BY: SIMONE SMITH
When we think about philosophy, we think about it being weird, boring, and maybe even irrelevant. There are others who find the science of philosophy intriguing and go to all lengths to understand the philosophy of life. For those who find it intriguing, it is not hard to put a finger on what they find interesting; for the latter, there are questions that may arise such as, What is philosophy. Who are the greatest philosophers? Why do we need to know who they are? What is the importance of philosophy?
For those who choose to dig a little further after reading this article, visit The Book of Life at http://www.thebookoflife.org/. This website provides great insight into how people think and how philosophy can help to guide many of your decisions in life. What I will be doing this week is providing readers with some quotes from some of the most famous philosophers and presenting ways in which we can utilize their thoughts in our daily life. Let us first look at the definition of philosophy. In Greek, Philo means Love or Devotion, and Sophia means wisdom. When you put these two meanings together, philosophy is the love of wisdom or devotion to wisdom. Wisdom has always been associated with age, and life experience; being wise can also be looked at as attempting to live and die well; the ultimate goal is fulfillment, regardless of the pain and suffering one might endure during their life. Someone who is considered a philosopher strives to find individual and collective fulfillment, all in the while developing a specific skill set that is focused on understanding how we as humans conceptualize life.
In order to understand how this looks, let us examine some quotes from some of the most famous philosophers.
Áll men by nature desire knowledge.” (Aristotle)
From childhood to adulthood, we have always been full of questions. All mothers know that stage in your child’s life where every question begins with “WHY?” Sometimes this question becomes annoying, and some parents, who have no time for the questions, end this by saying, “Because I said so!” As much as I would say that this is the wrong approach, I am completely understanding of it. These questions intensify as we get older, and for most, we question life until the day we die. Aristotle was on target with his thoughts, which is what makes him one of the most famous philosophers of our time. We all desire knowledge and this is something that seems to be an innate quality of the human experience.
“Let us suppose the mind to be a white paper, void of all characters without any ideas: how does it come to be furnished?” (John Locke)
It has been said that when we are born, we are born with minds that are blank slates. These slates are then filled by our individual experiences; what we learn from our parents, friends, school, and daily life quickly fill this blank slate. I believe that John Locke was speaking about the same idea; our minds are like white paper; it becomes furnished throughout our lives. The furnishing or thoughts are not always positive ones, which is why it is so important to refurnish our minds from time to time. We can do this by speaking affirmations, listening to affirmations, and sometimes we need even more than just affirmations. A complete renovation of the mind could include going to see a psychotherapist.
Philosophy is still a fundamental aspect of life whether we want to believe it or not.
Ty Blackman
June 2, 2017 at 9:59 am
If you want to empower people of Afro-Caribbean descent, then maybe don’t portray Philosophy in the traditional light of the Greeks alone. Greeks journeyed to Africa to study all that made their civilization great. That includes African Philosophy learned at the world’s oldest universities in the world’s oldest civilizations. Thanks.