Hi, Amanda! First, I'm sorry for the ridiculously slow response to your email. In Summer I stay clear of the computer and email as much as possible. I appreciate and admire your early enthusiasm for the philosophy course. Your curiosity is certainly justified since, as you may have noticed, philosophy is given little chance to speak for itself in the K-12 education system. So for most students it really is a new occasion for asking questions and trying to think straight about big questions. Philosophy is a practice of patient thinking. That is probably its chief characteristic, along with others like logic and creativity. Have a look at this short essay by Simon Critchley and let me know what you
In John Patrick Shanley’s “Doubt”, a priest is accused by a nun of raping the first African American boy of St. Nicholas, a Catholic Church and school in the Bronx, New York. This parable is placed in the year of 1964. Therefore, when Shanley writes the African American young boy is—per Sister Aloysius—raped, it is only to make the boy an easy target because of the time period and the social events that took place around that time. In “Doubt”, Sister Aloysius becomes suspicious and warns another nun to be aware of her surroundings, which causes suspicion of a priest, Father Flynn, raping a young boy, Donald Muller. Sister Aloysius then confronts Father Flynn, and eventually causes him to leave the church. At the end of the play, Sister James and Sister Aloysius are conversing and Sister Aloysius admits to doubting he done the action. Sister Aloysius is quick to accuse Father Flynn of being involved inappropriately with Donald because she is not comfortable with affection toward students.
Philosophy is a very important part of people’s lives. Philosophy is quite basically asking inquiries about existence, reality and nature of knowledge. To better understand philosophy we must look throughout history. Looking back through history helps better show what the philosophers thought during the time period in which they lived. The relativity of the theories, to the time period, is a very important factor in how efficient these theories they were. The first philosopher’s ideas to people today would be considered either very basic, or insane. Yet, in the time period they lived in, they were considered to be geniuses. Also, looking back through time and studying philosophers and what they believed can help create a better idea for
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 book Into the Wild the main character, Chris Mccandless, made a rational decision to exclude himself from human society because he believed that going beyond what his parents and society wanted he would live a happier life. Chris wanted to leave society and venture into the wilderness to find the true meaning of who he was. Chris Mccandless was neither crazy or ignorant to live off in the wild where there was no people or anything to interact with but nature. Chris wanted to find his inner self and not only was he a role model for kids all across the country but he also followed his dream. Even though it was selfish of him to leave his family, Chris Mccandless is not crazy because he followed his dream, lived his life the way he wanted to, and went into the wild to find who he truly was.
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.
Simon Legree was just in his ways of dealing with his slaves. Slaves wanted to escape and even didn’t do their amount of work for the day and needed to be punished.
This Thursday, I was asked to read and present on Humphreys' chapter 2. I hope to bring forth some things that were not said in discussion, but some repetition is necessary to recap the main argument. Essentially, Simon Caney, the author of this piece, argues that a human rights approach is a useful way to think about climate change, and that it covers territory that other approaches do not. He spends some time talking about what human rights are, defining them as: "moral thresholds to which all individuals are entitled, simply by virture of their humanity, and which override all other moral values." This is a satisfactory defintion, and fits what we have discussed in class. Caney also talks about positive vs negative rights. Negative means the government cannot infringe, positive means the
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.
The article “Andrei Chikatilo” is a biography about the notorious Ukrainian serial killer Andrei Chikatilo, known for killing and eating the body parts of fifty people between 1978 and 1990. It covered information about Chikatilo’s terrifying childhood along with his murders and cannibalistic tendencies. The article also gave strange but interesting facts about Chikatilo’s brother who had been kidnapped and eaten by neighbours. This seems to be the reason why Chikatilo ate his victims as well, as revenge to the person/people who killed and ate his brother. This source was highly informative and provided strong factual information about Andrei Chikatilo’s childhood, killings, and his prison sentence. The article also stated that he had
The main goal in philosophy is to shows us the right way on how to live a great life and to understand its meaning and purpose. Every philosopher has their own blueprint, which includes different methods and rules on how to reach that goal; these include backing up your opinions with reason, seeking secure foundations in ‘objective truth’, thinking outside of your own perspective, and seeking intellectual and moral excellence, wisdom and prudence. Philosophy will help you analyze and learn about your own knowledge, freedom, morality, religion, and the meaning of life.
Philosophy is the study of examining and thinking about questionable ethical problems and/or generally accepted certainties. Philosophy aims at knowledge that combines a variety of academic fields as well as convictions, prejudices and beliefs.
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.
Without philosophy the world would be incomplete. It is common knowledge that there is gray in every argument, even the most miniscule, it is never black or white. Philosophy is what the gray area consists of, different beliefs and ideas that cannot fit in either of the two groups. That is what makes philosophy significant; there are no limits to it. There are no boundaries to what the
Chris Mccandless was a man that many would call crazy or maybe even immoral. He left everything to live in the wild and become “one with nature”. He had determination, a strong mindset, fearlessness and courage. I believe that my life and the life of Chris Mccandless are not similar in any aspect. In fact I wish that my life was more like his and that I had the drive and determination to do what he did.
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”.