Western Philosphy
Harre believes that philosophy is the willingness to reflect on our reflections of the human situation. This belief is very relaxed. Harre wants answers, but he will allow them to come with time. Philosophy allows us to ask questions such as "What is the purpose of human life", as well as "Why do we seek a purpose for human life?" Harre inquires whether we are soul of physique; and if we are both, how much of each are we? In other words, can our souls exist without our bodies? If our body dies, will our soul die? Will human beings ever be completely satisfied? We are on a constant mission to find truth, to find the reason for our existence. Humans are constantly changing, in all aspects, physically, intellectually, and morally. If we are simply material mechanisms, and part of a system by which the Earth operates, than these value changes in our minds would not occur. For example, if we are just another link on the food chain, than we would not question it. There is a part to the human who believes we are a mere speck in the universe, and another part who thinks we have an actual purpose. In order to come closer to the "answer", Harre divides philosophy into four sections, metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and logic. Metaphysics deals with how the universe works, and what our mission is. Epistemology is the theory of knowledge; ethics are what distinguish people according to morals. Finally, logic can be described as "a means of testing the validity of arguments."
Harre's views on philosophy differ slightly from Russell. Although Harre feels that there is an answer out there, he feels confident enough that he will find it, and if he does not, then the next person will know. Russell, on the other hand, ...
... middle of paper ...
... on forever, never being aware that he retained this knowledge. I do agree with the fact that knowledge is inside, but I do not believe the individual should have all the credit for acquiring this knowledge. An analogy I always think of with this is like so: My friend believes that I have a gold mine in my backyard. He tells me he believes this information, and asks me if I agree. I say that yes, it is possible I have a gold mine in my backyard. So I decide to dig, and strike gold. The gold has always been there in my backyard, therefore it is mine. However, am I completely responsible for having acquired this gold? Absolutely not. The gold mine is knowledge, and we cannot obtain it without the help of others. The slave boy could not have been able to obtain it without Socrates to help, jut like I am not able to able the knowledge inside, without attending school.
The story of the American West is still being told today even though most of historic events of the Wild West happened over more than a century ago. In movies, novels, television, and more ways stories of the old west are still being retold, reenacted, and replayed to relive the events of the once so wild and untamed land of the west that so many now fantasize about. After reading about the old west and watching early westerns it is amazing how much Hollywood still glorifies the history and myth of the old west. It may not be directly obvious to every one, but if you look closely there is always a hint of the Western mentality such as honor, justice, romance, drama, and violence. The most interesting thing about the Old West is the fact that history and myth have a very close relationship together in telling the story of the West.
circular reasoning found in the foundations of Socrates’ Recollection theory - that the soul must be immortal and all knowing and proof of that is that learning is recollection, but in order for this sort of recollection to take place it requires that the soul be all knowing and immortal. Even if one were to accept the Theory of Recollection as an adequate refutation of Meno’s Paradox, there is still the issue with the slave boy interrogation. The interrogation itself is suspect, as it does not explicitly prove that the slave boy is in fact recollecting. With foundational problems such as these I cannot accept Socrates’ Theory of Recollection as sufficient answer to Meno’s Paradox.
...just using his common sense. Socrates, though, is quick to claim that the slave is recollecting images he learned in the Underworld between two of his past lives. In this explanation, Socrates, provides an example that is rather good but could also go towards the direction of simple analysis and using common sense.
Socrates then managed to verify his theory by demonstrating it on one of Meno’s slaves. He did not directly teach or instruct anything to that boy slave who originally did not know about geometry. Instead, Socrates provided that slave with hints and guided his thoughts step by step. As a result, the boy slave found out a simple geometrical theorem which apparently “emerged” from his mind.
AUTHOR: Oswald Spengler, (1880-1936), was a German philosopher who acquired his conservative views from his father, a postal official in Germany. Spengler attended the Universities of Munich, Berlin and Halle in Germany, where he studied natural science and mathematics. In 1903, he wrote his dissertation on a Greek philosopher named Heraclitus, though he failed due to a lack of references. Spengler resubmitted his revised thesis in 1904, earning him his doctorate degree. Shortly after earning his degree, Spengler suffered a mental break down, secluding himself from the world. In 1906, he recovered and began working as a teacher in secondary schools until he received some money from his mother. In 1911, Spengler gathered his inheritance and moved to Munich as a private scholar.
To clarify his point, he refers to the education of the youth compared to the training of a horse. If a trainer is the only qualified person to train a horse, and not the rest of the population, shouldn’t there be only a few people “trainers” that can teach the youth? If this is true, Socrates makes the point that many other people should be tried alongside him, because he is not in this alone. Socrates concludes his argument comparing the definition of a truly wicked person to a person who breaks a rule unknowingly. Socrates agrees that the wicked person has knowledge of what they are doing wrong. Since they understand, they need to face the consequences of their actions through trial and punishment. On the other hand, the rule breaker who committed a crime unknowingly did not have the knowledge that the wicked person had. Since they did not break this willingly, they should not be punished, but counseled on how to correct their actions. This helps prove Socrates point that the correct action is not being taken against him for “corrupting the youth.” Rather, injustice is being ordained upon him. Through this injustice, he can take action to disobey any consequence that stems from this, or more specifically, practicing philosophy in the face of many people who do not agree with his
“Why Western History Matters” is an essay adapted from a speech Donald Kagan delivered to the National Association of Scholars, and was reprinted in the December 28, 1994, issue of the Wall Street Journal. Throughout Kagan’s essay, he describes the essential need for the college course, Western History. He does so by examining older cultures and explaining why they were quintessential to the past and to our future development as a society. I strongly concur with Kagan’s standpoint of the necessity of history, and the realization of how exactly our flourishing society came about. History is a key constituent in determining who we are; for to determine who we are one must first know from whence they came. In the words of George Santayana, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”.
Therefore, through the soul, that has been born before being placed into a physical human body, the human has knowledge. As a result of the soul being immortal and knowing everything, Socrates ties that idea of immortality with the theory of recollection, which claims that our knowledge is inside of us because of the soul and it never learns anything new, only remembers, consequently, serving as an evidence that the soul is pre- existent. Socrates uses the knowledge of the soul to explain that there is no such thing as learning but instead there is discovery of the knowledge that one has and does, by himself, without receiving new information. However, most knowledge is forgotten at birth since we are born without knowing, for example, how to add, subtract,talk, etc. Nonetheless, the knowledge we have, has to be recollected with the help of a teacher. Socrates is able to prove this argument to a degree by using Meno’s slave, who had no prior knowledge of geometry before, as an example of how humans have the knowledge inside of them, through the soul, and they know everything but all they need are a sort of guidance to be able to “free” the knowledge they didn’t know they had inside them all this time. (Plato,
Analysing The West: Unique, Not Universal. Throughout history, Western civilization has been an emerging force behind change in foreign societies. This is the concept that is discussed in the article, the West Unique, Not Universal, written by Samuel Huntington. The author makes a very clear thesis statement and uses a variety of evidence to support it. This article has a very convincing point.
I totally agree that Socrates found it important to research about life’s morality and not just think the same way others do. That is a way of proving the knowledge of men. Ones sitting quiet in the corner usually have more knowledge than others that talk so much about what they know. Many men with a high position in life do not always have the most knowledge.
The Western culture has evolved over a span of several years with various civilizations specializing in specific aspects of life or nature. In essence, Western civilization dates back to the BCE periods when Ancient Greece, Mesopotamia, and Ancient Rome reigned. Each of the Western civilizations came with a clear lineage that portrayed such attributes as property rights, free market economy, competition, personal freedoms, and innovation (Perry, 2013). Besides, the western civilizations came at different periods with some of the attributes evolving or remaining unchanged throughout the lineage. However, the non-western civilizations contributed towards such attributes to a given extent, primarily because of the interactions among
''The best way of approaching philosophy is to ask a few philosophical questions: How was the world created? Is there any will or meaning behind what happens? Is there a life after death? How can we answer these questions? And most important, how ought we to live?'' (Gaarder, Jostein 15)
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.
The term “philosophy” means the love of wisdom, and those that study philosophy attempt to gain knowledge through rationality and reason. 1 Socrates, the father of ancient philosophy, once stated “the unexamined life is not worth living”. This is the most important part of life and it is need to find purpose and value in life. If a person chooses to live their life without examination, their life would lack value and they would be unhappy. They would also be ignorant to the effects of their choices on themselves and the people around them.
The word “philosophy” is derived from two roots that are “philo” and “Sophia.” Philo means love whereas Sophia means wisdom. Therefore, philosophy means the love of wisdom. In actual practice, philosophy entails study of, pursuit, and enquiry into wisdom. A good number of great philosophers have referred to philosophy as the art of thinking. Others have only defined it as the systematic study of human feelings and thoughts.