Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Try this out: Define Philosophy
So, my definition of what is philosophy is rather short. I saw that the greek definition was the "love of wisdom" but that didn't seem exactly right to me. So instead I chose "Philosophy is the search for knowledge." Very simple, but I think that the definition fro philosophy can be so much to so many different people, not to mention how different each definition is going to be. I think that the reason my definition is so short is because I don't know where to begin to define it. To me philosophy is the voyage of deciphering how you want to live your own life depending on what you value as most important. When it comes to philosophy I wonder whether it is the individual search for knowledge (knowledge about oneself) or the journey to find a somewhat universal knowledge. No one is ever going to agree on anything, especially when it comes to something like religion, but maybe philosophy is a way to try and reach as many people as possible with many different possible ways to live your life and then it is the individual's right to choose which philosophy to believe. Over all, though, I think that "the search for knowledge" whether it be for personal or world-wide growth is a good definition because the more precise you get with a definition, I feel, the more people you are likely to exempt.
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4 comments:
Good definition. I wonder, though, if it's appropriate (wise?) to substitute "knowledge" for "wisdom." At the extreme, if I were inclined solely to maximize my possession of the former, I might consign myself to a life of adding successive whole numbers. (No risk of error and an ever-expanding store of facts.) Also, and more importantly, I might know much and choose to do little or nothing of any consequence with that knowledge. The value of being wise, in contrast simply to knowing, seems to be that one is inclined and able to apply what one knows.
I think that while searching for knowledge one may reach wisdom. But as you said in class it all depends on how long you search for it. Some people love the search and others give up on it rather quickly. For the latter I do not think that they have found wisdom only what they preceive as knowledge. And even if they have, found wisdom who is to say that they will do anything with that wisdom. The journey to wisdom has to be a long one, doesn't it? Questioning yourself once and then accepting a default answer just because, isn't wisdom. I wonder if the more knowledge you gain the more questions you will raise within yourself and then the closer you will come to wisdom. But doesn't it all start out with a search for the answer to a question? Perhaps I could change my definition to "The continuous search for knowledge."
The nice thing about wisdom, in contrast to knowledge, is that it includes by definition effectively/appropriately acting on the basis of one's beliefs.
Philosophy is a way of life, not a hobby. We all seem to be searching for the answer to a myriad of questions. The enjoyment isnt in the end result (not that there ever is one) but in trying to 'get there' or at least 'somewhere'. You've got the rational side of philosophy in the form of rationalism and then the empiricists that view experience as being the source of all knowledge. I think that perhaps we shouldnt try and label ourselves into a specific category...its not hypocritical to have varying views, as long as you understand what ideas you're entertaining. xD
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