you taking this course? I am in this class to fulfill a portion of my philosophy core credit, but I chose this from the epistomology and metaphysics courses offered, because I was interested in gaining understanding about what it means to die and how that ultimate reality affects the way we live.
- Why might thinking about death & dying and human nature be important to you, your family, your education? I am interested in pursuing a career in the medical field and so I will undoubtedly have some experience with death over the course of my lifetime. I am sure that this class will equip me with a greater understanding of what death is and perhaps ready me for the passage of people I know or will know.
My expectations for this class are to learn about the different cultures ways of handling death and their rituals. As well as, how others deal with death and how they cope.
ReplyDeleteI think that human nature is all about the way that we as human beings live our lives. It is important for me and my family to think about death and dying because it is going to happen to all of us, it is inevitable. Death and dying will also come sooner to some members of my family, therefore it is something to be thinking about for all of my family. For example, something to be thinking about would be how will we react and how will we cope with our losses.
ReplyDeleteI think human nature is the nature of our actions, decisions, thoughts, beliefs, etc as human beings. I think that in looking at human nature we will be trying to explain why we do the things that we do and think think the things that we think. I feel that it is important for me and my family to think about death and dying and human nature because it will help in coping with and understanding the two recent deaths in my family as well as, for me, understanding why my friend committed suicide. I know that my mother is having a very hard time with my Aunt's death and she asks me almost every day if I think that she made the right decision in choosing to take my Aunt off of life support. I would love to be able to help my mom get through this and feel confident in her decision. I think that it is also important to look at death and dying and human nature in regards to my education because as a nurse I will have to deal with death from time to time and I will have to help the family members of the deceased with the experience.
ReplyDeleteWhen I think about human nature I think about why people think and act the way they do. With being a biology major, when I think of human nature and the way people function, I feel like it basically boils down to animal-like behavior for survival and their own well being or their own wants and desires. I guess that would be a Darwinian type of approach to this subject matter, but I do believe there are exceptions to that idea. For example, say there is a group of starving individuals and somebody gives the group a little bit of food, some will fight to the death to get as much food as possible for their own survival, but others might give the food they got to others who are more in need. I do not know what causes these two polar opposites in people...maybe environment or mental health?
ReplyDeleteI am taking this course for a core requirement, but also because I want to know more and become educated on the philosophy of death and dying. I have had no close deaths that have truly effected my life. I think hearing other's stories and learning from their experiences is the best way to learn about something.
The topic of death and dying should be talked about and in our culture I feel like it is something that is never really discussed. It should be discussed because it is in the circle of life and everyone and everything will have to experience this at some point in time; rather it be a pet or a person. It is something that should be talked about so that people are not fearful of death or of losing loved ones. Maybe this way when somebody loses a loved one, they can accept it and let go of the agony sooner.
As the others stated before me, I think human nature is what all humans have in common--it defines how we react and respond to things. Part of human nature deals with death and loss, and how we inherently react. Our responses are "natural" in the sense that reacting to a death or a loss is common among everyone... It just varies.
ReplyDeleteEven other species deal with loss. For instance, my best friend's mother passed away when we were in the 5th grade. Her dog would continuously pace inside her mother's room, waiting by her side of the bed, and then wait for her at the from door when she was supposed to come at night. My cousin also owned two cats, and one passed away before the other. The remaining cat would stay up all night "calling" for the other cat--obviously really distressed and lonely, since they had lived together for almost 15 years. Death is obviously a natural occurrence, but what makes us "human" are our reactions to it.
I think the philosophy of death and dying is important to talk about--because not many people my age value their lives. You don't have to be a particularly religious person, but realizing your own vitality and appreciating every day you spend alive is something that can fill your life with meaning, and ensure that you accomplish the things you set as goals. People whose lives were cut short had no way of knowing that they would be, and nothing separates ourselves from that possibility. It's scary, but it's reality.
I also will appreciate this class, because I have two older grandmothers who are getting older in life and having more and more medical problems. I've only dealt with the loss of distant family members, so I've never had to truly experience the loss of someone near and dear to me like these women are... I've started to realize that they might not be here in the next 5, 10 years, and I spend my time with them much differently now. I think this course will help me to understand the different ways to cope and deal with loss.
My expectations for this class are to learn about how people view death differently. Also to see how people view the act of dying and what happens after death. I also would like to see if coping mechanisms are different between cultures.
ReplyDeletemy expectations for this class is to learn about different cultures and how they view and deal with death. but more personally, i hope through our readings and discussions that i have a more personal understating of how i view and deal with death. life is not promised and uncertain. going into nursing i will see that regularly and i think this class will help in dealing with dying patients and their families.
ReplyDeleteMy expectations of this class are to take away many concepts about death. It is going to help me personallly cope with death in my family as well as in the nursing field. Like i had said in my introduction death can be a very touchy subject for me because I have a family member currently fighting cancer and although he can pull through it I always know there is a chance of being taken away. So I believe thinking and talking about death and dying will be very important for me. I think human nature is the shared feelings, behaviors, qualities, etc. that humans have and put out as a reponse.
ReplyDeleteMy expectations for this class is to help me understand and cope with death on all different levels- in nursing, with family, with friends, personal losses. Like I said in my intro, I believe death has both pros and cons (that sounds awful in a sense). Death is good for those who are suffering, but leaves distress in its wake. I put up a book in the Books, Film and music section and this book presents death in the kind of way that I think of death: I think that if death were an angel, that he is empathetic to those who are left in his wake and for the souls who he takes. This class is going to help me expand my way of thinking and accepting death and I believe it will help me in the medical field, because death is inevitable. We can't run from it.
ReplyDeleteI think that human nature is not just about how we react to things, as most everyone else has said, but rather; i think that it is more of how we experience events in our lives. I feel like human nature is based around how we experience something, process it, then how we decide to react to it. Human nature isn't just emotional or logical, it is a combination of our emotions, logic, and physical actions.
ReplyDeleteI feel that thinking about death and dying will be good for me because, as Laura stated, not many people our age value their lives. We're young and we think that nothing bad could ever happen to us, but that is obviously not the case, and I think that talking about it will help us realize that and learn about ourselves through that.
My expectations is that this class will hopefully help me in my nursing career by helping me cope and understand the process of death and dying. I hope that this course will prepare me a little more when I face difficult decisions or difficult situations surrounding dying and death (whether that be a client, family, friend, or myself). I look forward to seeing different views on some of the topics we will cover in class.
ReplyDeleteMy expectations for this class are to hopefully be able to cope with future death experiences and to be able to understand others' way of dealing with the same process.
ReplyDeletePart of attending a liberal arts college is in the mission statement; liberal meaning "free" and arts meaning "of the mind". I hope to free my mind of any past accusations and be open to any new information in order to settle my own beliefs.
I think human nature is all about understanding our surroundings but more importantly ourselves and how we relate to other persons.
I think human nature is how we live our lives, interact with others, and the environment. I think this course will be very interesting because I have dealt with so much death in my life. I am curious to see what I will learn about death, how other cultures differ from our own in dealing with death, and if there will be any tips on how I can deal with it better. Death and dying could help me in my life life to better understand what people are going through and how to deal with it. It will help with my education because I want to be a nurse and will be surrounded by death. I know I will come in contact with it at some point in my career so I need to learn more about it and how to help others cope with it.
ReplyDeleteWhen I think of human nature I see it as the things we as humans do. Some humans may act for specific reasons but others act without reason or without thinking through their actions. Human nature can be understood or misunderstood. An expectation that I have for this class is to help me understand death. I am not a person who enjoys talking about it because I view death as being sad, especially when death occurs unexpectedly and not having time to say goodbye. I would like to learn about how others cope with death in order to possibly help me cope with death better in the future. I can admit that I am scared of death because of my most recent experience.
ReplyDeleteI think Human Nature as the natural experiences every human has throughout their lifetime, and how we all respond to those experiences, death being one of them. my expectation for this class is to help me understand death more, and also mechanisms of how to cope with it. Like everyone said, death is something we have to go through and when targets someone we love, it's gets hard for people to come. My parents are pretty old and who knows how long I will have them, but it would be could to know some mechanisms or learning more about the experience so I will be able to deal with it better when the time comes.
ReplyDeleteI'm honestly unsure of what my expectations are for this course. A recent death of a close friend of mine is even make me say, "what did I get myself into?!" I thought about dropping the class because I thought it would be hard to deal with. I'm questioning everything I ever thought about death now as it is, which I think most do when they are dealing with a loss. But after the funeral today, I think I am going to stay enrolled. It probably won't be easy, but I feel that maybe this course will help me answer some of the things that I can't seem to answer. And even after this class is over and all is said and done... how many think they will know all the answers to life and death? I don't think its something we can figure out in a single semester, (no offense Dr. Cate!), but rather we find out along this journey that we make throughout our entire lives. So I don't know what to expect in this course. I do, however, know that I do not expect to have anything figured out come final week. I will only be equipped with new ways to look at human nature to perhaps guide me through figuring out whatever needs to be figured out for the rest of my life.
ReplyDeleteMy expectations of this class are I can have more interactions with classmates as we come from different culture and probably we will see things in different perspective.
ReplyDeleteI want to have more understanding of death through exploring different theories. It must can help me to think of dead comprehensively.
I got really excited about taking this class because I have been trying to cope with a loss in my life. I am also very lost from a religious standpoint because I have found it difficult to agree with Catholicism and this has made things weird with some of my friends. Also I ponder the thought of death on a nearly daily basis. One of my favorite quotes about death comes from Peter Pan "To die will be an awfully big adventure."
ReplyDeleteMy expectations for this course is for it to be very interesting. Death is a tough subject to talk about among others so I am expecting it to be fun and exciting in a weird way. I also want to understand death better through exploring all the many issues we face in the world today.
ReplyDeleteMy expectations are to learn about how others see/view an experience related to death. I try to see more of a medical/scientific point of view. I'm curious to see another's.
ReplyDeleteI am very interested other peoples opinion about death. I know when I try and talk to my family about death and living wills etc.. I usually don't get an answer. It is never really talked about in my house. I really wanted to take this class because I deal with death all the time at work and I get "used to it" trying not to sound cold, but I try and stay sensitive to how the family is understanding and reacting to the dying of a family member and maybe getting some more insight on how people feel might help with caring for the families I see because sometimes it can be difficult.
ReplyDelete- What do you think human nature is all about?
ReplyDeleteI think that human nature describes prevailing attitudes, practices, and beliefs towards which most people gravitate. In other words, human nature explains the core identity of any person.
- Why are you taking this course?
I am in this class to fulfill a portion of my philosophy core credit, but I chose this from the epistomology and metaphysics courses offered, because I was interested in gaining understanding about what it means to die and how that ultimate reality affects the way we live.
- Why might thinking about death & dying and human nature be important to you, your family, your education?
I am interested in pursuing a career in the medical field and so I will undoubtedly have some experience with death over the course of my lifetime. I am sure that this class will equip me with a greater understanding of what death is and perhaps ready me for the passage of people I know or will know.