1. Pieper describes work as “that which gives man’s workday its name” (Pieper, 15). He also says, “it has a practical purpose, it produces utilitarian goods, it contributes to the common useful wealth…” (Pieper, 19). What Pieper means here I think is that, anything that we do that gives us satisfaction and provides for our daily needs so we may remain alive, is what is called work.
Pieper goes on to describe the concept of “spare time” by first differentiating the negative meaning of it from the positive meaning. For the negative meaning he says, “A span of time not filled with work” (Pieper, 16), is what we call spare time. I agree that this is a more circular meaning of what spare time is. Spare time as defined by MacMillan Dictionary is,
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Usually, our first response is to be speechless (p.s. Christians will remember the reactions of Moses with the burning bush, Mary(mother of Jesus) when visited by the Angel). We realize here that religious speechlessness is quite different from lacking courage to speak in public or when faced with an attacker, etc. Religious silence is more geared inwardly. However, Pieper says “Both noise and total silence destroys all possibility of mutual understanding, because they destroy both speaking and hearing” (Pieper, 55). Pieper may be right in these words because when we deal with people, sometimes, being quiet bars effective communication. But then again, silence speaks volumes. To me, silence brings peace of …show more content…
According to Pieper, “to contemplate means, first of all to see- and not to think” (Pieper, 73). Pieper discusses that the
“Western tradition have extolled that attitude of receptive observation. The earliest statement…before Plato comes to us…from Anaxagoras, who to the catechism-like question, “why are you here on earth?” replied, “to behold” – eis theorian… (Translated by the Romans as contemplation!)” (Pieper, 73).
How can we be on earth to contemplate? You see, man was made to hear and to see; however, man also has the “ability to see in an exceptionally intensive manner” (Pieper, 73). “Intensive” here gives the difference between contemplating and regular thinking.
Contemplation involved intensive deep thought (somewhat critical thinking); whereas, regular thinking is simply using your mind to consider and does not involve deep thinking.. Regular thinking is that mental process that has the act and ability to produce thoughts.
The purpose of contemplation is so that we can retain and preserve our memory whatever we have visually perceived. It is also such that we can see and not just be limited to the superficial reality.
One ought to contemplate about everything around us. Even though every person has the ability to think, we should also have the skill to thinking
Thinking is just the capability to understand and analyze everything around you and make you capable
In the essay “Work in an Industrial Society” by Erich Fromm, the author explains how work used to carry a profound satisfaction, however today workers only care about their payment for their labor. Fromm opens up with how craftsmanship was developed in the thirteenth and fourteenth century. It was not until the Middle ages, Renaissance and the eighteenth century, when craftsmanship was at its peak. According to C.W. Mills, workers were free to control his or her own working actions, learn from their work and develop their skills and capacities. Despite what Mills says, people today spend their best energy for seven to eight hours a day to produce “something”. Majority of the time, we do not see the final
When the work was finished, the Craftsman kept wishing that there were someone to ponder the plan of so great a work... therefore... he finally took thought concerning the creation of man. (Mirandola 224)
The validity of the debate is very apparent in the amount of contrasting evidence that daydreaming is either helpful or harmful in certain ways. Studies have shown that daydreaming hurts performance when focus is required to complete tasks, and also that it can have negative effects on physiological and mental health. Evidence such as this contributes to the idea that daydreaming is simply a “lapse of attention”. The argument that daydreaming is adaptive is dependent on the notion that daydreaming can help a person focus on the bigger picture, involving many different goals, and that daydreaming generates a desire for social
Playing particular attention to meditations II, V, and VI this paper will explore the role of the imagination as examined by Descartes. In the second meditation, Descartes is of the opinion that the imagination and the senses are deceiving him, and that the nature of bodies are perceived by the intellect as opposed to the imagination. Within the body of this paper, the introduction of his wax argument will serve as support for this realization. In addition, in the sixth meditation Descartes makes the argument that the imagination depends on something outside of ourselves, and therefore is not essential. The means by which he reached such a position will be explored through the relationship that exists between the imagination and the understanding. Through a critical analysis of Descartes reasoning this paper shall explore the different approaches that led him to his conclusion at the end of the sixth meditation that the imagination is not in fact deceiving him and is therefore to some extent necessary.
At some point in one’s life, it is vital to stop and reflect on one’s actions and because of
Rene Descartes is recognized as an influential abstract thinker. Although there have been objections to his idea's, he continues to invoke thinking among huge numbers of people. In the first meditation, Descartes does an excellent job of convincing the reader that all the information received from the senses can be called into doubt. He uses concrete arguments to show how humans often have the tendency to assume things they don't really know about, espically when this information is based on the senses. This work is a classic because of the originality of Descartes ideas, and the matter-of-fact way that he presents them. These are just some of the ingredients that compose a classic philosophy masterpiece.
The speaker sees this scenery in his mind. As a reader, I can even imagine him standing in a dark room looking at a woman singing and imagining his old days with his mother. Using the picturesque words such as “softly,” “dusk...
“ What we seem to be sacrificing in all our surfing and searching is our capacity to engage in the quieter, attentive modes of thought that underpin contemplation, reflection and introspection” ( Carr 23).
Critical thinking is of crucial importance. It must be taught and it must be learned. Without paying attention to this manner of thought, great losses would occur. Critical thinking is an element that everyone in all walks of life needs in order to communicate successfully and to understand vital concepts, make decisions, and solve problems.
Every wonder why the mind have a tendency to go off focus and, start to think about something else than the task at hand. You start to think about where rather be than where you are or an event that happen in the past. The state of consciousness is called daydreaming. Daydreaming is “a common variation of consciousness in which attention shifts to memories and desires, away from the immediate situation” (Zimbarbo 332). Mostly everyone part take in daydreaming every day. Going without daydreaming is abnormal. Normally thirty (30) percent of the day is spent daydreaming(Zimbarbo 332). People daydreaming can be positive and negative . There different themes and w
Introspection was the research method used to study cognition beginning in the late 19th century and lasting for many years (Cognition, p.8,9). Relying on each individual to study their own thoughts, introspectors were specially trained to use a limited vocabulary in their observations to give complete and uninterpreted reports of their cognition (Cognition, p.9). The process is critically limiting because no person can directly study another’s thoughts, and through introspection there is no way to study unconscious thoughts. Today, many cognitive scientists view introspection as unreliable or nonexistent (Engelbert & Carruthers, 2010). Like other sciences, there must be a way to test the claims in an objective manner, which cannot be done with introspection.
Paul, R. & Elder, L. (2004). Critical Thinking: Nine Strategies for Everyday Life, Part I.
In situations, a person has the choice whether to think critically or to put in minimal thought. Throughout high school, I remember a lot of classes requiring just minimal thought. A lot of classes I took focused on just
...ents the person from being distracted by thoughts of sense objects. A person is characterized by what he thinks. It is important to have pure thoughts to attain a pure character. Efficient use of time is essential because it prevents a person from having excessive or insufficient amount of time at hand, thus preventing blocking thoughts from taking over the mind.