Me: Hello everyone, thank you all for joining our zoom session. Today our guest speakers include Nigel Warburton, Kurt Andersen, and Julian Baggini. Our readings this week have include excerpts from Warburton's "A Little History of Philosophy", Andersen's "Fantasyland", and Baggini's "How The World Thinks." I'd like to start with the opening question "Do you think philosophy can help people learn to respect truth, facts, reality, and one another and to reject falsehood, superstition, selfishness, polarization, partisanship, and mutual hostility based on differences of race, religion, ethnicity, nationality, belief, etc.? If so, how? If not, why not?
Julian: Very intriguing question Jalen. In my book, I speak on how we all start with subjective experiences. We have to learn to see things from different perspectives and this is where philosophy comes to play. I believe philosophy opens our eyes to things we wouldn't usually see. In my book, I state that " We take our first steps toward a more objective understanding when we realize that things still exist when they move out of sight. We begin to see that the way things are does not depend on purely on how we happen to perceive them." (pg. 59)
Nigel: I completely agree with Julian. Philosophy makes you view the world in a different way. It makes your mind wonder about the things that you see around you. In my book, I wrote about Pyrro and his different way of thinking. Pyrro didn't take anything for granted. He questioned everything around him. Not saying we should questions things to the extent that he did, but maybe if we thought more like Pyrro we would have more respect for the things around us.
Kurt: I've enjoyed listening to my peers speak on their opinions. I must say I do agree for the most part. In my writings I focus more on the world we live in now and the way I can connect philosophy to America. Having an open mind and being able to respect the truths, facts, and reality around us relates to the principles that our country is built upon.
Hi Jalen Dewalt, In your blogpost I really enjoyed how you talked about the general plot of their books. In mine I felt maybe I could elaborate more on their books not just their answer to the main question. I also like how each philosopher when they agreed on the point they added more to it so they point was getting more clear and you elaborated on it.
ReplyDelete"the way things are does not depend on purely on how we happen to perceive them" - seems obvious, when put so starkly, but isn't it amazing how many people seem not to grasp this simple point?
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