Philosophy 2
What does one think when they hear the word Philosophy? Before I began this class, I really had no idea what the word Philosophy meant. I use to think it dealt with a bunch of really smart people trying to figure out the answers to life's most basic and essential questions. For example: Why are we here? Is there a God? Is their life after death? Etc. What I failed to realize was that not only does Philosophy answers these questions but it also gets us to question things that we never once thought of before. Take a chair as an example: When one looks at a chair, they see something that their mind recognizes as a chair. However, do we know for sure that what we are looking at is actually a chair, and not a table, or a couch? In asking these types of questions, and then trying to answer them, we in turn are gaining knowledge and wisdom. What then is Philosophy? It is the love of wisdom. It's going out and asking questions to learn things we did not once know before. Philosophy, as a discipline, is something that we study. Philosophy, as a personal activity, is something that we can live out. What does this mean? Take Christianity as an example. Jesus, the model of all Christianity, was in fact a philosopher. We, as
One aspect of Western Philosophy deals in accordance with myths. Myths are supposed to open the world to mystery. They help us ask questions that philosophers are supposed to answer. Myths, and the stories that go along with so many of them, have been passed down from generation to generation to help people understand their existence. If this is true, and by definition it is, then is one wrong to say that God is a myth? What about the Bible and the stories it tells; aren't they all myths too? Why do Christians use the Bible, and not, for example, The Odyssey. The Odyssey is based on myth, and when one thinks about it, so is the Bible. The Odyssey teaches us valuable lessons, and so does the Bible. The reason we use the Bible today, and not The Odyssey, is because that's the "myth" we were exposed to when we were children. That is what we were taught to believe in. Philosophy is broken down into five main branches. The first branch is called metaphysics, which is concerned with what is real and what exists. Epistemology deals with human knowledge, in terms of the nature and limits of our knowledge. The next branch, aesthetics, deals with the understanding of what makes something beautiful. Such as, how does one tell that something is beautiful; is it just in the eye of the beholder? Ethics, another branch of philosophy, is concerned with the methods of good and bad, and right and wrong. Logic, the last branch, deals with correct reasoning.
Some common words found in the essay are:
, Western Philosophy, Clinton Socrates, Philosopher Socrates, Bible Odyssey, Kenneth Star, Odyssey Odyssey, King Jr, personal activity, answer question, Christians Bible, example god, myth bible, bible odyssey, word philosophy, jesus preached, knowledge truth,
Approximate Word count = 989
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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