The quote states “all acquisition of knowledge is an enlargement of the self, but this enlargement is best attained when it is not directly sought” (Russell 1). The interpretation of the quote is that people who attain knowledge from however and wherever, they become more aware of themselves as to why they are the way they are. The quote also defines how people sometimes attain knowledge without them knowing that they are attaining it. With this they are more likely to remember what they heard or saw.
The main argument is that the more a person learns is the more they become more aware about themselves and their surroundings. In the article it mentions how people are so materialistic in that they forget to expand. He argues that if they do not expand their minds they will not find themselves which makes them as everybody else. With this argument, the author shows us how philosophy is materialistic in that we get to have a well-educated and thought out argument. This quote helps people to enlarge their lives with the power of learning something new.
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As mentioned in the article “The Power of Philosophy” by Yvette, she thought that attaining knowledge would be too expensive since she grew up in a non-wealthy background. When she did apply for college and major in philosophy, she was able to make friends and also able to express her opinions in public. This made her fell as if she belonged. She changed her way of thinking by breaking the norms which were, the people of her category never went to college. The quote shows how it helped Yvette to understand her own life and changed her way such that she made friends whom she considered
it is seen that knowledge can hurt. It is also shown that sometimes one can know
The way he emphasizes the difference between acquisition and learning, brings a whole new level to education. Using this knowledge, we can develop an education system that will help our youth stay on track and understand what they’re learning and why they’re learning it. This could be particularly helpful with elementary education, when the children are still developing what it means to learn. By redefining the education system, we’ll be able to help our children reach their real potential. If we understand how to teach, it will be a million times easier to connect with the children. We can help our next generation become properly educated about the world that they’re
He also points out that when he was a student he “never liked hearing this, and you tend to feel a bit insulted by the claim that you needed anybody to teach you how to think.” To interpertate what he says, he meant that most people believe they know what they are doing when it comes to thinking about something and being told you're thinking wrong or someone trying to teach you how to teach my offend someone thinking that they were calling them ignorant or uneducated. But he expands on his point in order to relate to the students by looking at some of their values and desires in their adult lives and this also pertains to
Gregory Vlastos commented in his book Socrates: The Ironist and Moral Philosopher, “Such is his strangeness that you will search and search among those living now and among men of the past, and never come close to what he is himself and to the things he says.” (Vlastos). Gregory makes an important point; although studying Plato gives us a glimpse of Socrates, it only gives a glimpse of him through Plato’s eyes. We can study this text and others and never understand exactly who this man is. Even if we had writings of Socrates’s own hands it would be difficult to understand this complicated man. On the other hand the writings we do have, including the
People believe that they are “wise” when they “know” something. A common member of society most often feels that knowledge enables people to feel powerful and misknowledge shows a certain weakness. Thurman explained, “Being right means that the world affirms us in what we think we know. ‘Knowing’ something is a way of controlling it, being able to put it in its proper place in relation to us so that we can use it effectively… So, knowledge is power, in the sense that it empowers us to act successfully. Misknowledge… is weakness, in the sense that our action may fail in their aim, backfire, or have unintended consequences. Knowledge is security, in that we know our vulnerabilities and can avoid harm. Misknowledge is danger, in that we don 't know what others might do to us or what traps may await us. We therefore feel powerful and secure when were right, weak and vulnerable when were wrong” (Thurman 446). Thurman took a distinctive approach and taught that not knowing meant obtaining freedom and achieving wisdom. Thurman taught, “… the Buddha discovered that this most certain knowledge of the ‘self’ is actually ‘misknowledge’—a fundamental misunderstanding, a delusion. And what 's more, he realized that this discovery was the key to liberation, the gateway to enlightenment” (Thurman 447). From a social standpoint, “wisdom” allows people to obtain a certain knowledge of themselves and in this way, acquire freedom. Once this “wisdom” is gained, one becomes selfless and allows him or her self to be a greater part of
He is saying that, theoretically, the growth of reason would come with knowledge. People would be less inclined to have a lot of children because they would no longer be afraid of losing them to unnatural things. People would then be more inclined to focus on their happiness and expanding their
The relationship of outside knowledge and self-knowledge can be simply described as a love/hate relationship. While outside knowledge may hold many accounts of seen or heard experiences and bring those together to form a thought, self-knowledge can only contain one person’s account but have much more relatability and basis. When a movement is occurring the strength and movement of the self-knowledge is much more suitable because it causes people to feel connected to that person and therefore the movement. An example of this is The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano by Olaudah Equiano. However, outside knowledge allows for a more broad sense of knowledge that may have been obtained through many experiences and studies. “The
This same idea appears in Fredrick Douglas story. When Fredrick Douglas started to understand what he was reading around him, his mind stared creating his very own opinions and feelings. As well the same idea comes to surface in Richard Rodriquez story when he starts to understand the underlying theme in all of the books he has ever read and applied to himself as a person. When both writers began to truly be able to understand anything and everything, they both started to find what their every purpose was in life, and understand the person that they were.
There is a complex process through which a person acquires knowledge, and it depends on the mental capacity of a person as to how much knowledge he can acquire. In Plato’s Republic, we can see what knowledge does for the man in the allegory of the cave. In this story, knowledge was acquired by experience. In Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics, we learn what the ultimate intellectual virtues are and that wisdom is the highest of all. Knowledge from Plato and wisdom from Aristotle can be connected through the achievement of intellect.
He talked about how to be a true scholar that has the right dutys that comes with being one. Which must also have great knowledge of nature. He says that books can be very helpful since they are keeping the age old ideas alive, which are the best for studying ideas and accomplishments of past people. I also find it interesting because he does not want scholars to follow the rules but go by their own and be a thinking man. Which is pretty different from what we are told today I think.
I believe what he meant was if we just accept things as they appear to us without ever questioning anything, then we will live meaningless and miserable lives. In the article, Russell writes, “The life of the instinctive man is shut up within the circle of his private interests: family and friends may be included, but the outer world is not regarded except as it may help or hinder what comes within the circle of instinctive wishes,” I think this is his representation of the unexamined life. He also wrote, “In such a life there is no peace, but a constant strife between the insistence of desire and the powerlessness of will. In one way or another, if our life is to be great and free, we must escape this prison and this strife” I think that what he meant by this is that if we want our lives to be meaningful and pleasant, then we must study philosophy. The only way that our lives can be “great and free” is to question everything and accept nothing
...free thought to a degree that has never before been available to us. This will bring about a new age of enlightenment, so to speak. He concludes by saying ‘the sea, our sea, lies open again; maybe there has never been such an open sea.’
"The important thing is not so much that every child should be taught, as every child should be instilled with the wish to learn."
education is life itself." This philosophy truly emphasizes the importance of education in one's life, and that they are indeed interrelated, not separated. I believe he was expressing, in part, the notion that education should serve us throughout our lives, constantly empowering us to achieve our greatest potential through self-realization. Learning, is a life-long process, by which we are all constantly searching for meaning through reflecting on our experiences to make sense of, and better understand the world in which we live in. I am humble enough to say that I too remain a student, not just in the literal sense, but in life. As teachers, I believe it is our responsibility to provide an educational experience that motivates our students to discover their own hidden potentials and to hopefully achieve self-realization. This is especially important for young children, for it is with the combination of their innate learning ability and the influence of great educators that can account for their marvelous capacity of potential.
With this she is referring to the students not really enjoying how their classes are and try to find a more entertaining way to learn from their study. She used an article to support the use of experimental learning techniques to share a case example for students feedback.”(Hawtrey.144)” The survey asked students to rate various activities – both traditional and neotraditional – and identify those they would like to see used more frequently”. (Hawtrey.144) The result she got was different from the amount of knowledge that each student has, it also affected the gender and time they attend class. An important benefit in experiential learning is that strategies shift from professor to students. In the article, she explains what experiential learning is in her words. “experiential learning is the incorporation of active, participatory learning opportunities in the course”, other wised known as situational learning. It also says that the students will learn better and work more efficiently as a group/or teams, that individually. She also explains that the argument for involving learning is simple, “students only remember a fraction of what they heard but remember the majorly of what they