This is a tougher question than I thought... I had to really think about it! But if I could go back in time, I would want to go to the prairie days and talk to people about how they viewed life. I think this choice is inspired by the severe addiction I had to Little House on the Prairie books when I was little. But really, it would be interesting to compare the "American spirit" from back then to how it is now. Since people had to do pretty much everything for themselves, and didn't have shopping malls or movie theaters, it would be interesting to conduct a study of how parts of life like work and leisure were seen.
Also, I've always wanted to go to a good barn raising. So this would be my chance :)
I would want to go back to early modern England around the late 1590's in order to walk around for a while and get a feel of the place. Then I would try to get some people to talk for a while about their bodies and ways of experiencing the world. And though perhaps this is too obvious, I would want to see Shakespeare and listen to him speak and watch him write, get a sense of what that process is like.
I would go live with John Stuart Mill. Possibly the smartest man of the last 300 years, and his social views are still much more advanced than most of us. His intelligence throws into question our notions of moral progress as well as our belief in our contemporary exceptionalism. My guiding question would be: If we have made so much "progress" since his lifetime, why do his ideas still strike us as so original.
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This is a tougher question than I thought... I had to really think about it! But if I could go back in time, I would want to go to the prairie days and talk to people about how they viewed life. I think this choice is inspired by the severe addiction I had to Little House on the Prairie books when I was little. But really, it would be interesting to compare the "American spirit" from back then to how it is now. Since people had to do pretty much everything for themselves, and didn't have shopping malls or movie theaters, it would be interesting to conduct a study of how parts of life like work and leisure were seen.
Also, I've always wanted to go to a good barn raising. So this would be my chance :)
I would want to go back to early modern England around the late 1590's in order to walk around for a while and get a feel of the place. Then I would try to get some people to talk for a while about their bodies and ways of experiencing the world. And though perhaps this is too obvious, I would want to see Shakespeare and listen to him speak and watch him write, get a sense of what that process is like.
1904 World's Fair in St. Louis or the late 60's-70's for all the cultural upheaval in general. I feel like I should have lived then, anyway...
I would go live with John Stuart Mill. Possibly the smartest man of the last 300 years, and his social views are still much more advanced than most of us. His intelligence throws into question our notions of moral progress as well as our belief in our contemporary exceptionalism. My guiding question would be: If we have made so much "progress" since his lifetime, why do his ideas still strike us as so original.
I would also add a question mark to that last sentence.
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