Philosophy of life

Tasked with crafting a personal moral philosophy, I ultimately started with one question to energize my efforts and frame the problem: what is a moral philosophy? Moral philosophy as defined by Merriam Webster dictionary is the study of human conduct and values. Conduct and values are words that I can easily identify with and thus the metacognition phase began. It is often naturally assumed that everyone can rattle off in a sentence or two, a philosophy that guides them however, I struggled with…

which will bring noblest ideas to the doorstep of even the poorest and the meanest.” Vivekananda believed that the essence of Hinduism was best expressed in the Vedanta philosophy, based on the interpretation of Adi Shankara. He said that no one teaches others, they learn by themselves through their experience and efforts in life. Teacher only gives advises. Through this the teacher within motivates himself to learn and to understand things. He criticized the educational system and said that,…

Now Plato was much more precise and calculated in his approaches but also reminisced with the idea of religious romantic elements. The shadow cave story is the best example to explain Plato’s way of philosophy: Prisoners were once kept in a cave and were shown images on the wall that were cast by the shadows created by a fire in the cave. These shadows showed them how a cat, table, chair etc. looked like. In their minds these were the archetypical example…

Christopher Phillips is the author behind philosophy bestsellers such as Six Questions of Socrates: A Modern Day Journey of Discovery through World Philosophy and Socrates Café: A Fresh Taste of Philosophy. Phillips believed in the Socratic method which means “the use of questions, as employed by Socrates, to develop a latent idea, as in the mind of a pupil, or to elicit admissions, as from an opponent, tending to establish a proposition” according to Webster Dictionary. Christopher Phillips is…

expedition through a strange correspondence course in philosophy. However, it is evident through the author’s writing and opinions portrayed, that the overall purpose of the novel is much more than to solely teach his readers about different philosophers throughout history. Rather, Gaarder uses the novel to demonstrate his personal view of philosophy and through many points in the novel, it is made obvious to the readers that he holds an existential philosophy. Existentialism is a philosophical…

Kant was an extremely influential philosopher in the 18th century, who many consider to be the father of modern philosophy. His groundbreaking work on morality is best exemplified in his book, The Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals. This book introduces readers to the concepts of morality and the idea of what it means to have good will. Metaphysics is defined as a branch of philosophy that deals with the first principle of things which includes concepts such as being, knowing, substance,…

Kerry Walters employs the terms bullshitting and brainstorming to distinguish the differences between two approaches to the study of philosophy. “Breaking through conventional models of explanation, methodological procedures and theoretical paradigms, even if the move proves ultimately fruitless, both entails and enriches the ability to see freshly” (Walters 31). This describes how the one of the terms, brainstorming, allow for the constant reconfigurations of ideals in search for a new…

Jews believe in free will. They believe that man shapes his own life. I reject that doctrine philosophically. In that respect I am not a Jew”(Albert Einstein). What is freewill? The philosophical definition of free will is,” the doctrine that the conduct of human beings expresses personal choice and is not simply determined by physical or divine forces”(dictionary.com). This is not true because of the deterministic system of philosophy. The best example of this is shown in the movie Inside Out…

explanation. They are the basis as to which answers all question. Mythos is based on religious reasoning. Mythos answers questions through what may be myths or orders of a super being or god. Greeks relied on Mythos to explain the everyday acts of life. When there was no clear explanation to an answer, the answer would fall to “because God said so.” There was no way to argue with the reasoning because no one can argue the point of God. A person cannot simply walk up to God and ask “Why?” Because…

Aristotle’s teleological viewpoint and Kant’s more modern stance offer different perceptions to be happy and live virtuous lives. A further look into their theories and how these philosophies differ from one anther will further be looked at. Backgrounds To understand Aristotle better it is important to look at the time period in which he lived. Aristotle was born in 384 B.C. The Greeks viewed the world as the center of the universe. Aristotle looked at the world around him as a whole and…