Sept. 26: WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY?
Philosophy according to my mac dictionary is ' the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence, esp. when considered as an academic discipline'. The word comes from two Greek roots: 'philein' to love and 'sophos' meaning wise. So a philosopher is a lover of wisdom, a thinker. To think philosophically means to question , to think deeply, to uncover our assumptions about our world views and thoughts. 'Philosophical questions examine the meaning of a concept or idea, and aim at helping us understand better what we think we already know.' These questions are often abstract and cannot be answered in one definite way. To do this Jana Lone suggests continue asking more and more abstract questions about the subject: for example friendship: Why is a person your friend? What makes someone a friend? What is friendship?To be able to discuss issues philosophically you need to:
1) be addressing a question that cannot be answered by facts2) be supporting your thinking with arguments
3) there should be a progression or development of the ideas being explored as you consider the concept/issue
4) to listen carefully to what is said
“What did you mean when you said . . .?”http://depts.washington.edu/nwcenter/resourcestipsforsuccess.html
“That’s an interesting idea. Can you explain what you were thinking when you said that?”
“When you said . . . , did you mean . . . ?”
“How does what you just said relate to what ____ said a moment ago?”
“So if what you just said is true, is ____ also true?”
“When you said ____, were you assuming ____?”
Read Hamid Raza's winning philosophical essay for Philosophy Slam as he considers:
