Miranda Groom-Midterm Essay

 Hello everyone my name is Miranda Groom and today in class we will be joined on zoom with Julian Baggini, Kurt Anderson, and Nigel Warburton. We will all be talking a discussing a certain topic. The topic is; Do you think philosophy can help people learn to respect truth,facts,reality,and one another, and to reject falsehood,supersation,selfishness,polarization,partisanship,and mutual hostility based on differences of race,religion,ethnicity,nationality,belief and etc. Then we will discuss why and why not. 

I Miranda Groom will show a picture of each individual so you know who you are speaking with ahead of time.

This here is Julian Baggini 

Next we have Nigel Warburton

Lastly we have Kurt Andersen

Miranda: I will go ahead and let Julian answer the question, then Nigel and lastly you Kurt can finish us up. 

Julian: Thank you Miranda for hosting us and having us speak with you all today. I will first introduce myself. Hello I am Julian Baggini and I wrote the book "How the World Thinks". I wrote this book to show and gain knowledge on how people think and how you can better understand not only the world but yourself. Now on to the question Miranda asked us: I love this question and I strongly believe people can learn many things throughout philosophy. Like I said in my book people have values and their values are how they look at philosophy. They look at philosophy by certain things such as; worship, how they live and how they go about their job and daily life. Philosophy at times can be hard to understand and process. For example I talked about this on on pg.41 of my book. Here is what I wrote, "Although no serious scholar would entirely subscribe to the simplistic narrative today in which theology drives out philosophy, in broad terms it does represent a received wisdom which is still a matter of dispute." So to sum up what I think about this question is, Yes I believe people can learn such things as, respecting truth, facts,reality and so on from philosophy. I will give it over to you Nigel. 

Nigel: Thank you Julian for giving us your thoughts and ideas. I also enjoyed hearing you read a part of your book. I guess I should introduce myself. Hello all I am Nigel Warburton author of "A Little History of Philosophy. I wrote this book to show the amazing thinkers and how they introduce philosophy in all different ways. I wanted a book with everyone thoughts and ideas in one. Now as far as the question I am going to open my book to Chapter 2 "True Happiness" by Aristotle. There is one specific line that I think will sum up the best answer to this questions. Aristotle didn't think children could be happy. This may be confusing to some but this is how Aristotle explains it, "True Happiness required a longer life." I couldn't agree more with Aristotle. Children think they are happy but they really don't know anything that is going on in the world. I believe you can learn alot from philosophy such as race, religion, truth and reality however I believe it takes time to see and understand that. I believe this is what Aristotle was saying in his writing. I am going to give the mic to Kurt. 

Kurt: Thank you Julian and Nigel for your thoughts and ideas towards Philosophy. Hello all I am Kurt Anderson author of "Fantasyland How American Went Haywire." I am a New York Times Bestseller so I guess you can say the people of America liked my work. I wanted to write a book to tell and help people understand what is happening in our world today and how we are living through all the times. This is probably one of my favorite questions I have ever been asked. I truly believe Philosophy can help people become better versions of themselves. I also believe that through God this can help them get there. In my book on page 35 I talk about Anne Hutchinson a daughter of a minster and a very passionate Puritan. She explained, "Since the Lord decided before the beginning of time which of us might hold a winning ticket, regardless of our status in the here and now." I absolutely love Anne Hutchinson writings and how she explains things. I believe if you have God everything will fall into place. 

Miranda: Thank you all for coming here today and sharing your thoughts and ideas on how philosophy changes and impacts the world and people today. I am going to share and video and then ask the ending question. For people who don't understand philosophy and or get confused here is a video that may help:

The last thing I would like my three speakers to answer is: What is the world going to be and what is life eventually to make of itself?

Julian: Just based on my book title: How the World Thinks you never know what can happen but traveling all the time like I do it helps to know what is happening in other countries and can help me possibly see what is coming now and in the future. Thank you again for hosting this conversation. 

Nigel: I would say I have a lot of thoughts and ideas towards this question. Based on my philosophers in my book I would say just look on the bright side of life and just believe on what you feel is right. You cant predict the future but you can hope for happiness. Thank you all and I look forward to meeting and chatting soon.

Kurt: I definitely had to think on this certain question. My writings in my book is about a 500-year history in the past and not in the future. I wish I could tell what would happen in 500 years for the future but I can not. I believe as long as people stay positive and follow in what they believe in then the world will just get better..hopefully. I appreciate everyone's time and having me. Thank you. 

Miranda: Thank you everyone for joining and being with us today. I hope everyone got something and larented a lot today. Keep calm and be happy. Goodbye!