A collaborative search for wisdom, at Middle Tennessee State University and beyond... "The pluralistic form takes for me a stronger hold on reality than any other philosophy I know of, being essentially a social philosophy, a philosophy of 'co'"-William James
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
Food for Thought (14)
I apologize for posting on the blog without the post being related to our class (although, since our class IS philosophy, I guess it does relate). I just needed others' insight on an idea I ran across in my religion class, and since I wish to be a Philosophy minor, I was hoping for some other thoughts on a question I stumbled upon... (Anyone, please feel free to comment on this).
I was studying a textbook from my Religion class when I came across the Author's claim that "to truly understand something, you must be able to define it." He was referring to the broad topic of religion, but do you agree? I wasn't sure if it was necessary to be able to literally DEFINE religion, or other examples, to actually understand the subject.
Thanks! -David S.
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I believe there is some truth to at. If you are able to thoroughly and accurately define a religion, then it shows that you have a good understanding of it.
ReplyDeleteA definition is a generalized statement. To really know something you have to learn its peculiarities and particularities. You have to get beyond the general.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Dr. Oliver. I feel that if one is religious (or is not religious) that they can know what it they believe, yet not be able to produce a general (or specific, for that matter) definition for what they believe. I was simply curious if anyone else agreed with my thought.
DeleteAlthough if you can't grasp the basics and be able to give a general definition, then the statement is correct and you don't fully understand it.
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