Oliver Cromwell
In TOK class, we were looking at the study of History. In particular, we talked about the Statue of Liberty and the history behind the Statue has changed due to Trump being president. History is defined as “the branch of knowledge that deals with past events; the formal records or study of past events, especially human affairs,” (Cambridge English Dictionary). I find the erection of statues very fascinating because how does one have the ability to change the history of the statue or remove it after many years of the statue being there. For this blog post, I will be discussing the erection of Oliver Cromwell Statue. Statues symbolize many things within our society. Besides power, statues, and significance, status solidifies the values between individuals by strengthening both collective and national identities.
The Oliver Cromwell statues is located outside the House of Commons of the United Kingdom in Westminster, London. The Cromwell statue was designed by Hamo Thornycroft in 1899. Hamo Thornycroft was an English Sculptor famous for some of the most important statues in London. Thornycroft was one of the leading exponents of the New Sculpture, a movement in British sculpture reacting against the neo-classicism of mid-Victorian sculpture. Before the Cromwell Statue was erected the Cromwell statue was believed to be a source of controversy, “the Irish Nationalists voted against its installation because of the ghastly activities of Cromwell’s troops on innocent folk during the invasion of Ireland in AD 1649.” The removal of the statue had a huge discussion since “the iconoclasm of the English civil wars was neither ordered or carried out by Cromwell,” said Mr. Goldsmith. Many of the royalists thought that Oliver Cromwell was a traitor for overthrowing the monarchy. The Irish believed that Cromwell was a murder.
Oliver Cromwell was a fanatical puritan who enforced the abolition of Christmas. Cromwell is considered to be one of the most significant figures in British History, therefore he deserves to be remembered even if it is negative or positive. Many historians say that Cromwell should be commemorated outside the parliament, however the values which both symbolize differently. The parliament is referred to Britons as the beacon of both democracy and equality, however, Cromwell was seen as a controversial figure in Ireland due to his legacy. Oliver Cromwell is considered to be one of the most controversial figures in the history of the British Isles. However, Cromwell was a notable historic figure who deserved the statue outside Westminster. The removal of this statue was outrageous because there are other statues that should have been erected, such as Lord Protector because he upset many however not the Irish. The Cromwell statue shouldn’t have been erected because now a part of history is lost because the future generations won’t understand what’s happening with the statue.
The changing historiography of Cromwell also contributes to his statue’s merit. The fact that controversy surrounding the statue is not a recent issue. The statue was shown in 1899 and received a lot from the house of lords. The whole point of having a statue is not to strengthen a status, however, it is up to the public. I think Cromwell's statue shouldn’t have been erected because he was uniting public opinion.
The Statue of Oliver Cromwell is holding a bible in his left arm. In his right hand, Cromwell is holding a sword. The Cromwell statue was dressed in his military office, without his hat.
“Math began as discovery, description of the real world and the need to see patterns, but now it is beyond reality.” Polanyi
Many people explain our existence through faith in a religion, some with natural sciences, and some don't believe we exist at all. The way we understand the world is through different applications of mathematics. Math can only be counted as a belief system. It is considered to be one of the most “certain” areas of knowledge because it is not false. Theorems that have yet to be proven in math aren’t considered to be truths and are therefore not mixed in the concept you call “real” mathematics. The idea of this certainty is fascinating though because you then have to consider if math was created, discovered, or a mix of both. Polyani says in his quote “Math began as discovery, description of the real world and the need to see patterns, but now it is beyond reality.” I feel like this quote has much truth behind it and that the origin of mathematics is not black and white.
The quote says: “Math began as discovery.” As we started to develop ourselves, we tend to explain the world around us. The development of speech, forms of writing, and even math were all to communicate with each other. I do think that math exists naturally in the world, but it is our need to communicate it that makes it “math.” Before we were born, math was simply there, and that was just about it. Math is it’s own language, whether it’s symbols that represent complicated ideas, or just numbers that we are taught when we were in kindergarten. I believe this is what we created. We put our labels, our language on something natural, for example, the Fibonacci Sequence: a sequence of numbers where a number is found by adding the previous two numbers together. Then it can be translated into a spiral with the so-called “golden ratio.” We can also connect it to AOK, Art. Math can be played a huge role in art, whether it is symmetry, a math concept, beautiful when applied to art. The “golden ratio” has been applied to art. All of this is to make something more “beautiful,” or pleasing to the eye.
The other part of the quotes says, “...now it is beyond reality” is a bit more complicated. The Quadratic equation - negative B plus minus the square root of B squared minus four times A times C over two times A - it makes us start to think whether math is “natural” or “discovered.” I don't think anyone can point it to a place and date where it can be shown clearly. The hardest part to do is state whether math is created or discovered. I believe that at pretty much the beginning of when simple math that you learned as a kid. The idea of the number line 1 to 10, etc. I can see how that is observed in the world, but the concept of negative numbers as created, where is that in nature? By already classifying negative numbers as created, it’s not looking good for the amount of math we have created.