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  • Essay / The importance of studying and teaching The discipline of philosophy

    Modern society faces a new crisis, due to skepticism about the legitimacy and importance of the philosophical discipline itself, when science can provide all the answers. Why should people care about philosophy or philosophers themselves when they live in a world where science is seen as having a far more valuable and important role in society than the study of philosophy or humanities? Philosophers are so unique because of their acute awareness of their activity in society and actively demonstrate their awareness through criticism of other people and disciplines, as this is one of the fundamental Socratic ideas of philosophy; that it is a form of self-knowledge (Loncar). The study of philosophy is one of the most practical things that humans can potentially learn and apply in their lives, because philosophy is not only characterized by its subject matter, but also by its method. The values, skills, and methods available to philosophers are necessary to come up with new ideas or arguments against old ones that might one day benefit society. Philosophers can question everything so that society can have new inventions, theories and answers that science alone could not provide. Over time, they come up with new ideas that can spark revolutions and ultimately change the way humans perceive their own existence and reality (Hayden). Philosophers are comprised of individuals who strive to fundamentally question the core beliefs of the humanities, questioning the current culture and values ​​of society through their unique methods and the skills they have acquired in studying philosophy. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay There are many popular misconceptions and stereotypes among philosophers. One of the most common stereotypes of what a philosopher is supposed to look like is that of an older, white, rich, bearded man who claims to know the answers to everything but yet claims to know nothing. There is also a misconception that philosophers ignore science and are arrogant people who believe they are always right because they know everything, and that not everyone simply knows the truth. People who study philosophy come from very diverse backgrounds, consisting of completely different races, genders, ages, socioeconomic statuses, sizes, and levels of intellectualism. Not all of the individuals who make up the philosophical discipline are extremely sophisticated or extremely intellectual. Instead, they are human beings who simply enjoy thinking about philosophy, who can look like anything and come from any background. Individual stereotypes have a significant effect on individual performance and how individuals judge it. People may judge philosophers to be worse than other philosophers because they do not fit the typical stereotype of the image of a philosopher. Some people question their ability to study philosophy, and if they cannot understand certain ideas of a philosopher simply because they are too abstract for them, they might even avoid the ideas of philosophy altogether; they believe that they are not the type of person who can understand and study philosophy (Loncar). In fact, studying the teachings of a philosopher and trying to apply histeachings to one's life can be a rather slow and laborious process at first, but over time the person gains more knowledge which ultimately makes one's ability to think critically much easier and clearer. to themselves (Tillman). The disciplinary study of philosophy is becoming increasingly important in the modern world, more than in any other period in human history, due to the rapid advances in the sciences that are taking control of people's lives through to technology. If people choose not to ask questions about new discoveries and their ethical implications for society, then the entire discipline of philosophy will be dismissed as non-essential and unimportant. Conversely, it could create a society in which no one has the ability, or even the need, to think for themselves and never asks ethical questions about new technological and medical advances. Historically, philosophers have always been perceived by other members of their society as having the highest levels of achievement and intellectualism, with more knowledge than any other discipline had to offer at that time. Today, the culture is moving away from free-thinking, ambitious, reasonable and logical individuals who sought to ask questions about the very nature of the commonly held truths and values ​​of our current culture and existence. A majority of people choose to take intellectual shortcuts in life and attempt to blame crutches for their life's mistakes. They will believe that everything they hear from others is true without even analyzing their beliefs and values, as they will lose the ability to reason and think for themselves over time. Ultimately, science does not teach a person true moral values ​​that are truly unique to them or ways to have a completely different perception of their worldview and existence (Hadfield). Individuals who study the teachings of philosophy and other philosophers can help improve not only their ability to think critically in situations, but also their ability to gain more knowledge in logic that can significantly improve their thinking skills critical. Intellectually, philosophers can reach the point of being able to offer logical and reasonable arguments for the common values ​​and beliefs of modern culture and society that most people believe to be true (Hayden). Philosophers attempt to understand the fundamental and important problems of society so that society can progress and gain new knowledge about how to address the most fundamental challenges and questions of modern society. Some of the questions philosophers attempt to answer may never be answered, or even find a unified solution. There will always be a constant need for philosophers because their ideas are a crucial part of how everyone lives their human lives. Yet with all this scientific progress, why is there no unified empirical answer, such as whether God exists, what the purpose of life is, whether there is good or evil in true meaning of the term and, if so, how does it exist? the a priori values ​​are accessible. Philosophers have a certain way of thinking that makes them far more useful than any other profession in promoting real advances that affect human life experiences. Their particular way of thinking about the nature of the universe and their existence within it, and also asking fundamental questions about the nature of the universe, the nature of mind and thoughthuman nature, and all the interconnections between them, mean that philosophers have so much to understand. more value in the modern era than science has (Tillman). Philosophers use a method that is logical, critical, analytical, imaginative, thoughtful and always open-minded. Philosophers are not people who take intellectual shortcuts in life and will never assume that a certain point of view is empirically right just because it seems plausible and vice versa. Society is currently in the era of modernism stemming from the Age of Enlightenment; where, over two hundred years ago, philosophers asserted that above all else, reason should be used as the ultimate means of creating an authoritative system of government, ethics, religion and aesthetics, which would enable humans to access the objective truth about the nature of reality. . Philosophers often use Enlightenment ideas as the basis for their modern ideas about liberalism, which bring about cultural revolutions that oppose ideas of intolerance and superstition. Most modern philosophers view the Enlightenment as the primary source of culturally valuable critical ideas, such as the centrality of reason, freedom, and democracy in a modern society. From the Enlightenment perspective, the nature of philosophers is special and authentic because of their ability to apply rationality to every essential problem. This structural shift, away from circumscribed thinking, allows philosophers to pursue their ideals and truth values ​​in whatever form, without risking sanctions for violating currently established beliefs. Enlightenment ideas are commonly valued among philosophers in the modern world and can bring about cultural revolutions through reason. However, pure reason alone will never be able to answer some of the most fundamental questions regarding freedom, God and the afterlife, because they must be created by faith alone, in a moral sense of duty (Earle) . “Philosophy is not a science” defends the fact that philosophy is not a scientific field and that science rather comes from philosophy, but not only that, it created most of the disciplines that science has today. modern society. According to Julian Friedland, for most of Western intellectual history, "philosophy was considered the mother of all knowledge", but today we live in a time when large numbers of people are unsure whether philosophy is good or not for society and even what the discipline of philosophy is. Many people view philosophy as a highly intellectual and extremely sophisticated discipline that has little or no "relationship with objective reality," according to Julian Friedland. The whole subject has a lot to say about reality, but one of the main fundamental assumptions of philosophy is that none of this information can be considered real knowledge unless it is scientifically proven. Philosophers differ fundamentally from individuals who study the arts, religion, and literature in that "the etymological meaning is the love of wisdom." According to Julian Friedland, the etymological meaning of philosophy implies an extensive amount of objective knowledge, which knowledge can only be attained "on its own terms, otherwise it would constitute another branch of science" (Friedland). The Simpsons portrays philosophy in an interesting and unique way by poking fun at modern society's current fixation on success in life. At the start of the episode, "A Father's Watch", Bart had no goodresults in school, and after her mother, Marge looked online and found a video from an expert, known as "The Trophy Philosophy" and she thought almost instantly that Bart would start to perform better at school if she followed the advice. Sometime later in the episode, "The Trophy Philosophy" is abandoned due to a new belief proposed by another expert claiming that "too much praise creates narcissistic, entitled children" who won't go never go to college and will end up living with their parents. Bart later receives a pocket watch from his grandfather, then loses it and thinks he will be a failure without the watch as he thinks the watch is the only reason he is currently successful in life. At the end of the episode, Bart's father finds the pocket watch and returns it to Bart, making him happy again and believing that he will succeed in life ("A Father's Watch"). The Simpsons episode "A Father's Watch" takes a funny but critical look at how today's society believes that to succeed in life, you need to get good grades, go to college, and find a good job to be able to finally succeed in life. Instead of imposing on their children the idea that they will not succeed if they do not do well in school or if they do not achieve certain goals that their parents have set for them, society must allow their children to set their goals in life and establish their versions of success. Modern culture jumps from one belief to another, and believes everything it sees or hears, even if the source is not credible or even logical. People in society seemingly believe in everything they hear or see, never thinking for themselves and choosing to believe in the hopes or goals created by others, thereby losing the very ability to question their beliefs and their values. The constant need for approval put in place by the culture of modern society is alarming and must be addressed for society to move forward, and by changing society's beliefs and expectations, humans will be able to create their success instead of living up to someone else's ("A Father's Watch"). The Sunset Limited makes some compelling arguments about why philosophers are so important to modern society, but it presents also actively a critique of modern philosophers and how the Socratic method of debating philosophical questions can alienate many people from philosophy The entire film is about a black man and a white professor discussing philosophical questions about religion, l. existence and ethics to emphasize that philosophers seek answers to things and how they found their answers, but realize that they cannot honestly do so. answer the fundamental questions of human life and will probably never be answered with complete certainty. The film pits two very different people with completely different values ​​against each other as they debate fundamental questions of philosophy in black and white, and finally asks what is the point of philosophers asking questions in the first place if the answers can never be truly answered . In their quest for truth, they realize that they really know nothing about the world and that there is no point in debating and criticizing each other's beliefs when it only leads to hostility and anguish. Throughout the film, the two philosophers are both portrayed as judgmental, hypocritical, and narcissistic, while the black man has a more positive outlook on life and the white man has a very depressive and negative outlook (The Sunset Limited). The culture even changes. the values ​​of the most narcissistic philosopher in values.