Response to Blog- Subjects

In what way has math been constructed by humans? Also, I think we tend to value natural, inherent things over the "constructed". Why is that? Is something not true just because it was constructed?

I am writing in response to Emily's blog in which she poses the above questions. In her blog she says that she prefers Math and Science of History and English because History and English seemed constructed and Math and Science is black and white. Though this is a great view I do have to disagree. I mean Science is ever changing and is not a topic that you can set in stone. One minute they say scientists have discovered that this causes cancer and the next minute it is said that that same thing that caused cancer actually prevents cancer. If any subject is constructed by man I would have to say science is number one on the list. As far as history goes, we don't know if the things that happened really did, I mean did WWI really happen or did the people of that generation just plot and decided to say it did because they were bored. The only history we truly know and truly can say happened is the history we lived through. I mean my kids may not believe me when I say to them that on my way to school one day in 2001  planes crashed into a NYC landmark and brought them down. Why should they believe me? As far as math goes, I mean who is to say that 2+2=4. All I know is that if I have two donuts and you give me two more I will be one happy person with 4 donuts.  But then this goes back to the discussion we had in class concerning the usage of numbers. The number system was made by humans so do numbers really exist outside of what we call them? Is two really two? Honestly, I think all subjects and all rules are constructed by humans and there is a flaw in almost everything. It is just up to us to believe what we feel is close to the truth. I believe truth is defined by people and the definition varies from person to person. Something isn't not true because it is constructed it just goes back, I feel, to what we are each willing to believe.

My question is when dealing with subjects in school and college how much faith should we put into our teachers/professors to lead us the right way?

Humble Humility

One of my favorite things about the subjects of life is that they all seem to intertwine. I am in a class called the future of food and we are reading a book entitled The Omnivores Dilemma by Michael Pollan. While reading this book I cam across a sentence that I found to be really interesting. The sentence said, "When poets liken people to blades of grass, it's usually to humble us, to pull the rug out from under our individuality and remind us of our existential puniness." I know this is more of a nature of human nature topic, but I found it to be a very interesting quote. People aren't aware of how small and powerless we all are. When we compare ourselves to nature, we want to be a fierce animal or a tall mighty tree, but never anything simple like a blade of grass. People want to be a whole forest than just one little tiny thing.  From time to time one may get a person that likens themselves to a humble creature such as an ant or a butterfly, but even those are movable creatures.  No one ever realizes that mankind isn't that great, I mean yea there have been a lot of cool inventions, and great discoveries, but other than that, outside of that what else are we. We are a bundle of cells, tissues and organs all neatly packed together by God to carry out His will. Why can't we just realize the reality and truth of the matter and humble ourselves?

Does the United States owe Haiti as Quigley states or do we owe them in the sense of charity?

I am responding to William Trial's blog in which he poses the above question. To be honest, sure one can dwell on the past and point fingers and say, hey remember when you invaded my country a long time ago you owe me now that I need your help. Personally, I never look for anything in return or sympathy when someone has done something wrong to me. In other words, if someone has wronged me in the past that is in the past, I am not going to play the guilt card and be like well you know you stole my chair or you kicked me in the leg now you owe me. I feel like the "remember when" game is childish and that just shows that some people aren't able to get over things and hold a grudge. As far as US and Haiti relation go, I feel like the U.S. may bring up the past and help haiti not only for chairty but also to say "hey here is a peace offering." Not everyone can get over a trauma or maybe it is just the fact that the US hates having another country against it,(although that isn't stopping them from starting wars with other countries.) I can't really give this question a yes or a no, I just know how I handle situations when I have been wronged. I feel like we owe them charity and a helpful hand in their time of need and it will just make unneccessary problems to bring up history. History should be history and thats that.
My question is, when it comes to history how much have we constructed ourselves and how much actually happened?

Faith and Philosophy

On  thing I am wondering is where does faith play a role in philosophy? I mean we will discuss truth and the different kinds of truth, but when it comes to faith in something, does truth really matter. For example, I am a Christian and I have faith in the Bible and in God, to me the Bible and my faith is true but what is true to me may not be true to others.  There are many atheist and agnostics out there, and even they have faith but they have faith that there is no God. In this search for truth, I feel like we can only get so far because everyone has their own capacity and knowledge of what truth is, the rest is just faith. When we talk about truth, I feel the truth that is talked about is mainley correspondence truth, for example "The Sky is Blue." We know that the sky is blue because we physically see that the sky is blue. So my question is as stated in the beginning what role does faith play in phlisophy?