KOSTKA’S CLASSPAGEDecember 2013

 

Keywords from the book

INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM

Justification: We think that individual freedom is a keyword because the EU is a team, but each member state is free to decide for their own future. There is also freedom of expression. So you can’t go to jail for expressing what you think.

Dictionary Definition Individual freedom: Self-autonomy and self-government. Personal liberty.

HARMONY

Justification: We think that harmony is a keyword because Europe now is in harmony, it is in peace, there is balance and cooperation between the countries, although that harmony has been in danger recently.

Dictionary Definition Harmony: Agrement in opinions, actions, feelings…

VALUESDictionary definition: In ethics, value denotes something's degree of importance, with

the aim of determining what action or life is best to do or live, or at least attempt to describe the value of different actions.

Justification: We think that values it’s a key word because Europe has a lot of values and it wants to expand beyond its borders. Europe has values like:bioethics, environment, human rights...

LANGUAGESDICTIONARY DEFINITION: A system for the expression of thoughts, feeling, etc, by the

use of spoken sounds or conventional symbols. JUSTIFICATION: All the modern European languages were formed through migrations in

the past, and now they represent the long common Euroepan history, but they also symbolise diversity, and sometimes the difficulty to communicate.

CULTUREDICTIONARY DEFINITION: The total of the inherited ideas, beliefs, values, and

knowledge, which constitute the shared bases of social action and the total range of activities and ideas of a group of people with shared traditions, which are transmitted and reinforced by members of the group

JUSTIFICATION: We choose these word because we think that Europe is a union of cultures, which tries to make the EU inhabitants aware of their cultural diversity (ex: The European Capita for Culture, which changes every year). The sum of theses cultures form a European Culture

CIVILIZATIONDICTIONARY: A human society that has highly developed material and spiritual

resources and a complex cultural, political, and legal organization; an advanced state in social development

DEFINITION: We choose this word because it represents all the people from EU. For example, let´s thinks about the Greek civilization. They had one alphabet, one religion, one government, only one system of laws, one political system… But if now we start looking at European union, can we say that we are a civilization? Each counry has their own laws, alphabet, political system, different religions, but we also have the European union, with tha same laws, political system… We try to live in harmony with different languages, religons… so are we really a civilization?

Key-images from the book

COUNCIL OF EUROPE

We think that the Council of Europe is a keyword because it’s an international Organization that was born right after WWII. Although it is not an institution of the EU, it is like an ancestor, whose aim was peace between the European Countries. And peace is only achievable through political debate and cooperation.

THE GREEKS

The Greeks spread throughout europe colonized much of this. It was the first empire in Europe. Yet many important buildings from that era are preserved, but above all the inheritance is present in our everyday life (for example in our language: Psychology, Democracy, Philanthropy…)They brought Mathematics, Astronomy, etc…but their greatest contribution to our modern civilization is Philosophy and Democracy.

Own keywords

CRISISWe choose this word because it’s a word that exist in europe, in many

countries from europe exist the crisis. Crisis is any event that is, or is expected to lead to, an unstable and dangerous situation affecting most coutries of the european union, coutries like Spain, Greece, France, Italy, etc.

We think that the euro, is an element that represent us, because it’s unic and we only have it here. So, it represent us. We think too that Europe is a big economic power, now that (ya que) inside Europe we have lot of things that are necessary and that the other continents need, we mean, that we export lot of food, clothes...

ECONOMIC POWER

Own key-images

EURO CURRENCY

We think that Euro is a keyword because it's a new currency that has introduced in the 2001. It's a symbol that represents the Union of Europe.

COOPERATIONWe choose cicle of people because we think that Europe is a very union.Every people of the European Union have some friends that are her or his cercle. So , we think

that have a circle of people arround you will be greatful for yourself.

CLASS’S DEFINITION OF EUROPE For us, at the beginning of Europe were the Greeks, who developed a lot of things

and they set the base of the civilization that we now are, they set the base for the the Roman culture, they introduced architecture, astrology, history, maths, medicine, philosophy, politics, theatre, sport... and it this knowledge expanded around Europe and the World.

They also had "polis“, the first political system, which inspired today’s politics: after WWII, before the EU, there was the Council of Europe, which was like a Greek council, it consisted of cooperation between the states of the EU continent

Later was created the European Union, which has enlarged a lot since its creation. The EU’s first objective was more economical than political, it wanted to create a World Economic Power, symbolised by a new currency, the Euro.

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But nowadays, the World’s economy, and particularly the European one, is in crisis, which makes people and states more focused on their individual or national problem than on the future of the EU, and this is a threat.

Finally, we can say that Europe is full of variety, it has a lot of cultures, languages, values that we recuperated after the two World wars, and we reached the harmony, that is peace plus cooperation, between countries that used to be enemies (like Germany and France).

In the EU there isn’t only a personal individual freedom (each citizen is now more free to decide where they want to live, study, work… in the EU), there is also individual freedom for the member states, that is to say, the EU is not like a dictatorship, each country can be in the EU and decide for their own future at the same time (whether to adopt the Euro or keep their currency to be in the Schengen area or not…).

Thanks for your attention!!!