A Letter to Dr. Sells on the Value of Philosophy
Dr. Sells, The word “philosophy” derives from the Greek word meaning “the love of wisdom.” Wisdom is an essential quality for successful people, especially with regards to collegiate schooling. In fact, wisdom is a highly recurrent theme throughout the bible. Proverbs 3:13 states, “Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding” (English Standard Version, Proverbs 3:13). Representing the Baptist branch of Christianity, it is essential for Ouachita to support wisdom in their students by allowing an introduction to philosophy class to become required. The subject analyzes how the world works and why people think what they think. It is the only subject that evaluates every
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It is the only subject that applies to all people. When students question the world around them, they recognize the value of learning, which will improve efforts in all classes. The significance of the largely encompassing subject is eloquently described in the following works: Russell’s “The Value of Philosophy,” Plato’s Apology, and Locke’s “Of Enthusiasm and the Quest for Truth.” Plato, Russell, and Locke, all enormously respected thinkers of their time, would all recommend every student to take an introduction to philosophy class throughout their time at Ouachita Baptist University. First, Bertrand Russell was a British theorist who lived during the late 1800’s. In his piece, “The Value of Philosophy,” he describes the importance of studying philosophy. He argues that the subject is studied for “enlargement of self” (Russell). Russell is accurate with this statement. Studying thought accentuates people’s wholesome qualities; …show more content…
He stated that “There is nobody in the commonwealth of learning, who does not profess himself a lover of truth; and there is not a rational creature that would not take it amiss to be thought otherwise of” (Locke). In his mind, people who are rational and intelligent seek to understand and learn the truth. Locke’s perspective on truth is accurate and important for humanity. When people study philosophy, they discover their truth about the world. Truth becomes more evident with a deep knowledge of philosophy. Truth is an essential quality for people within Ouachita Baptist University to uphold. Thus, in support of Locke’s love for truth, he would suggest that an introduction to philosophy course be added to required core curriculum for all
Philosophy is defined by Webster as "Love and pursuit of wisdom by intellectual means and moral self-discipline" or "Investigation of the nature, causes, or principles of reality, knowledge, or values, based on logical reasoning rather than empirical methods." This essay is a general look at those who pursued that intellectual means, those who investigated, even those who reasoned Reason. Because volumes could be written and this is a rather quick, unworthy paper: apologizes.
The statement “philosophy of Christian education” contains much information to be unwrapped. The term philosophy literally means, in the Greek, “love of wisdom.” In this case, the study of philosophy involves a “critical
Having discussed what philosophy is, we now consider why it is important to study philosophy. We will divide our discussion into 2 parts: (1) Why is it important for all persons in general and (2) Why is it specifically important for Christians to study philosophy? We begin, in true philosophic fashion, by examining the question itself: what we do mean by philosophy being important and we introduce the idea of the philosophic mindset. We then examine 5 reasons why it is important for all persons to adopt the philosophic mindset. We will end by providing an overview of the different branches of philosophy.
Higher education is a daunting challenge that everyone goes through. It’s the type of challenge that can lift your spirits, but at the same time it can bring you down. When I think of higher education I think of one word: stress. Where does philosophy fit in? First off, what does philosophy mean? Philosophy can mean many things to different people. It can be a belief. It can be an attitude. It can be whatever you want it to be. For me a philosophy and higher education go hand in hand. I’m very committed in my career. I have a passion for it. I have obtained valuable knowledge over the years. My philosophy of higher education fuels my passion. My philosophy helps me manage my emotions. That is why having a philosophy of higher education is important.
Philosophy is the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence, especially when considered as an academic discipline(Webster.) The value theory or value system is the system that is used in order to determine how one determines the importance of things, ideas and people. Philosophy can be a hard term or subject to fully grasp, while in actuality the word directly translated from Greek is love for wisdom. If it can be understood that philosophy is simply the love for knowledge and understanding, one could see that philosophy is essentially the study of learning how to learn, or best understand any given thing. The term philosophy
Philosophy is one of the most important subjects taught today. Philosophy can teach us things as broad as secrets of the universe and as personal as knowing right from wrong. In the following paragraphs, I will explain each concept, as well as its importance to myself.
We all have questions: what am I? What is a human being? What is the meaning of life? Where are we going as a society? Sometimes we might wake up in a cold sweat at night and despair about ever truly having the answers. We joke around with them. We brush them off. We do anything but face them. We refuse to give them power over us. These are truly questions that need to be asked that we have to confront because only with sound answers will we be able to go forward in our lives meaningfully. Philosophy empowers us to ask the big questions, the questions that matter. It is a way to not let the fear take over our lives, but to live without fear of the unknown. Even if these questions seem too broad, too all- encompassing they can be broken down
The term “philosophy” means the love of wisdom, and those that study philosophy attempt to gain knowledge through rationality and reason. 1 Socrates, the father of ancient philosophy, once stated “the unexamined life is not worth living”. This is the most important part of life and it is need to find purpose and value in life. If a person chooses to live their life without examination, their life would lack value and they would be unhappy. They would also be ignorant to the effects of their choices on themselves and the people around them.
ABSTRACT: Moral decisions concerning what ought to be done always assume metaphysical presuppositions concerning the way the world is. In the field of biomedical ethics, some of the metaphysical presuppositions underlying many current discussions of issues of life and death seem particularly implausible. These include our assumption of the reality of social atomism and our beliefs relating to the possibility of autonomy. Given the implausibility of these two assumptions, many discussions have focused our attention on the wrong issues by reducing questions of alternative social practices to questions of individual preferences. Far from facilitating intelligent solutions to our problems, this merely clouds
The essay "The Value of Philosophy" by Bertrand Russell suggests that many “practical” people view philosophy as rather useless, because these people are – according to Bertrand Russell – operating both with wrong conceptions about the ends of life and wrong conceptions about what goods philosophy strives to achieve. According to Russell the value of philosophy is in what it does for the person who studies it. He makes the point that goods of the mind are as important in life as goods of the body. He says that the main value of philosophy is that it enlarges one’s thoughts, brings one into union with the “not-Self”, and helps us avoid being caught in narrowness as human beings. His main ideas are that philosophy is to be studied to enrich our intellects, diminish our dogmatism, and make us citizens of the universe.
While it is clear that Bertrand Russell wished for the continuation of the practice of philosophy, he acknowledges most people have no idea what philosophy is, outside of the idea of a group of people thinking about life. With this writing while giving some of the products that have come from philosophy, he also warns that not all answers can be gained from the philosophy. While definite answers can be gained through the sciences, philosophic study only raises more uncertainty.
Aristotle once said, “The one exclusive sign of thorough knowledge is the power of teaching.” Teaching enables students to gain the intelligence needed to excel in life. I believe that a teacher’s philosophy of education is a crucial role in his or her approach to leading students on their educated path. A philosophy of education is the set of beliefs that every school and every teacher stand behind. The certain philosophy that one chooses provides the answers to many vital questions, such as the purpose of schooling, a teacher’s role, and what should be taught in the classroom.
In “The Value of Philosophy”, Bertrand Russell— “an important social critic and one of the greatest philosophers of the 20th century”—refutes the idea of philosophy being pointless and a waste of time (The Value of Philosophy). Although philosophers have not agreed on one exact definition for this branch of knowledge, philosophy is generally understood as an “academic discipline” which aims to cover a variety of topics through arguing, inquiring, assuming, and “testing arguments for weakness” in order to gain knowledge and grasp a better sense of life (Lectures 1-2, Package). Russell makes strong arguments for philosophy being beneficial, especially when one is open to seeking a deeper understanding of life and why the universe operates the way that it does. Despite philosophy’s inability to definitively answer the questions that it seeks to understand, in Russell’s opinion, it holds a great amount of value—one of those values being uncertainty.
Philosophy can be described as a chance for person to undertake an opportunity to understand themselves, our world and society, and relations between ourselves and one another. Those who are able to study philosophy, can find out what is to be human, what kind of person is it good to be, and especially how are we to live a good life. I, myself, have had an opportunity to take a philosophy class and as my time in philosophy is starting to come to a close, I am suddenly realizing how Philosophy has changed the aspects and my outlook upon my life.
“All things in life are philosophical.” This is a well-known quote by the renowned Greek scientist/philosopher Aristotle. When one is to imagine life without thought, free will or knowledge, they are left to only imagine the oblivion they would be left to reside in. To me, philosophy is more than ethics, esthetics, and epistemology... it is the ability to stand ones ground with certain viewpoints, attitudes and beliefs.