Ramblings at 17

I came across an old homework in Philosophy. I was seventeen when I wrote this. And it's funny because I kept it all these years. There's a mark from the teacher, 1.0. And a remark, This is a good reflection paper.

It's pretty much a lengthy read, but I hope whoever finishes picks something up.



Philosophy defined
(Or so what I've been trying)

A common knowledge to those who have studied philosophy is that the word "philosophy" originated from the Greek words philos ("lover") and sophia ("wisdom"). But defining the term using our limited knowledge about it is quite next to impossible. What really is philosophy? Well, perhaps I am about to find out, or perhaps I won't.

A lover, that I am. Of wisdom, perhaps so. But is this enough to call myself a philosopher? I have meticulously searched for a definite answer to this. And sure enough I have found none. Perhaps in some ways, all of us had been philosophers of our own right. They do say that the only thing we require to be a good philosopher is the faculty of wonder. That, we all got. Though I must say that the others practice theirs quite occassionally while the others never did practice it at all.

According to Jostein Gaarder, the author of Sophie's World, philosophers will try to ignore the highly topical affairs and instead try to draw people's attention to what is eternally 'true,' eternally 'beautiful,' and eternally 'good.' He further stated that we can only have inexact conceptions of things we perceive with our senses. How can we therefore have knowledge of things that are in constant state of change? But we can have true knowledge of things we understand through reason. Here, we can conceivably think that through reason, the facts of life will be uncovered. It is not enough to use one's own senses.

I am having a hard time figuring how to make philosophy sound easy and comprehensible. I mean, give me a break! It's Christmas. Oh well, a person's got to do what he's got to do... You see, I've never really understood the word philosophy at all. It is mind-boggling and I don't intend to mess the perfect cocoon I have wrapped myself with. I am a chemical engineering student and just after my philosophy class I have my Chemistry. What would you think if in one class, your professor asks you to prove the existence of the matter and the class after studies about matter itself and its properties? So much for that...

Bertrand Russel stated that "the common misconception about philosophy is that we think of it as an innocent trifling, hair spliting distinctions, and controversies on matters concerning which knowledge is impossible." He further declared that the knowledge philosophy aims at is the kind of knowledge which gives unity and system to the body of science, and the kind which results from a critical examination on grounds of our convictions, prejudices, and beliefs. Philosophy, though unable to show us with assurance the true answer to the doubts which it raises, it is able to suggest many possibilities which broaden our thoughts and free them from the domination of custom.

I read the Myth of the Cave, which is found in Plato's dialogue, Republic. It was about people who were living in a cave, and they were bound only to see the back of the cave. They saw figures, shadows of what lies out there. They've been born that way that was why they are compelled to think that it was all that there is, the shadow play. So, if ever there is one of them who manages to get out of the cave and see the wonder beyond, he or she would be astounded with the things they would be seeing. For the first time, they would see colors and clear images, not just the shadows. And what does he try to do? He goes back to the cave to tell his fellowmen that there is more out there. These people, who managed to get out of the cave are the ones referred to by Plato as the philosophers. But what would these people who were left in the cave try to carry out if they do not believe him or her? They would like to see to it the death of that one philosopher.

There were skeptics to say the least. But they did not hinder philosophers unearth the facts of life. What had they found out? That life is extremely complex. Hadn't we all known that from the very start?

I just read the article about brainstorming and bullshitting and I gathered that one of the author's students considered philosophy as nothing but a rhetorical bullshit.

God! This does not make any sense. Hey, philosophy does not recognize God. And why is that? Couldn't we consider philosophers skeptics as well? One thing I can say for sure, philosophy never runs out of paradoxes.

Having been introduced just this semester to the history of philosophy, I was inclined to think that philosophy came about due to man's natural curiosity. Why ask? Especially if not one answer could be given to it. Myths, for example, were narrated as they tried to explain the "unexplainable." Although true wisdome seems out of grasp, philosophers never cease to look for something quite close to it.

What do we know? And is our knowledge the truth or just a mere fact? And what difference does the two have? Too many questions, too little time to look for the answers. Socrates once told the City of Athens that he only knows that he does not know, yet he was considered the wisest. Who are wise? And who are the learned? As quoted from The Tao Teh Ching: He who knows (the Tao) does not (care to) speak (about it); he who (is ever ready to) speak about it does not know it. So does this mean that the all-knowing should not bother explaining anything at all? Well then, if I know philosophy at all, I should forget typing a five-page report about it. Really. I am making perfect sense. But I am not courageous enough to submit five blank pages. Somebody told me once, a class was having an essay exam with only one question, "What is Courage?" A student submitted his paper less than five minutes later. His teacher, suprised by his quickness, looked at his paper. There he wrote, This is courage. See, it is just a matter of analysis.

Reality sucks (forgive my bluntness, but it does!) I believe sometime, somehow, everything would just diminish. Poof! Well what do you know; life does not go on after all. Can you just imagine the irony of it all? We've worked diligently to compensate our hard-earned time and money. We've come to expect that tomorrow would rise again as it usually does. Yep, we continually ignore the fact that we are all but temporary.

Life. All through the course of living, we have asked this question - what is life? And seldom do we get answer that suffices our in-born curiousity however "factful" it may be. Yep, we deal with facts and not truths; tends to be subjective rather than objective. Human as we are, we do make mistakes.

I have lived my life for seventeen years now and I can't imagine how things had drastically change. I don't quite like being referred to as a woman, yet I am slowly, gradually, and surely becoming one. I, the scrawny little kid not a many years ago, am becoming something I had dreaded I would be. And that is to become a grown-up. Swinger of Birches, a poem I haven't read yet but would very much like to. I just heard the author of that poem wished to be a child again. At one point or another, we all wished to be a kid again, with no worries, no hassles. Preferrably a kid no more than a year old, wrapped in mom's warm and comfortable arms. Content to hearing mother's voice murmuring phrases intended to soothe, yet one you couldn't possibly understand at that age. It would be a bliss, don't you think? But we don't stay on that stage forever, nor can we wish ourselves back in time. Kids are concerned with the smaller issues and by nature, quite inquisitive. They never seem to run out of questions to ask. That only makes them more of a philosopher, I think. Their sense of wonder would only ignite a thousand other questions in your mind. Yet as one grows up, the faculty of wonder is replaced by practice or custom. We had believed that pigs do not fly and crows do not turn white. It would rather be interesting to find something of that sort. And probably we would just think of it as a hallucination or perhaps the strangest dream.

Growing up. Indeed, we all grow up. Everybody does it so it wouldn't be a great deal anyway, right?

I have all of my seventeen years of existence to experience the "normalcy" of life. Or so I had believed. What really is normal? There have been million of times when I have asked when and where man came from. But the answers seem elusive. I seldom deal with life's trivialities, yet I am confronted with one just now. Or maybe I am just being skeptic.

I had always known that the world was round. Perhaps I read or heard it somewhere, but nonetheless, I knew. The funny thing is, I thought we lived inside it. Well, I just sort of imagined that living outside would hinder breathing since space does not contain any air. Hey, I was just six then! What do you expect? Hehe. A child's mind works in ways we cannot fathom. I myself am thinking just right now that if the world was round and we lived inside it, where would the sun rise and set? And couldn't we see the other part of the world?

I have this theory. It would be about the universe. What if there's this one gigantic box. Inside it is nothing but darkness, and outside it, there is nothing but brightness. This box contains holes and inside it is our universe. The stars we see come from the light coming in grom the holes of this box. The black holes are ports that let you travel from our universe to the outside. So much for all of those two or three pages of twaddle (just to complete five pages), here's the ending.

Philosophy is vital to the human race. Without it, there would be no such thing as science. The first step of the scientific method is to know what the problem is. And how would you consider a problem without first being curious? When you start wondering, you start philosophizing. (Or perhaps nature took its toll and serendipity happens, like in the case of Newton's apple.)

I am thinking perhaps that we are studying philosophy because we had grown up. We refused to accept what the elders told us. And we tried to look for the answers ourselves.

What is philosophy? I could always answer this last question with one word. Ambot. It is our local term for the phrase, I do not know, because sure enough I have not the least idea what more to say.

Most likely I have talked about a lot of nonsense, however, I shall close now with what Mary (of Seventh Heaven) had said, "I am not the greatest student of Life, but I have learned."