Find your Inner Woman 12: the Philosopher

So I meant to write this post ages ago...like back during philosophy class, but  (as you may remember) I was slightly overworked and super busy and a little stressed during that week and so it didn't happen and so that is why TODAY, I have decided to post it!

Basically as we were reading our "Introduction to Philosophy" textbook, we were noticing all these ridiculous philosophical theories and examples and things that really just made us laugh or confused or were just plain dumb and I made note of them so I could share them all with you... (warning it's kind of long and probably confusing, I understand if you skip reading this one!)


In relation to knowledge and skepticism...
     There is a state called ephoche which is the "suspension of judgement" which means that "one must embrace all mutually inconsistent claims and withhold judgement on each of them"

- now this is just plain confusing and I don't know WHY you would even sort this out enough to put it down. I mean it doesn't even make sense - you have to "withhold judgement" on all things...so do you have to "withhold judgement" on "withholding judgement"???

Another skeptic says...

     "We can conceive of a world quite like ours in which the sun will not rise tomorrow morning"

- uummmmmm...I don't know about you but this is kind of inconceivable to me...how can a world be like ours but without a sun rising...? basically his point is, you can't say that something will happen because it has always happened because we can imagine  it NOT happening...

Okay, Descartes has a pretty great philosophy...

     "I think, therefore I am" You may have heard this before. His point is that you can't be sure of anything in the world, real or imagined because "there may be a demon or an evil god who systematically deceives [us]" YET we know that WE must exist because even if God tried to deceive us about ourselves, there would have to be an "I" to be deceived. 

- OH! THANK YOU FOR EXPLAINING THAT SO CLEARLY!!! How did I miss it?

On the logic of listening to authority...

     If we didn't heed the warnings of others, believing that they know what they are talking about - if "we refused to accept anything we were told...we would probably end up in a mental institution"

- this is probably true...but then, you could end up in a mental institution just thinking through all this mumbo-jumbo!

Back to Descartes...

     "He was concerned that he might be systematically deceived by a malevolent demon or evil deity" but was comforted at deciding that "God is a perfect being, and thus would not deceive him"

- aren't you happy for him?

Here is his thought process for the "external world"...

     3 options: "(1)Descartes might be responsible for the idea. He might have a fertile imagination, and thus manufacture the idea of an external world. (2)God could deceive him, and place in his mind the idea of an external world...(3)The external world itself existed, ad was the cause of the idea in Descartes' mind. 

- wouldn't you love it if your mind worked this way????

Now we have the topic of REALITY. I give you Zeno...

    "Achilles could never catch a tortoise" because to catch him you'd have to go halfway to catching him and then half of the half and half of that half and so on and you would never actually get there...

- no comment


Platonism...

     Identification by negation: "we define or identify the pencil by showing that it is not the table"

- that makes sense right? I mean if it's not a table...or a chair...or a bird...or a mountain...or the sky...or any other of the innumerable things that it COULD BE...it must be a pencil. So...why is this important???


Being...

     "there can be different kinds of beings depending on their potentiality. Some beings (like men) have the potential for being rational; others (like tomatoes) do not."

- aren't you glad you have more potential than a tomato????


Concerning the relation between mind and body...

   "While it makes sense to ask the location of a physical event, it is absurd to ask the location of a mental event."

- thank you EINSTEIN!!!


Spinoza speaks about man's freedom...
     "it is conceit to that leads us to think that we are the masters of our behaviour...suppose that a stone has been thrown into the air and suddenly becomes conscious...it would believe that it was the source of its own motion"

- I mean, I get it, but WHERE do they come up with these illustrations!?!?!?!? Did he just compare us to a stone? ...I'd say we have more potential than that!

Here's an interesting theory: indeterminism (basically NOTHING causes our actions)
     Following this view..."the understanding of man that now emerges is that of an erratic, jerking phantom, making moves and actions without rhyme or reason. he moves at one time this way and at another time that way but in both instances without cause!"

- yep, that's definitely the answer to life...

Concerning truth...

     This guy, James believes these two sentences are the same: "It is true that it is sunny out" and "It is useful to believe that it is sunny out". 

- I don't even know where he gets this...basically I think, to him, "truth" is what is "useful to believe"...right.

Aristotle's definition of truth...
     "To say of what is, that it is not, or of what is not, that it is, is false; while to say of what is, that it is, and of what is not, that it is not, is true"

- that clears things up now don't it?

And here's a precious nugget of truth...

     "when we falsely believe that the moon is made of green cheese, our belief corresponds to nothing"

- and this is why we should all take philosophy classes - you learn such awesome things!

Geometric rationalism...

     ""evil is but an illustration of the moment or the particular. The universe as a whole is good, just as a mosaic as a whole is beautiful, despite the seeming ugliness of an individual piece"

- so obviously this has major flaws but I just have to point out one that really hits me - there is STILL THE PROBLEM OF THE UGLY PIECE! I mean, just because the pieces together make something beautiful, this doesn't make the pieces individually any less ugly...

Concerning "good"...

     "Some goods are higher than other goods. An unhappy man is better than a happy pig, said Mill"

- again, the comparisons to the animals and such!??!?!

Another opinion on "good"...

     "The attempt to save a drowning man is not in itself a good act. For the extreme utilitarian, the act is not good unless it bring about good results. If the man is rescued, then the act is a good act; if he drowns, it is not"

- now this is just pessimistic and sad!

Often the most simple and obvious ideas, upon critical examination and reflection, show themselves to be complicated and profound. 

     - so perhaps we should critically examine and reflect on such things... I think sometimes the answer is really in their simplicity 

Maybe I'm just not cut out to be a philosopher but these and many more things I have found in the subject just make me shake my head in wonderment. Oh the things we confuse ourselves with, psych ourselves out with, cause doubt and unbelief and fear with! If only we would just turn to the One with the answers to it all and read the Word He provided for us! How blessed I am to have been gifted and shown the truth. So many intelligent men have agonized over these questions of life and God has graciously provided ME with the answers! How awesome, how amazing, how humbling.