Philosophical Inquiry
Philosophy, as defined by dictionary.com, is the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence. From this, we can define philosophical inquiry as a concept that serves to answer questions about the true bases and importance of the human nature of knowledge, reality, and existence and how they all relate. In this paper, we will examine two specific quotes, one from Plato’s Apology and the other from Voltaire’s Candide, and explain their attitudes towards philosophical inquiry.
First we will look at Apology written by Plato. This text is Plato’s account of the speech given by his mentor Socrates, as he defends himself against claims of being “a doer of evil, and corrupter of the youth, [who] …show more content…
At the end of Candide, Candide tells Pangloss, his mentor and tutor, that “all that is well, but let us cultivate our garden” (Arouet 169). The garden represents the mind. This quote is very important because it reflects the attitude towards philosophical inquiry that is consistently expressed and taught by Pangloss throughout the text. Pangloss teaches that “all is for the best… for everything is right” (Arouet 3). This position seems to completely challenge the entire approach to philosophical inquiry that is presented in Apology. Pangloss is asserting that we should view every experience that happens to us as good and accept it as being right or the truth. This perspective on philosophical inquiry is one that takes the approach of seeing the good in your experiences and claims that the pursuit of happiness is the cause of happiness on the path to truth. While it may uphold that things that we experience, because we experience them, are truth, just accepting them with no further investigation doesn’t always leave us with a clear understanding of how something happened or why something happened, which can all be very important information when identifying
Philosophy, as defined by dictionary.com, is the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence. From this, we can define philosophical inquiry as a concept that serves to answer questions about the true bases and importance of the human nature of knowledge, reality, and existence and how they all relate. In this paper, we will examine two specific quotes, one from Plato’s Apology and the other from Voltaire’s Candide, and explain their attitudes towards philosophical inquiry.
First we will look at Apology written by Plato. This text is Plato’s account of the speech given by his mentor Socrates, as he defends himself against claims of being “a doer of evil, and corrupter of the youth, [who] …show more content…
At the end of Candide, Candide tells Pangloss, his mentor and tutor, that “all that is well, but let us cultivate our garden” (Arouet 169). The garden represents the mind. This quote is very important because it reflects the attitude towards philosophical inquiry that is consistently expressed and taught by Pangloss throughout the text. Pangloss teaches that “all is for the best… for everything is right” (Arouet 3). This position seems to completely challenge the entire approach to philosophical inquiry that is presented in Apology. Pangloss is asserting that we should view every experience that happens to us as good and accept it as being right or the truth. This perspective on philosophical inquiry is one that takes the approach of seeing the good in your experiences and claims that the pursuit of happiness is the cause of happiness on the path to truth. While it may uphold that things that we experience, because we experience them, are truth, just accepting them with no further investigation doesn’t always leave us with a clear understanding of how something happened or why something happened, which can all be very important information when identifying