Philosophy is one of humanity's great intellectual creations, and yet it is still considered “boring” by many college students. Going into college most students have no idea what they want to do with their lives. They have the whole intellectual world at their fingertips, and when the time comes for them to start choosing classes, philosophy is close to the bottom of the list. This should not be the case, philosophy is extremely useful to study in college and essential to the lives of students.
Firstly, philosophy helps us filter and order our thoughts on important decisions. College students in their first year are faced with many options: What school to attend, what classes to take, what clubs to be a part of, and what degree to work towards.
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Students across all cultures have been studying philosophical ideas for thousands of years. This means that the world of philosophy is huge. When a student decides to take philosophy they are exposed to an almost endless pool of ideas to learn from. One of the important ideas is how philosophy is behind many personal motivations, political motivations, and cultural motivations. It is crucial for students to gain this knowledge to understand their minds and lives. When we learn about others we in turn learn about ourselves. In understanding others beliefs and ideas we can create our own. This is essential to being a student anywhere in the world. To study in any field requires a need to see an idea come from every angle and be broken down in every possible way. The nature of philosophy is to be able to break down a variety of ideas and beliefs into their most valuable parts. This gives students a valuable tool in not only the academic world but the workforce as well. Everything from being a historian to a software engineer requires this …show more content…
We all have that existential angst inside of us, especially when we are young and in college. All students participate in a search of meaning. In college students turn to classes and teachers for the knowledge that will help them gain personal insight. When we look at students who take philosophy, and take it seriously, they tend to deal better with hard decisions and situations. Not only that, but they will have more knowledge to help them deal with those fundamental questions that shape who they are. If students go through college not knowing who they are or what they think, they will not be as content in their careers. Students who take philosophy are able to order and affirm their thoughts in a more logical manner. Certain degree programs like nursing actually require a student to take an ethics class. Philosophy helps develop the part of the mind that understands arguments and ideas. This means that philosophy is not just important for nurses or doctors, but for almost all degree programs out
The multiple choices students have today in college have made the university a party environment, resulting in complacent students. Mark Edmundson raises important questions and makes valid points in this essay that are worth thinking about. If people don’t take a look at our present college system and start thinking outside the box, the college education system will continue on its downward spiral of consumerism. It is fun to graduate high school and go to college to party and to have a comedic professor, but there is so much more to college then having fun. People need to realize that by challenging student, students can then start to recognize their own potential end become better for it. Learning and utilizing the information that is being taught in college is essential. “Everyone is born with their own mind, all that is left to do is break out of the stereotypical college student mold, and use
Coming to college as an adult, we have many expectations and preconceptions of what college will or will not be. The expectations we have can influence our college life for the better or the worse. My experience since starting college has been an interesting one. People have misconceptions about college because they do not know what to expect. After doing some research, I have concluded that there are three major factors that are often misunderstood about college life. The first is the financial aspect of college. Second, is the relationship between the professors and students. Third is time management. These three factors play an important role in why people are afraid to go down the path to college.
“…talk is arguably the true foundation of learning”. (Alexander, R. 2011:9) Critically discuss this statement in relation to children’s learning in two of the core subjects.
People go to college for many reasons, such as getting a higher education, getting more job opportunities or to earn more money. but, college provides more than just that. College can help expand your understanding of the community as well as with the world. According to Melissa McCreery College’s mission is “to graduate students with integrity and a broad worldwide who will positively impact the planet and contribute to society.” College does this by providing a wide range of Liberal Arts classes. Which according to Robert Harris “teaches you how to think” and “allows you to see things whole.” Which in other words helps you to strengthen your mind, think for yourself and get a well-rounded education.
College students may still be majoring in liberal arts due to being too specialized in college or not researching enough about the college they will be attending. Going to college for the first time without an open mind and being too narrowly minded could be the never-ending cycle of college. Which can possibly lead to a career mistake and in “Why Focusing Too Narrowly in College Could Backfire,” by Peter Cappelli, he explains exactly why. Peter Cappelli points out
Philosophy is a very important part of people’s lives. Philosophy is quite basically asking inquiries about existence, reality and nature of knowledge. To better understand philosophy we must look throughout history. Looking back through history helps better show what the philosophers thought during the time period in which they lived. The relativity of the theories, to the time period, is a very important factor in how efficient these theories they were. The first philosopher’s ideas to people today would be considered either very basic, or insane. Yet, in the time period they lived in, they were considered to be geniuses. Also, looking back through time and studying philosophers and what they believed can help create a better idea for our own philosophical creations. The first philosophers were also known as the Presocratics. They were called this because they were in a time period before Socrates was born. They mainly focused on answering what is the explanation of nature, also referred to as metaphysics. Even before the Presocratic philosophers, we need to look at the ancient Greek poets that created myths and examine how their stories came into being made and how it had an effect on their civilization. These myths are a part of Philosophy because they were the first ideas about creation. The transition between these mythic worldviews and pre-Socratic philosophers’ worldview was important because it lays down the structural work for great philosophers to learn from them and develop further theories based on their findings.
Although many majors will never call upon the need for philosophy, I believe that it should be a required course. Philosophy should be required not because of its subject matter, but because of the skills it teaches. Unlike math, philosophy teaches students to look at problems from a variety of angles, to take various approaches to solutions, to keep their minds open to the beliefs of others and critical thinking skills. All of these skills can be applied to a students major of choice, and the outside world. Philosophy courses aid colleges in graduating well rounded young adults with the tools to succeed not only at their job but as a functioning community member. Otterbein as a liberal arts university especially benefits from the skills taught in philosophy, since they expose students to contentious ideas and new ways to observe the world. At the same time, philosophy courses that focus on how to lead better lives teach college students important life lessons and skills. College is a transitional phase between dependence and independence, and thus required philosophy courses that teach students how to live better lives would be beneficial. Regardless of the type of philosophy class taken, students are required to engage and analyze the subject matter in order to understand it. If such a skill was to be mastered as a young adult in undergraduate schooling, the learning of students would greatly
To what extent if any has your knowledge of psychology helped you to understand other people and grow as a person?
Sociology is important because of many reasons, especially in the context of race and ethnicity. Sociology is very important to me, because it shapes and explains the way everyone thinks. There are many studies in sociology and the topic I chose was race and ethnicity. This topic relates to the experiences I had during my life. Some of the experiences that I faced were because of the color of my skin, culture, religion, and also language.
Bertrand Russell explains in his article that the value of philosophy is not in the definite answers, but in the questions and possibilities that it raises. He states that “The value of philosophy is, in fact, to be sought largely in its very uncertainty.” This can relate to the Milesians, the answers they came up with weren’t important, but the process used to get them. He says that the more we practice philosophy the more we begin to question everyday things in our life, and we come to find that the answers are only bigger questions. These questions lead to limitless possibilities, broadened horizons, and freedom from what we “know”. Russell hints that philosophy can help you see things in a different light, in a sense taking off the rose colored glasses and seeing the world for what it is.
4. “Without application in the real world, the value of knowledge is greatly diminished.” Consider this claim with respect to two areas of knowledge.
“Self-awareness is a psychological state in which people are aware of their traits, feelings and behaviour. Alternatively, it can be defined as the realisation of oneself as an individual entity.” (Crisp & Turner, 2010). In other words, self awareness is recognising one’s personality which includes strengths, weaknesses, thoughts, beliefs and emotions.
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.
History is a series of important past events that connect with something. History is what makes people make better decisions. There are many definitions of history and everyone has their own.
Lifelong learning is the process of gaining knowledge based on an individual’s interest and developing skills throughout the life to improve their life irrespective of traditional educational schooling activities. This long term process influences an individual’s personal development and improves their thinking and thought process thus recreating themselves in a new experience of the positiveness. These learning’s can be of different types ranging from the home education, cultural learning, personal learning, spiritual learning, learning to keep up to date with technologies and local medical sciences education etc. Learning through experiences in life helps an individual to visualize the purpose of life from a new prospective that inspires them to be self-contended.