In the text “An Invitation to Philosophy” written by Bryan Magee, Magee defines two branches of philosophy based on two fundamental questions of philosophy, discusses the importance of reason in philosophy, and explains the difference among asking questions and the beginning of ‘doing’ philosophy.
When people ask questions such as “What is freedom?” or “What is equality?” It can be supposed that they are beginning to “do” philosophy to a moderate extent since philosophic discussions begin with broad questions that can be approached and interpreted in a variety of ways. These questions can be interpreted literally, referring to the definitions of the words “Freedom” and “Equality”. In that case this would not be considered philosophy for the
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The first question is “What is the nature of whatever it is that exists?” This question represents a large subdivision of philosophy called ontology, pursuing rational conclusions about what exists and the nature of existence. The second fundamental question is “How if at all, can we know?” This question embodies another major branch of philosophy called epistemology, this subdivision pursues the nature of knowledge and if an individual can know anything.
In the document “The Philosophic Life” written by Richard Shusterman, Shusterman compares and contrasts two forms of philosophy, explores the concept of “an art of living”, explains the use of writing as a tool to aid in the pursuit of philosophy as an art of living, and describes how knowledge can help one in the pursuit of living well.
The first form of philosophy mentioned by Shusterman is theory. He describes theory as analytically forming and critiquing major ideas ranging from human nature to the typical topics in academic philosophy (justice, truth, and knowledge for example). The second form of philosophy important to his argument is “an art of living”.
Thoreau used the term “an art of living” to describe his image of a true philosopher, one who teaches others by his behavior in practicing model behavior in their life. Examples of thinkers who view philosophy in this fashion are; Cicero, Epictetus, Seneca and
John Downe, a weaver, letters’ was written to convince his wife to immigrant to the United States from England. Downe use of positive connotation towards America throughout the letter is to substantiate the encouraging side effect of hope. He emphasized all the benefits and opportunities in America by using a persuasive and common-man tone. Downe’s letter uses a variety of literary devices, especially positive imagery, syntax structures and effective diction to present the idea of generosity and abundance that is offered in America.
According to Simon Blackburn, philosophy can be different things depending on how it’s used, and it can be used many different ways. When used as a method, philosophy studies the same world as science, but uses rational arguments as proof rather than scientific observations. Although, when thought of as a subject matter rather than a method, philosophy becomes a specific area of study, trying to answer questions that have not yet been answered and concern humanity using the three foundational philosophical questions: what exists, what do we know, and what should we do. These are the basic questions philosophers use to prove their arguments. The third way to use philosophy, according to Blackburn, is
For the purposes of this essay it is important to establish what is meant by a valid and a sound in relation to arguments. The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy defines valid and sound in respects of philosophical argument. A argument is
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.
Socrates, a Greek philosopher, once said that “the unexamined life is not worth living” (Apology 38b). Like Socrates, Albert Camus believed that a man needs to live meaningfully.
On Friday night I went to Carpe Café and saw TJ Magee perform. She sang and played the piano throughout the entire performance. The performer started her own career. She created her album. She now plays at local clubs and cafes. She said her goal is to get big one day, but at the moment she is just happy to be doing what she loves. Going into the night I didn’t know what to expect. I thought it would be a little awkward to go to a café and listen to a solo performance. I thought that since the café was a little dive in Smyrna that she wouldn’t have been as good. I was definitely wrong. She was a really great singer. The people at the café were all dressed casual and it was a wholesome family friendly type performance. There weren’t many people there, but definitely enough to make an impression. The vibe was very chill. No one got up and danced, but it could have happened. The audience did sing along several times throughout the performance. She was very upbeat and had a ton of charisma.
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.
To begin, it is important to understand and analyze what philosophy is and ultimately what a philosophical question is. Philosophy is a quest after knowledge. Philosophy is the action of thought and analysis, in fact, it is a pretty unique type of
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.
Ontology deals with questions concerning what entities exist or can be said to exist. What do we know? What are we certain of? What can we prove? What is the nature of existence? Epistemology is the study of knowledge. How do we know what we know? How can we establish truth and certainty? Are their limits to what we can know based on how we come to know it? These epistemological questions when combined with ontological questions have philosophers pondering what exists and how we know it exists.
Let’s review the problems of philosophy, and then make conclusion, what is the value of philosophy.
In view of the ever increasing relevance of the media in our social milieu, it has become imperative to interrogate the philosophical thrust of the media as a discourse or a discipline .This paper will attempt to discuss the preposition to establish the differences or otherwise. Before the dialogue, it will be imperative to attempt a tacit definition of some basic concepts to get a full grasp of the logic of this paper. Philosophy is a derivative from Greek words, Philean-love and Sophia-knowledge, so it stands for love for wisdom. An all embracing definition for philosophy has been debated for years; some see the subject as meaningless speculation, while others see it as the real quest to decipher man’s deepest challenges. A more acceptable definition may be: The study of the problems associated with life, wisdom, behaviour, reason, human existence and language.Second, The media can be defined as the channel for the distribution of news, entertainment, data, and education through the internet, it also includes text messages, email, flash drives DVD’s and CD’s etc.
Bertrand Russell’s essay addresses many issues concerning philosophy. In the writing, he states philosophy’s nature, value, and criticisms. The essay explains these aspects of the study of philosophy in relatively different ways. The main idea for establishing value in his essay is by explaining how it is best obtained, and its effect on other people. The essay continues with his criticisms of those who opposed
This essay is reflection about my understanding from what I have learned during this class about what philosophy is. Philosophy is a broad topic and can be hard to understand. What we learn is class about philosophy defiantly makes me think and makes my brain turn all the time, but so far, my understanding is that philosophy is the study of knowledge. It breaks down what everything is. Examples used in class are chariness, deskness, and the main one sued in class “cupness”.
In this introduction to philosophy course, when i taken the course what i was though that about the philosophy was that is related to Individual’s ways. How to examining every situation happening with thing has different philosophical approach in life attending at the first few sessions came to know about that What I think about philosophy is something different way. In the major part of the Philosophy is deals with arguments and counter statements I know a lot of things about during this sessions philosophy means study of general and fundamentals problems. I learned how to think philosophically and how to argument in philosophy. I also encountered the philosophical concepts and through the ideas that which i have not thought about them. Philosophy is nothing but whatever is happen or going around us and around the world.