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Section #14 Group#1 (Socrates)

       During the class discussion of August 30,2012, we,as Group #1, initiated the group discussion by becoming acquainted with one another, by going around our close knit circle introducing ourselves. Shortly afterwards, we all took a brief moment to think about who Socrates was to us and about the impact he had on the philosophical world. But then, we quickly came to realize that neither of us had taken a moment to share our individual views on what philosophy itself actually means to us. Not surprisingly, an assortment of opinions were shared one after the other, with the definition of philosophy ranging from the way an individual thinks all the way to the reason why people lead the different lives that they do. Although that point in our session was fairly intriguing to listen to, one of the most interesting topics brought up during the course of the discussion was about the people that we considered to be brilliant philosophers. One particular member of Group #1 caused us all to see philosophy in a non traditional light ,while using the general concept of philosophy that we as group developed,  as he professed to us how individuals unlike Socrates and Plato the like, but more like authors such as Mark Twain, could be brilliant philosophers. His reasoning being that Mark Twain frequently pondered about the "quirks" of life and humans, as well as their nature, all while criticizing his own life and way of thinking. In continuation of the discussion, we all then analyzed the similarities and differences in our views before revealing a few of our own personal philosophies, like minding one's own business, prior to closing out our session. Furthermore, our first group discussion went pleasingly well, and I'm sure there will be more to come!