Final Blog Post - Harris Cavin

 Harris: Hey guys, how are you?

Neiman: Did you...abduct us?

Kaag: Uh…

Camus: I’ve been dead for years dude...leave me alone

Harris: As much as I’d like to do that, I really need some help for my philosophy final

Kaag: Oh great, we’ve only had to do this with like 20 other times with your peers. 

Neiman: Let me guess…”What does it mean to grow up? Why should we?” and “What makes life worth living?”

Harris: You got it, so y’all wanna help?

Camus: We don’t really have a choice, do we?

Harris: No, I really need to make a decent grade on this...COVID is wrecking the world right now and transitioning to online school has been hard enough. 

Camus: What is COVID?

Neiman: *Sigh* Alright. Let’s get started. I'll go first. What does it mean to grow up? Why should we? Well, growing up is coming to terms with the fact you are older. You don’t have the luxury of being a kid and having these wild and outlandish ideas, now that isn’t supposed to be bad, but growing up means becoming more realistic yet figuring out what it is to do in the world. While youth has any merits, we cannot allow our youth to define our adulthood and later years as bitter, boring, and just overall worse. It’ll be what we make of it. To the contrary, we shouldn’t waste away our youth eager to grow up. In this regard, we should cherish and enjoy all phases of our life. Growing up is just the natural path in life and that comes as you get older and older. What makes life worth living isn’t money or fame but rather finding and doing something that makes you happy, all the while finding fulfillment.

Camus:  Well, life is kinda inherently meaningless. I once said “The literal meaning of life is whatever you’re doing that prevents you from killing yourself”. While that sounds really depressing, and well, it kinda is, death is going to happen to us all. With that understood, we are really left with two options. Drown in this sorrow of our ultimate destiny, or make the most of it while we still can. I don’t think growing up really even matters, but I think being grown up means becoming more understanding of the human dilemma, certain death at some point. I don’t think people put much thought to it but once you fully understand it and are at peace with it, then you can truly live. As far as what makes life worth living? Well, do whatever you enjoy. And as I said, do something that prevents you from killing yourself I guess. Now, can I go back to being dead?

Harris: Appreciate it, Albert. Not gonna lie I’m a bit down after that but I get your point.

Kaag: Guess that leaves me? I think I agree with Susan on the second question, I think finding what you enjoy makes life worth living. If you enjoy and love what you do, well the fulfillment for life will come with that. I mean, who would really enjoy life when they do something they don’t care for and enjoy? I tend to notice people who love what they do have a greater love for life. As far as “what does it mean to grow up?” and “why should we?”, well that’s up to personal experience. For some being grown up means being financially independent from their parents or loved ones, for others it may mean living on their own, and for some growing up is just analogous to their age. I think we should grow up so we can do the things we enjoy. You’re a pilot, right Harris?

Harris: Yep.

Kaag: Good, so you enjoy it right?

Harris. I love it. 

Kaag: Exactly, so you couldn’t be a pilot when you were 10 years old, and you’re 20 now, so growing up has unlocked this newfound love for you.

Harris: I think I see what you mean. Well guys I appreciate your time, fingers crossed for my grade. I’m sorry for abducting you but I wrote this kinda late and I figured that, combined with the fact my classmates have asked you the same questions would make you apprehensive to help. Please do not contact the authorities. I’m still trying to get my degree.

Final Blog Post

Khushi Patel

section 10

I stepped out into a winter wonderland. Suddenly, the cold air stung my cheeks so I pulled my scarf up closer to my face. As I looked around I noticed a white blanket of snow covering the trees, ground, and houses. I was surprised by how quiet everything seemed. The only sound I could hear was my boots crunching in the snow. The smell of damp pine trees made the air feel fresh and clean. Because I have never been to any modest snow region, I felt so peaceful to be walking in such a magical place. I was heading for the meeting set up in the nearest hall. The time and the entry of the people were limited because of the ongoing pandemic. Furthermore, instead of welcoming the guests with huge entry, we decided to keep it simple and solemn.

 The guests invited for the meeting, or you can say for the conversation are Susan Neiman, John Kaag, and Immanuel Kant. I was extremely excited to meet them and ask some questions that I have been wondering for a very long time.

(The guests came in and took their respective spot)

Me without wasting my time, raised a question to Susan, author of Why Grow Up?

Me: Good morning! I would like to hear from Susan first because I read your book and I found it fascinating. The question is that what does it mean to grow up, and why should we? Second question- what makes life worth living?

https://youtu.be/DRiIAqGXLKA

Susan: thank you, I am glad that you liked my book! Going forward to the question, I think growing up means a lot of different things to many different people. For me, growing up means taking responsibilities and being mature. We should definitely grow up. The maturing process doesn’t only require change, but it requires mistakes so that we can learn more. The most important thing is learning from your mistakes-and in order to learn from them, you have to accept responsibility for them. I believe that we our self makes our life worth living by building zero to a thousand.

 Immanuel: I totally agree with you, Susan. You may be familiar with the phrase “grow up”, typically used in conversation to imply a person should be more mature in one way or another. One way to qualify maturity is to consider people who you think personify this attribute and take some time to ponder and consider their unique qualities i.e. humility, gratitude, self-acceptance, responsibility, etc. With that being said, learning new things from obstacles makes life worth living.

 John: we might say that maturity is seeing the world as it really is and living our lives accordingly. The more we see and the more we experience, the more we change, and the more we grow. This then feeds back on itself, enabling us to see even more and experience even more. It’s this cycle that leads us to greater levels of maturity, and it’s the interruption of this cycle that results in perpetual growth. I totally agree with John for the response to the second question. It is us who makes our life worth living.

 Me: Thank you very much. It was great knowing your different perspectives for my question.

 

Final Blog Post

 

Adam: Hello guys and welcome back to another YouTube video. It is an honor for me to introduce to you guys our three new philosophers but before I do that let us talk about an important topic that we will later elaborate on with our guests on the show. It has been a rough couple months with covid-19 and quarantine that nothing feels normal. Some people might argue whether it is worth growing up in times like this where you cannot go out and celebrate with your friends and family or have a nice gathering with loved ones without worrying about spreading the virus around. Is life even worth living anymore? Why should we grow up not knowing when this pandemic will end? What does it even mean for us to grow up? We will answer all of these questions later on in the video but first let me introduce to you guys our three guests tonight. Our first guest is a great philosopher who wrote the book “Why Grow up?” Susan Neiman. It is a pleasure to have you here Tonight Susan!

Susan: The pleasure is mine Adam! This is an interesting topic which I went really deep in my book and knowing the other philosophers this interview is going to be spectacular.

 

Adam: Thank you Susan looking forward to it. Our second guest is the author of “Sick Souls, Healthy Minds” John Kaag.

John: Thank you Adam for having us here today.

 

 

Adam: Last but not least, let us introduce a special guest and a philosopher William James!

 

William: Thank you Adam and I am excited to listen what the rest have to say about this issue today.

 

Adam: Lets start it off with you Susan, what does it mean to grow up, and why should we? What makes life worth living?

 

Susan: As I have mentioned in my book, ““Growing up is more a matter of courage than knowledge: all the information in the world is no substitute for the guts to use your own judgment” (WGU, 16). People nowadays are afraid of growing up and the society puts a bad and a terrible image in the youth’s head that staying young and dumb is better than growing up and handling responsibilities. I totally disagree with that and I think that being able to grow and learn, get educated, having the courage to push ourselves to become better mentally and physically is very important. I talked about this issue more in my lecture as I said, “... something else that for me is successful in as a grownup is the ability to radiantly glowing alive to the world and its possibilities to be open to learning from an ancient text”.  Growing up should me more appreciated and celebrated, because in order to mature we need to grow. 'The ability to see your life as the whole it has become allows you to see the strengths with which you've lived it and develop a sense of your own character. Integrity is never static; it is too easy to lose for that. It's rather a matter of determination: you've begun to figure out what sort of person you want to be, and you resolve to work harder to become it.” (WGU, 204). I go deeper into the topic in one of my interviews talking about my book, “The book was intended to do number of things, one was to undermine the myth that the best time of one’s life is the time between eighteen and 28”.

 

John:  I am going to add on what Susan said by saying that mental health plays a big role in us growing up. Different people learn to adapt and control it in different ways that would help them grow and become better. People assume that by growing up things are going to keep getting worse but that is right if you let it control you rather than you taking the charge and paving your own future. “Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact” (SSHM, 12). Going further in my book, I discuss how growing up in different conditions in life may affect your future wither positively or negatively. Growing up with both parents, or one, rich or poor, different religions, and different cultures will have a different turn to an individual’s life. But growing up would be full of despair, sadness and full of suffering we do not take control and guide ourselves into the light, “In the end, the point of life was to recognize the power of habit, but then to guide it and overcome it.” (SSHM, 60).  I would have not understood this philosophy if it were not for William James. His ideals, and facts about life encouraged me to be better and take control of reality and made me feel that life is worth living for no matter how hard it is and by taking charge you can change the outcome of it.

William:  Thank you John and it is an honor that I inspired you to become the man you are today. I believe that natural selection plays a huge role in how a person grows up. Different people have different characteristics depending on the environment that they surround themselves around or grew up with. People adapt to survive which is what makes us humans, we strive to survive which is why it is important for us to grow up. As I discussed in my book, mental activities help us fit and control our future and the way we grow up. I agree with John, people grow up and learn how to face their mental health or different mental activities that they face in life. People have different standards of different individuals, it might be because of materials they have, their lifestyle, or even money. As I mentioned in my book, growing up should be focused of our health mentally and physically not by money or possessions that we have which is a thing people nowadays lack and is making them discouraged and less able to control their future.

 

Adam:  Wow, what can I say other than I agree with what all of you guys said. I can definitely confirm that people my age are terrified of growing up and are discouraged to even consider what route are they going to take when they grow up. People should be more aware that time is precious, and that life is beautiful no matter what the situation is if you can take control of it and determine your goals for the future. I want to thank you guys today for being here it really has been an honor to be able to have this conversation with such amazing philosophers. I am looking forward to speak to you in the future under better circumstances and praying that this pandemic would be over as soon as possible.

 

Final Blogpost- Wesley Hopper

Wesley Hopper

Section 012 

Final Overall Points w/o Midterm and Final (60/70)

Final Blog Post 

12/8/2020

Wesley Hopper: Welcome back to another small group interview just like last time where will present a deep question and our special guests will express their ideas on that question and share their opinions with one another as well as the audience if they would like. Our guests tonight are Susan Neiman, the author of Why Grow Up, and John Kaag, the author of Sick Souls, Healthy Minds, will be sharing there experiences with the books and my question tonight. We also have an additional, reappearing guest Kurt Andersen, the author of Fantasyland, because I enjoy his ideas on everything and his "outside the box" thinking on the modern world today. Welcome everyone, lets get right to it.

Wesley Hopper: The big question for today is: What does it mean to grow up?Why should we? The auxiliary question being: What makes life worth living?

Susan: This is a wonderful question! I would like to start off with a quote from my book. "It requires facing squarely the fact that you will never get the world you want, while refusing to talk yourself out of wanting it." (WGU, 121)This is pretty much putting Immanuel Kant's thought of ought and is, but in a more modern structuring of sentences. Im confident that John Kaag can agree with me on the thought that experience is what can help make us grow in the world. This also mean that has we get older we start to realize that the world that was "given" to us as children by our parents is as protective of our mind and health as it was in the earlier stages of life. As we continue to "grow" we start to lean toward the is and accept some things the way the environment has made them. Do you ever realize how our future dreams start to funnel from a wide variety of possible careers and opportunities, to eventually narrowing down to one or maybe a couple things that can help someone "get by" or even just survive. This is depending on the personally experiences and what the reasoning pushes you to do. The reason I believe we should grow up is to kind of prevent this social downhill of aging created by society and do what makes us feel grown up while also accepting the "is" but pushing for our "ought" in life.

(This video may be long, but Neiman expresses a lot of ideas and I believe you will gain at least a little bit from watching a small chunk of this presentation.)

Andersen: Those are some very interesting ideas expressed by Susan there and I very much enjoyed that. My book, Fantasyland, goes parallel to your ideas and explains how the world is built with the people that continue through life refusing the "is" of life and are determined to make their world what it ought to be and try to make the world the way in which they benefit fully and live their dream life or their "fantasy." For some people, this works out if they work hard enough, but for the others it creates stubbornness and immaturity of knowledge. I believe growing up is realizing this immaturity that you have at a younger age that protects you from other peoples dream world and then drifting away from the fantasy and finding the reality that you are living in and that you have control of your future and the experiences that you create.

Kaag: I do enjoy how you put the idea of experience into your ideas because some of the ideas in my book, Sick Souls, Healthy Minds, show how experience with certain things can shape the way that you "grow" and show you the different meanings of growth based on personal experiences. My book is reinforced by the thoughts of William James on life and if it was worth living or not. Like James, I am influenced by some negative self reflections on life and how experiences throughout life are what make you grow. In my book I mention a way of James's thinking that can be stated as," If one looks carefully, suffering is not the exception but the rule." (SSHM, 43)This helps me explain how people that have experienced some sort of depression or unstable mental help can use these depression experiences to grow. This is supported by the idea that the people that have negatively self reflect can see what others overlook and ignore which can eventually hit them later and hit them even stronger. This growth is probably not the most ideal; however, it seems to give you a more open-minded growth to help you see future obstacles before they hit you. In conclusion, growing is a part of life that includes self-reflection and may include rough times for most and we should growing up to help ours selves she the worst in life and then overcome the suffering to then help us succeed in the future when faced with adversity.

Wesley Hopper: Those were some interesting responses there and now I would like to hear y'alls responses to the auxiliary question. Which is "What makes life worth living"

Kaag: My idea on this is that life may not be worth living all the time and that depression and even death is the final destination no matter what you experience and everything you do will end the same. However, the idea of overcoming this depression and suffering to achieve this freedom of mind and life to be to connect to life and all of its aspects that it has to offer. You can take advantage of what life has to offer and make a positive impact on other that continue to effect them after your time is up and eventually buried 6ft below like everyone else who has ended.

Neiman: That is a great response, but I would like to add a different outlook on what it means to live. The purpose of living is to help the world keep moving in a positive way and build a good social standing in life and what others have to offer that should be passed on through the things given to you and to reverse the social idea that growing up isn't only downhill.

Andersen: I can agree with Susan in this idea that we need to not get so caught up in our head and our fantasies and look at how we can affect the people around us in the best way possible. Ive also noticed a good connecting topic of mental health and how it ties to society, so I believe we should live life with good mental health and the purpose of spreading positivity that is separate from the stubborn fantasies and also helps others see the negative influences that bring upon depression.

Wesley: Thank yall so much for yalls time today!

Midterm Re-upload

 James Robinson

Section 10

Mid-term question

14 October 2020

A cool October breeze rolls by outside the doors of the James E. Walker Library. The temperature is perfect. A few leaves blow by as I stroll in to work on my philosophy midterm. As When I make it to the Buchanan reading room, I see them Julian Baggini, Kurt Anderson and Nigel Warburton. I hesitate to step inside, but am greeted with three smiles. I introduce myself “ Hello gentlemen I'm James, nice to meet you.”

 I start by asking “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? Nigel Warburton responds first, saying “philosophy can only help these people if they engage with it, a bystander to philosophy does not get nearly as much from it as someone who freely and openly engages in it.” For example Hannah Arendt  he said “She was interested in coming face to face with a product of the Nazi totalitarian state, to understand this man, get a sense of what he was like; and how he could have done such terrible things.”(LH 127) “So you’re saying her involvement in philosophy helped her and the people she influenced grow?” “Exactly” he responded. Baggini spoke up next saying “Some idea of oneness or unity is found in many great philosophical traditions. the major schools of Indian philosophy, assert a basic oneness of all being. That our individual selves are part of the universal self, the ‘One’:” (HWT 117) “So yes, philosophy can help with polarization and divisiveness. However it must happen through peaceful conversation and mutual action.”  Kurt Anderson responded last with “philosophy means nothing without rational thought. Philosophy must take everything into account not just one world view or belief.” Like I said in my book. The American experiment, the original embodiment of the great Enlightenment idea of intellectual freedom, every individual free to believe anything she wishes, has metastasized out of control.(FL8) 

“Well said everyone, this brings me to my next question.” “What is this world going to be? What is life eventually to make of itself?" Anderson decides to answer this first by saying “Whatever we all agree it to be. Life will continue to make life.” “like forks in the road, politics lead us to what the world is going to be “This book has traced the route that our country has taken to arrive at this latest version of itself. Now we can see how each fork in the road tended us toward the next, and the next, and then the next. (FL 344)”

Baggini was next to respond saying “As cultures grow closer the decisions they make will shape how the world is. It is up to our decisions to decide what life will make of itself. Each culture can learn something from the other” mentioning his book he says “The deep connection between individuals and groups in East Asia has a consequence that many Westerners find puzzling: the way families and communities share responsibility for wrongdoings and failures of their members. This is not simply a feeling of shame, for which the person bringing the shame is blamed. Rather, a deeper sense of really sharing responsibility.”(HWT 145) 

Warbuton responds last with “ The world will be filled with philosophers all sharing and sharpening their ideas. In their own way everyone is a philosopher. Even with their differences at the end of the day they could respect other opinions.” Berkeley is an example of a philosopher who was prepared to follow an argument wherever it went, even when it seemed to lead to conclusions that defied common sense. Voltaire, in contrast, had little time for this kind of thinker, or, indeed, for most philosophers.”

I reviewed my notes one last time before leaving them. I thank them for their time and ride off into the October sunset. 

I thought I would include a video on what stuck most with me Pascals wager:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2F_LUFIeUk0

Blog post Final

 Three questions are posed to Myself, Susan Neiman, John Kagg and Jesus Christ the first two being "what does it mean to grow up?" and "why should we." also "what makes life worth living"

Neiman: Growing up means learning to accept the way the world is, while not giving up hope that you can change it.

Kagg: I agree Susan we must not allow ourselves to fall victim to the idea that we can do nothing in this world. also considering the risks you may encounter trying to change it.

 Christ: And there will be many risks John. "Brothers will turn against their own brothers and give them to be killed. Fathers will turn against their own children and give them to be killed. Children will fight against their own parents and will send their parents to be killed. All people will hate you because you follow me. But the person that continues strong until the end will be saved."

Robinson: I thinks growing up means recognizing and taking care of your 3 states. your mental state, your physical state, and your spiritual state. We grow up simply because we have to, staying infantile will ruin your life and likely others. everyone is responsible and accountable for their actions.

Nieman: We should grow up so we can find enjoyment and fulfillment in things that are productive and useful.

Kagg: We need to grow up to survive in the world and have the resources to help others who need it. If more people become dependent however there will be no one in the next generation self sufficient.

Robinson: I think being alive on earth makes it wort living worth living. Even with the evil and the seeming unfairness the beauty of the earth and the love of others makes life worth it. 

Neiman: Finding a reason to live is part of being an adult. many people find this in religion, others in family or community. 

Kagg: Those with a sick soul think life is meaningless, however this is not the case. the answer is a healthy mind. one that is hopeful and open.

Christ: "19 This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."

Robinson: So grow up and choose your path, love your neighbor as you love yourself. Listen to the voice of God, for it will never lead you to the wrong place. Find the reason you live, explore the world, make connections. In the end you ultimately decide your path. Make sure it is the right one.

James Robinson Section #10 

Semester points 40/70 

 

   

 

Final Blogpost-Anthony Ozoh

Anthony : As we start on our post, I would like to ask the first question, “What does it mean to grow up? Why should we?” Susan, since you’re kind of the expert here so I’ll let you go first. 

 

Susan: didn’t know you were going to just put me on the spot like that but, its ok. To me growing up is recognizing the disconnect from what life is actually like and what everyone makes it out to be. Most programing for children and adolescence paints adulthood as a very grim fate. They all look one step up from a zombie; except for the one grown up that refuses to you know, grow up. Then you start getting older and the responsibilities of an adult and the reality of growing up is a constant process make people rather just stay immature while they still can. While everyone is always saying to just grow up and get used to it because it’s the same for everyone and no one can escape it. 

 

Anthony: I completely agree, I feel like after reading your book, and also being a recent grown up, I find myself being caught in two different worlds. For me everyone always said to cherish your childhood because you won’t have it forever, and you know what, I listened to them. For some reason it seemed pretty reasonable to so I basked in it for as long as I could and I still somewhat feel cheated but, I also love the newfound freedom that being an adult fully affords you to. So, I would say that growing up isn’t about letting go of your “childish ways” or, conforming to what it’s like to be a boring adult. It’s about realizing that the world isn’t how you thought it was but still trying to make it fit into a realistic mold of your aspirations. 

 

John: Growing up to me is an experience, an experience that for most people seems like a very scary and daunting process. It seems to suck the life out of a lot of people or keep them as immature as they can possibly be, trying to not face the reality. It’s an experience that some don’t survive. So, for me growing up is about the choice of keeping yourself in one piece as the years start pilling on, about not giving up and regulating yourself to a life of sadness. To me the most grown-up people I know are the people that understand that life is whatever you make it and choose to make it count.  

 

Rousseau: For me, to grow up is a complex and time-consuming task. For us that weren’t raised like my brainchild Emile, growing up is realizing that there are two worlds. Those two worlds are the, “is and the ought” we all have come upon a fact of the world that we don’t want to accept because accepting it would mean that the world isn’t as nice or fair as we have previously thought. But just like that initial disappointment with the world the ones that come after it hurt less and less and it becomes something that we just accept as fact. 

Final Blog Post

 Me: Good afternoon everyone,  since our last sit in with some of our favorite author went so well we decided to put together another one. This time we invited Ms. Susan Neiman, Mr. John Kagg, and Mr. Kurt Andersen will also be going us again ! We’ve sat down and pondered on what questions to discuss this time and we’ve came up with two. First, “What does it mean to grow up? Why should we?” (Ms. Susan we believed this would be a great question for you.) and second, “What makes life worth living?” We challenge everyone to ponder their own thoughts and also listen what our  greta philosophers have to say. Whomever would like to take the floor first you are welcome to do so!

Susan : These are wonderful questions to begin with. I’ll go first since I literally have a book titled, “Why Grow Up?” In my book, I discuss the changes made through out life and the journey of become and adult form childhood. I believe everyone grows in their own time. There’s no single answer on what it means to “grow up,” for every mind is different. Growing up is a process. In chapter 3 of my book I discuss, I discuss growing up and how our parents affect are growing. “Growing up is a process of sifting through your parent’s choices.” To simply put it, we grow up to find our own meaning of life and our own way of thinking. 

John : Susan, I completely agree with your statement on growing. up. Although I believe both questions can be significant to our conversation, I would like to focus more on the second one.”What makes life worth living?” This is something that everyone should stop and ask themselves. What is it that is making me choose to continue to live my life? This brings me back to chapter 6 in my book, “Sick Souls, Healthy Minds.” In this particular chapter I share with my readers an experience I had on a bridge in New York. The bridge was known for all the lives that people chose to end by jumping off into the waters. I believe life is whatever we make it. All of the possibilities and wonders of life are why it is worth living. 

Kurt: My two fellow philosophers had some great thoughts on the questions presented, but as you all know from my last appearance here, I like to focus on America in particular when I ponder on life’s questions. Growing up here in America could mean a number of things, reaching the age of 18, getting a job and paying  bills, or whatever new characteristics we choose to come up with. Although we all longed “grow up” when we are kids, why is that when we reach the age of adulthood that the majority of  us fall into what I call the “Kids R Us Syndrome?” We hold on to many childlike things like video games and cartoons, so how do we really describe what it means to be grown up ? I challenge you all to look at your life and find the kid-like qualities you have and see if your definition of “Grown” remains the same. 

Kurt: This topic reminds me a particular meme ( https://images.app.goo.gl/64E8iDtaKq1F6Xir8 ) . I agree it's humorous, but does hold some meaning. 

Me: Thank you all for those great responses, and I hope that everyone here takes Mr.Kurt’s challenge into consideration when we leave here today. As always it was pleasure hosting today’s meeting. We hope to see you all next time!

Our Final Blog - Moustafa Shamdeen Section 12

 So, I sat in my chair, just finishing two books that I was required to read in my class, and thankfully I enjoyed, at least relatively. And while I was there, pondering and talking to myself and wondering, building connections in the old chrome dome, but time still moved on and I look outside my window, and it's become nighttime. I've been trying to get my sleep schedule on track, so I decide, that’s enough thinking for today, and head to bed. 

As I open my eyes, I’m suspended in clouds, with a cloud staircase leading down and curving right in front of me, and so I take it down and as I take my final step on the sandy ground, I eventually I end up at a table on the beach, the staircase that led me vanished into thin air. Sitting at that table I see 3 individuals, all of which I feel like I've seen before, but also, I can’t quite put my finger on it. For some reason or another I end up sitting down with those individuals, on my left, a woman by the name of Susan Neiman introduces herself to me. In front of me, an elderly man named Herbert Fingarette, and to the northwest of where I’m sitting, is a younger man named John Kaag. Why I know their names, I'm not too keen, but as soon as I take a seat, a magical piece of paper appears right in the middle of the table. On it, lies three questions "What does it mean to grow up? Why should we?" and "What makes life worth living?" Thus, the conversations begin.

John Kaag: We already know each other's names, but I figured I'd still introduce myself. I'm John Kaag, I write books.

Susan Nieman: Hello, my name is Susan Neiman, I'm an author, who funnily enough, wrote a book about the topics on the piece of paper before us.

Herbert Fingarette: I'm Herbert, I’m 97, and I've lived a long life, so I feel like I might have enough experience to chime into this conversation. 

Moustafa Shamdeen: Howdy, I’m Moustafa Shamdeen, I’m just a normal college student, nothing too special about me, been in one of these weird situations before not too long ago, but let's see where this one goes.

Susan: I guess I'll start, since this is literally what I wrote about. What does it mean to grow up and why should we? Well for starters "being grown-up is widely considered to be a matter of renouncing your hopes and dreams, accepting the limits of the reality you are given, and resigning yourself to a life that will be less adventurous.... than...when you began it" (WGU 1). And I mean that sounds so harsh and so negative but growing up is not just a matter of being depressed and living your life to a beat of a drum, it's not just going to school and getting a job and dying even if it sounds like that. "Growing up is more a matter of courage than knowledge: all the information in the world is not substitute for the guts to use your own judgement. And judgement can be leaned-... (WGU 16) Growing up isn't that boring, lifeless, thing that we all have been led to imagine. For some reason, adults always tell children, and then those children tell their children, to cherish the time they have now, because it just gets worse in the future, but growing up is something great. Something important, we should celebrate being able to grow up, and view the world around us more clearly.  I feel like I've rambled on long enough so let me give you all a chance to speak.

Herbert Fingarette: I have lived a long life and for that I am eternally grateful, but still, I wish I had more. What does it mean to grow up? The matter of the fact is that I don't know. I've presumably lived longer than everyone else here, or else you guys just look marvelous for your age, but still, I don't know. I wrote books on everything from Self-Deception to Chinese Philosophy to Death, and still, I don't know. If growing up is like what Susan said, it being a matter of courage, then by the gods, I have regressed in age. I fear my death, I feared my wife's death before she passed, but still it came. I don't think growing up is something to be scared of forever, but for me, I live every day, thinking that this is my last. And I apologize but I'm going to skip ahead to answer, what makes life worth living, the truth of the matter is I don't know. It is an inexplicable truth, but even though I have lost it all, and us human beings can be quite fickle creatures at times, I still want to be here for it. 

Moustafa Shamdeen: I think that's in a sense beautiful. I'm much too young, the polar opposite of Herbert in fact, probably the youngest one here, but what I think it means to grow up is to be able to bear the responsibility. I think that even as you grow up, you still can have fun, I mean there are bars, and concerts, and events, and museums, zoos, parks, etc. but I think you are meant to hold your share of the responsibilities now. You can't put your enjoyment over your children's needs, or the bills you have to pay, or the job you have, or the mistakes you make. You're not a child, in the at least in the sense of the weight you hold in the world. There's that corny line with great power comes great responsibility, but even if you don’t want that power, aging naturally gives you that power, and as such you are expected to, for lack of a better term, grow up. And while I'm speaking, what makes life worth living? Everything. The trees, the animals, the warm sun rays on your skin, the chill you get, the flu, the cold, a broken toe, all of those thing merge into what we call life. and all of those things, are a part of what makes it so great. You can’t appreciate your foot, until it stops working as it is intended, you can't appreciate your health until you get a cold, you can't appreciate the cold or the warmth of the world
without experiencing it first-hand. Life is worth living because of the culmination of these things.

John Kaag: I kind of agree with Susan that growing up is a way to learn and discover more about yourself. In my book, "Sick Souls, Healthy Mind," the whole point of the book is to find the purpose of living for those who suffer from mental illnesses. Every day I remember that there is always more time left, which is on one hand a problematic mentality, but on the other, if done correctly, can lead you to more happiness and growth. I mean for me; William James made my life worth living. "His (William James) philosophy saved my life. Or more accurately, it encouraged me not to be afraid of life....'Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact.'" (SSHM 12). In fact, James' philosophy explicitly states that life isn't great, in fact "If one looks carefully, suffering is not the exception but the rule"(SSHM 43). “But just because it isn't the best right now, doesn't mean it will always be that way. Similar to what Moustafa said, you can't appreciate what you have until its gone. Stuff will make us sad and depressed but still "Any state of affairs, or more accurately, state of mind, is temporary" (SSHM 104). 

Susan Nieman: Well, I guess I just have to answer that last question and that’s it. What makes life worth living? I'll answer that with another question, think about "Would I live this life over?"(WGU 228) and either way you answer this question, it answers the question at hand. If you say yes, then whatever you're doing right now makes life worth living, but if you answer no, then take a look at yourself and begin to grow up and live a life that's worth repeating. 

And as soon as Susan answered her final question, the paper on the table vanished, like a puff of smoke, and with that, we all slowly vanish with just enough time to say our goodbyes. Just like that, I wake up, and slowly forget the conversations I had and as the days pass by.

Douglas Graham Hauser Final Blogpost

 As this semester is coming to an end, more stress starts to set in as my finals scatter themselves across these last two weeks. Quite a bit of studying has taken place at my apartment since my roommate has been gone. He finally comes back from his hometown ready to party after finishing his finals a few days earlier than me. I needed to find some peace away from the loud music and yelling that comes from his room. I decide to head on over to our library. The quad is as dead as always, especially since Thanksgiving. I enter the library and everything around me starts to change and warp yet again. I know what's happening this time but I wasn't sure who I would be seeing.

The room settles and three people appear to be sitting down around a desk. it is Susan Neiman, John Kaag, and I never would have guessed but Confucius.

Neiman: you're probably confused about how you got here again but I believe you have some questions to ask us.  

Hauser: In fact, I do have a few.  What does it mean to grow up? Why should we? and What makes life worth living?

Neiman: I'll start this one off for us. Growing up seems to be taught as a large decline from adolescence and that everything becomes crueler as you grow older. I think we should be able to cherish this act of growing up. As a "grown-up" you should be moving the world closer to what it should be. as for why we should grow up, well I tried to answer it in my book. "...because it's harder than you think, so hard that it can amount to resistance -- even rebellion. (WGU 192)" it is hard to make children excited to grow old when they are only shown depictions of how adulthood is cruel and horrible. New experiences and adventure can make life worth living but to be able to push the next generation towards more happiness and content in their own life should motivate you to keep living too. 

Kaag: We grow up in childhood under forces we don't have control of and growing up into adulthood doesn't free most people. I became much less afraid of growing older due to William James. He had struggled with suicide for a lot of his life but through philosophy, he was able to understand and help others understand that it is not worthless and that life is worth living. there are sick souls, ones who look at every detail, and healthy souls, people who overlook parts of life. We should focus on the connections we build with people because it makes life worth living. 

Confucius: I agree with you, John. healthy relations with your family and friends around you can easily make life worth living. I think as you grow up you can structure your life through self-cultivation and educate yourself through the work you do for yourself and your culture. I personally think that this self-cultivation will lead you closer to the god that you follow and in term increasing your worth of life and your happiness. Finding your balance in life will make life worth living in itself. I think you should grow up to start to become closer to this cultivation and more in tune with yourself.

Hauser: I appreciate hearing everyone's views and answers to these questions. Now I am sure you all have better places to be but thank you for the enlightenment on this subject, I won't be forgetting. 

Final Blog Post - Patrick Wolff

Patrick Wolff

final essay

section 11

Patrick: Hello all, I have brought you all out to this lovely dinning place to have a conversation before I depart my philosophy class.

Susan Neiman: We appreciated the invite.

John: Agreed!

Plato: How am I even alive?

Patrick: I'll explain it all later because right now time is of the essence.

Patrick: The first question I have for all of you is What does it mean to grow up? Why should we?

Plato: I believe growing up comes at very specific points of maturity. If you look at my allegory of the cave you can see what I mean. I will explain. In the allegory of the cave there is a very often overlooked detail that I wrote for a very specific purpose. The detail I am speaking about is the blinding light that is seen when someone first breaks the shackles inside the cave and see the fire there are blinded by the light. This represents a complete change and reevaluation of ones self. This also happens when the person sees the sun in the allegory of the cave. Both of these moments are moments of maturity. I feel that only the first stage is needed to be consider an adult, this is why some people are still childish in some of their actions.

Patrick: That was a very interesting thought Plato I had not seen it that way before. My response to the question and What I have seen personally is that we never grow up. We are always still that same kid at art. We reach points of maturity and independence. Once we are living on our own for the first time that is generally when we are seen as adults.

Susan:  I sort of disagree with what you said. I believe a lot of growing up has to do with your maturity and your age goes right along with that. Everyone must learn morals and ethics at some point or else it could actually be potential dangerous to society. This is why growing up is so important

John: I believe that adulthood is the gateway to knowledge and wisdom and it is often looked down upon by people who do not yet understand this. The best parts of growing up is getting to exercise your free will.

Patrick:  You know, John I really agree with you on that point. Moving along now into our next question. What makes life worth living. 

Patrick: What makes life worth living is creating. When you are creating something from nothing. The joy and fulfillment you get from anything like this is unrivaled. It could be creating anything but it seems to be that the most fulfillment that most people generally get is from having a kid.

Susan: The thing that makes life worth living is being able to surround yourself with people who love and adore you. People who care for you in life give you reason to care for others. The more we care for each other the more is worth living

John: There is only one thing that gives life meaning and that is death. Without death life would be meaningless. We are fighting against the current and against a ticking clock. This at the end of the day is what makes life worth living.

Plato: What makes life worth living is knowledge. At the end of the day what makes life worth living is the pursuit of knowledge and gaining wisdom. life is meaningless if we are missing this crucial knowledge. One must break ones perception of reality in order to truly learn.

Patrick: Those are all very interesting points. U really agree with Plato on this one that knowledge is a very valuable and meaningful part of life. 

Final Blog Post

 Henry Moseley

Section 10

Final Blog Post

I have decided to start doing a little journalism as a new hobby.  For my first article I wanted to ask some very well known philosophers a couple questions for my article.  For my first two philosophers, I decided to contact Susan Neiman and John Kaag and they were both very happy to meet and answer my questions.  For my third and final philosopher, I chose to speak with Aristotle.  However, I quickly realized that may become a slight problem, because Aristotle had been dead for nearly 2400 years.  So, I hired some Satanists to do this black magic seance in order to raise Aristotle from the dead.  It took my entire life savings, so I hope I am able to get a good answer from him.  After I raised Aristotle from the dead, I called Susan, John, and Aristotle to my home so I could ask them some questions for my article.

Me: Hello everyone I am glad you could make it, especially you Aristotle.  Your age has treated you quite well!

John: It is a pleasure.

Susan: I am glad to be here, and very nice to meet you Aristotle!

Aristotle: I am happy to be here and I am so glad that my ideas have carried on as long as they have.  What are your questions?

Me: My first question is, What does it mean to grow up and why should we?  My second question is, what makes life worth living?

Susan: Excellent questions and I am very happy to answer both.  For starters, I believe growing up can be different for every individual human being, but I also believe there are a lot of things that each person can relate to when it comes to growing up.  For instance, most people believe that growing up involves figuring out what you want to do with your life.  Whether that is working as a nurse Hospital or being a some type of political activist for your community does not really matter.  I believe we should grow up because growing up helps us bring benefit to the world with whatever we decide to do with our lives, and as we grow up, we will learn to better benefit the world.  And for your second question, I believe it really ties back to my first answer.  Once we find a way to make a difference in the world no matter how small, it will give each of us a drive to do better and live to our lives to the complete fullest.

John: I will have to agree with a lot of what Susan is saying.  I think growing up can be different for the individual as well.  In fact, extremely different.  Think of all the people from different backgrounds.  Wealth, Gender, Ethnicity, Culture, and what country you are apart of can all have an effect on what you think is growing up.  In first world countries like the United States, growing up usually means getting a job and starting a family.  Also providing for that family.  In other countries, something as simple as a ceremony could mean you are grown up.  As for why grow up?  I believe that is a harder question.  A lot of people look back to their childhood and wish to go back so it would seem like nobody likes being grown up.  However, I believe that if you try and do something that satisfies you for the remainder of you life, that is enough of a reason to grow up.  For your second question, I believe a lot of things can make life worth living.  In it's simplest form, doing things that make you happy can make life worth living.  You can also do things that help other peoples lives.  The possibilities are endless.

Aristotle: Very great points to the both of you!  I can agree with a lot of them.  I understand that my beliefs might be a little outdated, but I think that they can still be related to today's questions and issues.  I will try my hardest to relate with things going on in today's world instead of what was going on over 2000 years ago.  I believe that growing up really depends on our expansion of knowledge and learning new things.  So throughout your life I believe you never truly stop growing up.  Even as we get smarter, there will still be new things to learn and new experiences to have.  For example, you guys managed to put humans on the moon, and now you guys are talking about putting humans on Mars.  We never stop growing and learning.  And as for why grow up?  Humans have been fascinated with knowledge ever since our existence.  People like me during my time and now people like you during yours.  The constant hunger for knowledge is never ending.  We will keep growing because that is our nature.  Now, for your second question, I believe that learning new things is enough to make life worth living.  Helping the human race advance and keep advancing way after you are gone.  At least, I have experienced it first hand.  Humans have accomplished things that I could not have even imagined. 

Susan: Very great points guys!  I very much enjoyed this conversation!

John: I also enjoyed hearing your views, thanks for having me.

Aristotle: It was a pleasure getting to sit and talk with all of you.  Have a good day.

Me: Thanks everyone!  I enjoyed this conversation and I hope we have more.

I let everyone out my door and watched Susan and John get into their vehicles and leave.  Aristotle just decided to start walking down the road as my neighbors gazed at him with very confused looks.  I never did see Aristotle again, last I heard, he got put into a mental facility because everyone thought he was delusional.  Oh well, at least he answered my questions.
 

Philosophy Final

 

Taking a beautiful hike with my dog in the woods, I stopped to listen to the wind rustle through the branches and the leaves.  I watched as the sunlight poked through the canopy coverage and scattered over the ground like the reflection off a disco ball.  My mind wandered back to when I used to take these types of hikes with my family when I was a little girl.  How much I hated hiking and couldn't wait to be done with the trip so I could get back into a hotel room with air conditioning and good cooked meals instead of the constant heat, the embarrassment of using the bathroom in the woods, and the jaw numbing granola that never stopped needing chewing.  I started to think about how much I wish I had enjoyed those hikes when I was little.  How much I should have relished in those years of being taken care of by my parents and the innocence I had before I had so many different experiences that made me grow up.  

I thought about some philosophers that I had recently learned about in my philosophy class at school.  What would they say about my desires to go back to being a child?  Would things be easier or simpler if we only stayed as children?

If I could talk to some people about these questions I would want to talk to John Kaag, Susan Neiman, and Immanuel Kant.  This is what I think we might say:

Me: It's so nice to see everyone!  Thanks so much for talking with me Susan, John, and Immanuel.  You three have so much knowledge I'd love to ask you all some questions if that's alright?

S:  Of course!  It's always a pleasure to help someone figure out an answer to a question!

J:  We will definitely give it a shot!

Me:  So my first question I would like to get some clarity on is: What does it mean to grow up? and then a follow up is: Why should we?

S:  Oh I love these questions!!  You do know that I wrote a book called Why Grow Up right?  "If growing up, as I'll argue, requires a balance between is and ought, grown--up philosophy ought to be the best place to practise balancing.  In particular, it cannot make interesting claims about what ought to be without understanding what is.  This idea should be self-evident, but in a field that often pays less attention to the external world than to offering proofs of its existence, it's worth emphasizing."

I:  The reason you want to go back to your childhood is because you remember it from your rose-tinted glasses.  We don't actually have direct access to the way the world is, because we can never take those glasses off.  They give us a distorted reality so that without that filter we really would be unable to experience anything.

J:  Well you know how much I love William James right?  "In James's words, 'the whole man within us' changes.  Similarly, when we 'make up our mind' about beliefs and core values, what we really make is a decision about how we will live and what we will become."  It's imperative that we do grow up.

Me:  Well if we should grow up then how do we know what we should be like as grown ups?

S:  "Growing up is a process of sifting through your parents' choices about everything."   "Rousseau's paradox: we cannot construct a decent society without a critical mass of real grown-ups, yet we can hardly create real grown-ups within a society that doesn't want them."  You'll always have the information and resources that your parents gave you growing up, but it's up to you to decipher what you want to keep and throw out!

J:  Well it all depends on the type of person you want to be.  Do you like how your parents are as grown ups?  Were there things you'd like to change?  "Better to change, even in dangerous and self-destructuve ways, than to languish in inactivity."

I:  Well I think we should do what is morally right.  Regardless of how you feel about your parents, try to leave the emotion out of it, do you think your parents' actions as grown-ups were right or not?  If you agree that they were morally right then you should do the same.  Growing up is a job that doesn't ever stop.  We will always continue to be a "child" growing into what we should be.

Me:  Ok.  I think that helps me on that question.  What then do you all think makes life worth living?

J:  "To endure the horror of existence, the sick soul must be "twice born," or reborn in order to love, or at least bear, the act of living."  I relate a lot to William James.  He was plagued with a sick soul.  Many people think that fame or money makes life worth living.  "It is as if only after a person has been given everything that one has the chance to realize that everything might never be enough to really matter.  It only takes a minor disturbance in the comforts of daily life-just a persistent irritation in an otherwise perfect existence-to bring on this dark realization.  At that point, in the words of the twentieth-century French thinker Albert Camus, 'the stage sets collapse'."

S:  "With the passing of time and the accumulation of experience, things get repeated, and the more the repetition the less the surprise.  As surprise recedes, so does passion.  The facts are the same, but you no longer feel them as acutely.  And isn't that a boon?  Life is dimmer and duller, but it doesn't hurt so much, either.  Those of us who once thrilled to dance and dream until dawn are now content to retire rather earlier to a good bed and pillow.  The edge is missing, but so is the hangover.  You have learned not to count much on the things outside you: friends and fortune can disappear, and you've seen lives upended by floods, famine or war.  The solution, you conclude, can only be found inside you.  You cannot control much else, but with determination and practice you can learn to control your own emotions, at least enough to ensure that what goes on outside affects you less.  You've already accepted the gap between you and the world in principle; what remains is the task of embracing it in practice.  The world is unstable, sometimes treacherous, and immeasurably vast; your soul, by contrast, is sufficiently limited and malleable to be the sort of thing you might transform.  You will sleep better, and hurt less, if you turn your sights inward, for a good soul is in reach when nothing else is."

I:  People have worth and so does life.  The overriding idea of reason and treating people with respect according to how in turn you yourself would want to be treated makes life worth living.  

Me:  Wow.  I have to say I really appreciate all the wisdom.  I actually just heard a message that my pastor preached this last Sunday on the gift of Jesus.  He explained that for Christians we have the gift of salvation everyday which gives us our eternal life with Jesus.  He talked about how we should be living for the kingdom daily, not just as a thing in the distant future.  We should strive to live like Jesus is returning for us every day and live our life accordingly.  That hope that I have to be in heaven one day is what I think makes life worth living.

My dog barks at some passing horses and snaps me back into reality.  Smelling the trees and seeing all of God's creation around me makes this life on Earth worth it.