Our discussion touched repeatedly on quotes from the chapter in "Philosophy Bites", and also quite a bit on what "Philosophy" means to us personally. One of the questions we revolved around was what criteria makes one a Philosopher. We came up with several items, including clarity of expression, presenting an (at least somewhat) unique viewpoint, and possessing a following of people who can validate your "Philosopher-ness". Athough we also mostly agreed that anyone can be a Philosopher at any time, echoing Richard Bradley's sentiment.
Another major point of our discussion was exploring the differences between our conceptions of Philosophy and Science. We came to a consensus that Science, in our minds, usually has goals involving measurement of concrete data in a repeatable and objectively verifiable setting, whereas Philosophy tends to involve more abstract and not-as-easily-quantifiable subjects and relationships.
I enjoyed talking about how science tries to explain concrete questions, but for questions like "is there a God", science TRIES to answer but cannot because religion is not a concrete concept. It is fluid and changes between individuals and cultures.
ReplyDeleteAs the floater, I also enjoyed other groups' ideas about who can be a philosopher, and what the title of philosopher means to each of us.
As a floater I discovered that most groups associate philosophy with being anything "you" want it to be and having an open mind to things and not being STUCK in your own comfort zone of thinking what you think is correct.
DeleteI like how you brought up comfort zones, Timothy. We're all raised a certain way and learn as certain culture that we become accustomed to as we grow, which directly influences the way that we see the world, but there is so much than we can learn from other people and what they have experienced. It can be strange at first to have someone challenge everything you've believed your entire life and to hear that they see everything completely differently, but it is amazing to me to also see the similarities between people and cultures despite that. If we step outside of our norm and what is comfortable for us and allow ourselves to be open to other thoughts and possibilities, there's not a limit to the things we could learn.
DeleteBefore today I never really thought much about what philosophy is. I feel after today's group discussion I have a clearer understanding of what philosophy is. I use to think that philosophy was an exact science, and there was an exact definition for it. I liked how we discussed how there isn't a right or wrong answer to this question. It is based on how the person interprets the question. Its based on a persons own personal thoughts. We also discussed whether or not Philosophy is a science. We all pretty much agreed that it isn't, because unlike science there isn't an exact answer for philosophical questions. After today my idea on what Philosophy is has completely changed. Now I feel the answer to this question can be more creative, and doesn't have to be a exact definition.
ReplyDeleteRegan King
This discussion was really an eye opener for me. When I first decided to take this class, it was mainly because I had no idea what philosophy was. I knew it was important somehow, but I wanted to understand why. And I am glad that I am in the class because I'm learning much more than I thought I would. To know that philosophy is an ongoing process that spans cultures, languages, and countries is amazing to me. And whereas in science, you have to learn concrete truths and experiments and things that can't be argued or reasoned because that just the way they "are", in philosophy, we are all able to bring something to the table. We all have the ability to challenge, so to speak, the philosophical views of anyone else so as to either agree or disagree with them. And if we do happen to disagree with them, it doesn't make them wrong, it just means that they have a different viewpoint than us. I find that fascinating.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed yesterdays discussion on "What is philosophy" because I never really sat down and thought about that question...ever. Like I said in class, it's frustrating to me to be faced with that question when there obviously is no definite answer. Many (if not all) of the authors in PHILOSOPHY BITES even felt the same way. But walking away yesterday from class, I still thought about what makes a philosopher just that and what exactly philosophy is. In my head, a philosopher is someone who shares their wisdom and experiences of the world with others and as Stephany and others in my group agreed philosophy is being always challenged with new questions and trying to answer subjectively. I'm really glad to be in this class because it's definitely opening my mind (even though I thought I was already open minded)! :)
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed hearing and discussing with my group and the floaters about the topic of the day "What is Philosophy?". I took the class because I thought it would help me to prepare for the LSAT later on in my school year. Just listening to the view points of my fellow peers helped me to also make a defintion to what I believe it could mean. I love how everything involving it is different and open to the world and our imagination. I felt sort of ridiculous when I first started the class because I didn't know what it meant, but when I read top philosophers who also didn't know I relaxed and knew that this class would teach me several things. I will learn about each of your stances and the feeling involved in them. I believe later we will reach some hot topics and with the way it is going, we will agree on what we believe while still remaining optimistic and critical about what are beliefs and findings for it will be. I love how this topic allowed us to put our own lives into perspective while thinking of other topics that related to it. I cannot wait to discuss Juilain with you all and discuss his involvement in the Philosophy World.
ReplyDeleteMonique McIntosh