Major Lessons Learned

D.

Major Lessons Learned

     I'll be blunt. I don't remember some of the lessons we discussed because of my unreliable memory. The things I remember are truth vs. reality, cultural relativism and logical fallacies. In truth vs reality I learned that truth means a fact accepted by an individual while reality are facts that are accepted by everyone. For example, others don't believe the lunar landing with Neil Armstrong(refer to the link below) while we know for sure that it happened. For reality everyone knows that when you throw an apple  upwards it will eventually fall.

            Cultural relativism states that morals are varies from culture to culture. For example in China death penalty is legal, but in the Philippines it is not.

              Logical fallacies are used to make a statement seem true even thought they're not. For example:

Noisy children cause headaches

Aspirin makes headaches go away

Therefore, aspirin makes noisy children go away

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWZ_LCnkE7A

Science vs. Philosophy

C.

The Similarities and Differences Between Science and Philosophy

      Before enumerating the similarities and differences between the two let me define them first. According to the dictionary philosophy means "The study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence, esp. when considered as an academic discipline.", while science means "The intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural". With enough change from the fallacy of equivocation, it can be said that they have the same meaning... and that is wrong. They used to be the same when philosophy meant science but now philosophy is different being every person who says an inspirational quote can be said as a philosopher, well of course they're not. In many aspects they help each other become better and more broad. Speaking for how broad they are, there are so many categories in each subject that they can make the universe look like an ant in a field of crops.

         I got a little off topic because they are just that broad that you can't help but cite other examples. Science helps philosophy by using facts from discoveries to use as evidences for making generalizations while philosophy helps science by using it's unique world-view and universal principles. In other words, with every advancement in the field of science, it also develops the philosophical methodology. On the other hand, philosophical statements are used for summing up achievements in specialized sciences. In conclusion, science helps philosophy more if viewed in a measurable way but one cannot function without the other.

References: Dialectical Materialism (A. Spirkin)Chapter 1. Philosophy As A World-View And A Methodology

Philosophy Is Not a Science by Julian Friedland

             It is what the title implies. The author states that philosophy is not a science and cites examples to prove his point. In summary it says there that philosophy back in the day used to be "all that" but for an idea to be counted as a philosophical discovery it needs to be investigated in it's own terms or else it would be in another branch of science. In the end, scientific discoveries are less likely  to succeed in gaining permanent place in the heart of logic whereas discoveries made in the philosophical way gains immortality because of the unique way of proving statements that philosophy uses.

My Ideal Philosopher

B

My Ideal Philosopher

       Bertrand Arthur William Russell (b.1872 – d.1970) was a British philosopher, logician, essayist and social critic best known for his work in mathematical logic and analytic philosophy. Russell is generally recognized as one of the founders of modern analytic philosophy.[1]

      He became one of my favorites because of his saying "Common sense, however it tries, cannot avoid being surprised from time to time". It's similar to Socrates' saying "I know that I know nothing" in the sense that even with the knowledge available to us through advances in science and technology, we can't help but be surprised by new knowledge. Sometimes common sense isn't the only basis for judgement.  Common sense, in itself is unexplainable because the word common varies from one person to another.

Reference: 

1 http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/russell/

Introduction to Philosophy and Ethics

A 

Intro to Philosophy and Ethics

 1.       Studying philosophy and ethics is really important because it teaches us a unique set of skills available through studying this particular subject. As a student and a human, being able to think critically is invaluable. We will learn to answer questions about ourselves and the world, argue in a logical way, and make our thought processes clear and correct. 

        As I said, unique skills are acquired through studying philosophy and ethics. I read some articles and I will write here some of the things I agree with. It helps us become reasonable. I love logic and I use it in ways that are not meant to be used on. That's how much I value logic and if philosophy helps me become more reasonable then I think it will be enjoyable. It helps us be moral; it offers us knowledge, it helps us lead to many great achievements, it satisfies our sense of being a person and it helps us live a better life but most importantly we should learn how to enjoy our lives. I could go on but there are so many things philosophy and ethics can teach us that I just can't enumerate them all. 

      I quoted some of the lessons from this website HERE! 

2.      "Socrates: I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing."

        I strongly agree with this famous line by Socrates. He was the wisest man who ever lived for he knows that with all the knowledge he has gained, it's still nothing compared to how much there is in our world. For me being wise isn't about being the most knowledgeable in a field of expertise or spouting the most words in an argument. It's about how you use your knowledge to identify an action and judge it accordingly.