...Final Exam Essay: What is Philosophy? By definition, philosophy is the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence, especially when considered as an academic discipline. I think philosophy is the understanding and reasoning for the things we do. People question the fundamental truth about themselves and the world they live in. Generally philosophy can be divided into four major areas of study, metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and logic. The subject matter and methods of philosophy can relate to the reasons we inherit ideas generation after generation. The subject matter and method of philosophy can be split into different explanations, examples and reasons that in turn make up the understanding people have for philosophy. Philosophy proposes many different questions about beliefs and everyday ethics but it also guides people to solve the questions they have come up with. Some questions may be answered very differently depending on the person, but the goal is not merely the answer or arguments but whether or not the arguments are good and answers are true. Going more into detail about the subject matter of philosophy which is closely connected with the sort of questions that have dominated philosophical investigation. Everything in existence is the subject matter of philosophy, for example some topics may be art, beauty, cause, desire, family, god, nature, one and the many, and reasoning just to name some. The method of philosophy is the study of...
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...is defined as having a hidden meaning, and as I have quickly learned, philosophy is a very mystifying subject and is open to a wide variety of interpretation. Due to this obscurity, each person will have a different view on philosophy and will likely have changing opinions and views as they continue on their path. Heidegger describes this path as one of responding to life. More specifically, “responding to the voice of Logos which he defines as the Being of all beings, One, One which is all, Life.” As previously stated, this is a very cryptic definition that takes much deeper thought than simply reading off the page. Despite being cryptic, this vague definition gives a strong guideline to the basic idea of philosophy while still giving the reader an opportunity to interpret the definition in their own way. This definition shines light on both the basic idea of philosophy while also showing that everyone will interpret philosophy in their own way. By saying that philosophy is the One which is all, it shows that each individual person makes up a greater being which is Life. Each individual person provides their own interpretation based on their own lifestyle and past. Therefore, philosophy is the sum of all lives that can only be defined with the sum of everybody’s views and opinions. With this is mind, philosophy will be ever changing as people grow older and more people are brought into the world. What is most important about this definition is that it is timeless. This definition...
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...Part 1 1. What is Philosophy? Quite literally, the term "philosophy" means, "love of wisdom." In a broad sense, philosophy is an activity people undertake when they seek to understand fundamental truths about themselves, the world in which they live, and their relationships to the world and to each other. As an academic discipline philosophy is much the same. Those who study philosophy are perpetually engaged in asking, answering, and arguing for their answers to life’s most basic questions. To make such a pursuit more systematic academic philosophy is traditionally divided into major areas of study. Source: http://philosophy.fsu.edu/content/view/full/36588 2. What are the benefits of Studying Philosophy? Studying philosophy improves reasoning and critical skills. Skills gained by philosophy majors are useful in almost any career. * The ability to think logically * The ability to analyze and solve problems * The ability to assess proposed solutions * The ability to write and speak clearly, attending to details Students learn about questions. How to ask good questions and distinguish the worthwhile from the worthless questions. How to divide, prioritize, and simplify questions. Students are affected by learning about questions. * Studying questions liberates us from prejudice * It helps us to think independently, thus, promoting autonomy, self-government, and individuation * It broadens our perspective on life The study of philosophy benefits students intellectually...
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...To some, philosophy may seem like an ambiguous course with no real focus, and can be hard to differentiate from other studies and fields, sciences and religion in particular. However, philosophy is the study of human intellect and reasoning, or in other words, thinking about thinking. The word philosophy derives from the Greek words “philo” (meaning “love of”) and “Sophia” (meaning “wisdom”), so together it literally means “the love of wisdom.” Those who use philosophy seek total knowledge, meaning understanding and knowing everything. In order to obtain total knowledge, new knowledge must be created, which is what philosophy allows philosophers to do. The creation of new knowledge yields power, power yields freedom, and freedom yields survival. So, in a sense, the key to our survival is to use philosophy. Philosophy is used in every field of study and all aspects of life, separating it from other disciplines and faiths that it is so often confused with. There are distinct attributes about philosophy that allows it to stand on its own. Religion and philosophy are different entities, however, philosophy does impact religion. Religion can be defined as the rules for the direction of life under conditions of maximum certainty. For comparison, philosophy can be defined as the rules for the direction of maximum uncertainty. In simpler terms, philosophy is use to provide answers that we don’t know (i.e. what happens when we die). Religion, on the other hand provides those answers...
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...Before we can consider some of the questions studied by philosophy it makes sense to ask what philosophy is in the first place, although this is itself subject to much debate. In this first part of a series introducing philosophy and philosophical ideas, we begin by looking at the word and some of the historical answers given before moving on to more recent opinions, also setting out the divisions typically made and the methods employed. Historical interpretations of philosophy The word philosophy has meant different things at different times, often reflecting the culture of the day. Usually we understand the term to denote the love of wisdom, from the Greek; in this sense, as it was apparently used by the famous philosopher Socrates, it gives the impression of someone who is seeking wisdom, rather than having found it. We would only call someone a physicist, say, if he or she actually had some knowledge of physics, but we describe as a philosopher someone who is aiming at wisdom without necessarily achieving it. On the other hand, philosophy has also had the negative sense of a subject full of idle speculation, useless to the practical business of finding things out and consisting mostly in irrelevant theorising. Over the course of the history of philosophy its meaning seems to have shifted depending on the cultural climate. At some stages it was thought that the ideal state of human affairs could only come to pass when philosophers are kings or vice versa; conversely...
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...the Relationship of Facebook Usage and Loneliness Research Proposal (it was NOT conducted) Abstract The popularity of Facebook among internet users has increased, yet at the same time people start noticing the negative life influence that Facebook brings to its users. The present study furthers our understanding in how the use of Facebook affects one’s feeling of loneliness among fresh graduates who are experiencing life changing events. We look at the number of Facebook friends users have, the amount of time they spend on Facebook, the number of status posted, the number of post liked by others, and the number of pieces of personal information they share. We expect to see a strong correlation between general Facebook use and users’ sense of loneliness. However, the number of like received from others might not have a direct relationship with users’ loneliness. Result of our study could be applied to the educational field, where both teachers and students could benefit. Introduction As social media is getting more popular, Facebook is one of the few social networking sites that have generated great attention. It provides people a platform for communication and a wide range of functions, such as posting status reflecting their daily lives, liking other’s status or photo by clicking the thumb, and to share users’ personal data with others. According to the Statistics Portal (2014), Facebook is the world's leading social networking websites with 1,280 million...
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...What is your philosophy? First let us define and understand what philosophy means. Philosophy is a basic concept examined through using specific spheres of knowledge. The concepts as examined are reality, existence, truth, freedom, and causality. Philosophy is broken down into many areas of interest. We will explore them with defining each, providing a description for approaches to philosophical questions as well as explaining how philosophy and culture interaction in terms of development and thought. Also I will describe and explain my philosophical area of interest as well as how or why cultural factors influenced my choice. In knowing this there are many areas of philosophy, here are the major areas: a) Epistemology: Studying of knowledge and justified beliefs. This is how to understand concepts of justification or what makes justified beliefs justified. There are several approaches to forming or understanding the meaning. It has to be broken down in conditions. Truth what is reasonable or rational in your own point of view, belief is possession of evidence, and justification is the high objective probability of truth that if determined to be true, it is not because of any luck. b) Metaphysics: Is studying or examine the nature of reality. Science gives insight to the unanswered questions. However, when seeking the reality it is the transformation of natural philosophy derived through observation and experiment. c) Moral: One’s behavior in relations to...
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...First we should understand what the term philosophy means. In greek, Philo means love or devotion and sophia means wisdom, so philosophers are people devoted to wisdom For me, philosophy is an attempt to understand the world and ourselves. Because it is one of several ways to achieve the realization of real and things in general, and access to higher consciousness. The philosophy is to answer some fundamental questions that everyone wants to get a response like "what is the meaning of life?" "What is love?" "What is happiness?" ... These questions we despair in trying to answer them by fear or any other negative emotion, they deeply matter because with no answers we can't direct our energies meanigfully. Also philosophy helps us to detach from public opinion or common sens and make our own opinion by submitting all aspects of common sens to reason. We as humans are contradictory and mentally confused, philosophy makes us knowing ourselfs deeply... Socrates said in two words, "Know yourself." Our emotions are energy, and as we know that there are two kinds of energy, positive and negative emotions; negative emotions can send us in a dangerous direction, by analyzing and knowing our feelings, we learn to see how emotions affect our behavior in unexpected and sometimes counterintuitive and dangerous ways. For me, now philosophy has lost her weight, because it is usually represented in books, and people rarely learn from ... I believe that in ancient times, people were more...
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...What is Your Philosophy? Christopher Robinson PHL/215 December 12, 2011 Kathleen Ramsey What is Your Philosophy? How does one define his or her personal philosophy? A variety of personal, social, political, and economic circumstances help molds one’s philosophy. Using myself, as an example, I will explain how each of these areas has played some part in the molding of my personal philosophical views. The formation of my views began when I was a young child at around six or seven years old. I didn’t realize at the time of course. Only through growing up and looking back can one realize such things. According to the Performance Aid, I find myself falling into two categories of philosophy: Social and Post-Colonial. The post-colonial aspect is very easy for me to explain. One of the questions posed by post-colonial Phil osiers is “Can oral history and tradition be preserved for future generations? I believe that it can. This can only happen if we as a capitalistic society stop being so self-involved with money and possessions. We have to realize that history repeats itself in one way or another. Each generation needs to stop and take the time to learn from parents, grandparents, and great grandparents about their lives. The lives of those before you help shaped the ways and methods of thinking for the next. This could be passing along family history or traditions. I have often regretted not hearing more of my father’s stories of his time in the military. He was in, what...
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...This class will be the first philosophy class I have ever taken. My definition of philosophy is simply the quest for greater understanding of knowledge and wisdom. I feel philosophy allows people to expand their minds and dig deeper into their thoughts and feelings. In everyday life people are on an endless journey to acquire more knowledge and wisdom. Most people that attend post secondary schools often do so to acquire knowledge in order to advance their careers, while others go through continuing education in order to simply expand their current knowledge, and then, there are those who study philosophy in religion to obtain higher spiritual wisdom. In taking this class, I am participating in philosophy, on a quest to obtain higher knowledge and wisdom to help me advance myself in my everyday life and my career as a nurse. To me, being a philosopher is to be a teacher or a student who is always seeking out answers to life’s questions. A philosopher is always willing to share all findings in an effort to advance the knowledge and wisdom of everyone around. Philosophers help to create a more informed and enlightened society. I also, feel that being a philosopher is to be an “Indiana Jones”, always searching for the next holy grail of knowledge on a never ending quest to find the answers to “why” and “how”. As far as, why the University of Notre Dame requires students to take two philosophy classes, I thought it was just like every other requirement you had to...
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...Philosophy is an academic subject that exercises reason and logic in an attempt to understand reality and answer fundamental questions about knowledge, life, morality, virtue, and human nature. The original word for philosophy comes from the ancient Greek word philosopha, which means love of wisdom. Although Socrates himself never claimed to have any answers to the questions he raised, his views and methods of philosophy became the foundations of what philosophy is today. Socrates actually wrote nothing, because he felt that knowledge was something to be gained by living and interacting in the world. So most of what we do know about Socrates comes from the writings of another very important person in Greek history, Plato. Socrates’ philosophy was based on pursuit of truth through the questioning of beliefs, virtue being defined as knowledge and talking about the elements that make up a good life. Greek philosophy before Socrates is called Pre-Socratic philosophy and the origin of western philosophy can be found early Greek thinkers of the 6th and 7th century BC. The Pre-Socratic philosophers were called physiologoi; physical or natural philosophers and they lived and taught in Asia Minor, Thrace, Sicily and south Italy. The Pre-Socratic philosophy is a philosophy of nature. The Pre-Socratic combined Greek mythology with rational thinking and sought all the forces which compose nature. Socrates grew up in the atmosphere of the Pre-Socratic thought and explored their knowledge...
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...Leadership philosophy serves as a basis on how we act as leaders. It is personal; something we choose that defines our expectations, values and acts. My leadership philosophy began to take shape earlier in my career, where I had the opportunity to meet and work for outstanding leaders. Leaders that had the inner drive to always improve and not be afraid of making mistakes. Leaders that taught me not to be satisfied with the “status quo”, especially in times of change and unexpected challenges. They were visionaries that inspired me and set the leadership foundation for my upcoming professional years. I will always remember their attributes, competencies and power to motivate others. Becoming an effective leader is not something...
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...nature or imperfection as Conservatism as a whole encompasses different strands or beliefs within it. For example One Nation conservatives have a different philosophy on human imperfection than New Right conservatives do. One Nation conservatives hold the belief that we as humans are: greedy and have a limited capacity for altruism, a complex mix of emotions and contradictory motivations making us irrational, not totally consistent and are at balance the majority of the time with corruption. They believe that our inherent imperfect human nature stems from original sin, the Christian Belief. This shows a wholesome negative outlook on human nature. The New Right on the other hand is more positive as a result of the neo-liberal ideological view that we are in fact rational, shown by the classical liberal belief in self-regulating society and a ‘realm of coercion’. However, as the New Right is a marriage of neo-liberal and neo-conservative views there is also the negative view of human nature present, as held by traditional conservatives. At the heart of the debate, obviously is whether or not conservatism is a philosophy of imperfection, it is my view that it is a philosophy of imperfection to a large extent, as I will explain now. To begin, it is important to quote O’Sullivan who in 1976 said that conservatism is a ‘philosophy of imperfection. He said this, as unlike many ideologies which believe that humans are naturally good or at least can be made good through the improvement...
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...Guidwine Bien-Aime South University Online PHI 2301 Prof. Pieragastini 02/14/15 “The issue of same-sex marriage is both politically and socially polarizing because it is so often closely tied to deeply-held personal convictions, beliefs, and principles” (Dolan, P. 2013). Everyone knows same sex marriage is a big issue that we all have opinion against. It ties into belief, culture, race, and confusion. Everyone wants love but is same sex consider love? Only people that’s gay, lesbian, transsexual, and bisexual can explain why they choose to go in that path. So what do we have to say about the people that take part in the reunite of the marriage? Do we have the right to judge people? “Same-sex marriage promises to be one of the defining issues of the twenty-first century” (Dolan, P. 2013). “While supporters of same-sex marriage have welcomed a shift in the public's perception and increasing acceptance of same-sex marriage in the last decade, controversy remains over how to balance the competing rights between marriage equality and religious freedom” (Dolan, P. 2013). “While most same-sex marriage statutes around the country include religious exemptions for religious officials, it is unclear how, or whether, these protections should extend to wedding service providers who have a religious objection to same-sex marriage” (Dolan, P. 2013). “Conflicts between same-sex couples seeking wedding services and wedding service providers who have religious objections to same-sex...
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...Philosophy in time has been regarded as the most abstract and abstruse of all disciplines. Worst of it is the question “what is philosophy?” which is in itself a controversial question both to philosophers and the lay man. “But though many people have come to think of philosophy as a remote discipline that is far from normal interest and beyond comprehension, nearly all of us have some philosophical view of life. Consciously or unconsciously, whether we accept it or not most of us even as we are vague about what philosophy is, the term usually appear in our conversation.” In this essay review, what is philosophy, by H.S. Staniland, we shall come to discover that philosophy is more practical to life. And that its supposed abstract nature -which may be true due to the engagement of the early Ionian philosophers in cosmological speculation, provides only a distorted image of what professional philosophy really is. In this review, we shall first examine the activities of some people who have since been regarded as philosophers. Next we shall give a definition of philosophy as seen by Staniland. Furthermore we shall highlight, evaluate and elaborate on various arguments in Staniland’s essay. Finally we shall conclude. “At different ages and accross distant places and culture, various people who have been regarded as philosophers, and who have engaged very seriously in philosophizing have had varying aims. Some like Saint Augustine of Hippo have been religious leaders, who...
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