What Is Philosophy?
Evan: A lot of philosophy is asking why.
Robyn: Keith Ward said “I think philosophy is the pursuit of
wisdom, and that includes spiritual wisdom. So this means asking questions
about the nature of human self and the nature of reality, and how this will affect
your life in practice. “
Oprah has a Lifeclass and it answers and teaches questions
of life by the experiences of others. This lead to the question, asked by Professor Oliver, “Is Oprah a
philosopher?” She asks the hard questions and critiques things in depth. Many may say yes.
Floater: Philosophy can be defined as trying to answer questions that are indefinable.
Our group thought that was a great way to explain the wondering of the unknown.
Graham: It could be seen as educated opinions on why, what?
We reintroduced ourselves again to gather ideas. We discussed the philosophy
of what a sport is. We went into the definition and discussed the difference of
a band vs. marching band because one has more of an athletic component. This
led us into a discussion of musicians, and instruments vs. voice. After that we
asked, “Would all singers be considered musicians?”
Everything we discussed tied into the philosophical aspect of everything being relative.
I find it interesting that while no one could simply identify exactly what philosophy was, our discussion showed the action of philosophy. So is philosophy more of a label, or an action? When you stop and think about it, we all play devil's advocate and question things we encounter in our daily lives. This shows how natural the idea of philosophy may be, even if it's too complex to explain.
ReplyDeleteI agree about philosophizing being an action, but what do u mean by devils advocate?
DeleteThe inertia we all—even philosophers themselves—feel whilst trying to "define" philosophy says something about its nature. Given its scope, it's not surprising that the word itself transcends a specific meaning. But if a definition really were necessary, somebody would have come up with one by now, or at least attached significance to an adequate one, at best, for which we all would settle (as religion does). Now, if philosophy had a specific definition as, say, physics does, would it still be philosophy? Or would the definition itself confine it and restrict it? (Discussion question) It seems as if philosophy rejects the parameters of meaning.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's because philosophy deals with something that, itself, transcends words. Again, if the answers to the questions are what is most important, somebody would have provided us with the answers by now. But do ends really justify the means? Philosophy would have already ceased if answers were all that we were looking for. I think what's important in philosophy is the act of asking questions. We might not come up with an answer, but something much more: a deeper understanding of what we know, and a realization of what we don't. We won't find whatever it is we are searching for with empirical formulas or the scientific method. Maybe what fuels philosophy is the fluency of the question. Unlike an answer, a question has room to grow and change. It has possibilities. And a philosophical question just seems different from a scientific one. The former seems to echo and reverberate, while the latter just falls, flatly, on its singular path.
To me, philosophy acknowledges "what is not" when "what is" proves inadequate. But it also goes on and questions what we constitute as "what is"/"what is not," and why.
As revealed by our conversation, even the evaluation of the self branches off into a number of philosophical musings. Who are we, both as individuals and as parts of a whole? Even the labels with which we identify ourselves can be questioned—what is a sport? what is a musician? If Descartes' "I think, therefore I am" statement rings true, then we are anything and everything in the world. In contrast, on the opposite end of the spectrum, we are nothing.
I enjoyed our group discussion on what Philosophy is. Having several different perspectives, from people who don't have much in common, will be cause for great discussion in the coming months. Looking forward to a great time in this class!
ReplyDeleteTo me, Philosophy is the analysis of the fundamental nature of knowledge. Consider what we think we know, and try to wrap our brains around the "what" and "why" is it.
Although I wasn't floating at the time of philosophical discussion per se, (I arrived during your later reintroduction) I could tell that your group seemed a lot more enthusiastic about gathering for group discussion and wanting to gain a higher understanding of life in general through the course, then the others. The argument of whether or not a voice can be considered an instrument is certainly brain stimulating, and I'm sure something just as simple as that question would receive a large number of different answers from our classmates, each coming from a different point of view.
ReplyDeleteKrysta, I really enjoyed reading your thought-provoking response! You are correct, the whole point of philosophy is for a general broadening of our ideas in regards to everything we've ever learned really. Gaining a deeper understanding of something could make us come to brand new realizations on the matter, but at the same time this new understanding could make us take a step back and say, "Wow, before being introduced to this new perspective, I actually knew nothing" - which is difficult for a lot of people to admit. We are constantly learning each and every day. And each human being on this planet has something new to offer us in terms of new information to process. If Philosophy is supposed to teach us anything, it teaches us that possibilities are endless, and we all should remain as open-minded as possible. :)
I was very surprised with how much we accomplished in that short amount of time. Especially as much as we jumped around. I'm excited we got a floater to comment about how active we were in our discussion. Awesome work everyone.
ReplyDeleteTony B. What is philosophy? To me its the outlook and angle you look at life. The outlook being the direction you see the path to happiness, some loose this path and turn to have the inward look and are generaly pissy people. The angle has to do with how much comedy and smiles you want in your life. Sometimes you can find happiness in a akward corner of the brain. Without looking you may miss it. Discussion was great the chemistry was good between everyone. The easiest way to explain philosophy is to be yourself and honest about your actions if you pay attention to those you will understand your own philosophy.
ReplyDeleteI also had a great time with the group discussion. I think that Philosophy is a lot of educated opinions trying to answer why or what. I can not wait for the further topics to arise in the class for future debate.
ReplyDeleteWe really did not answer any questions but we did bring up a few interesting ideas and built up on others, such as "are singers musicians?". Ran though longer reintroductions which was nice. To answer any question in life though, the older i get the slower I am to responding and longer I am to think about before answering.
ReplyDeleteAs the floater it seemed that all of the groups seemingly agreed that there isn't a clear cut definition of "Philosophy". Though if I had to pick one definition it would be that Philosophy is the desire for knowledge.
ReplyDelete