Philosophy Reflection

By the definition, Philosophy is a quest after wisdom, the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence. How can it not have a value, unless we are trying to raise or have ignorant and uneducated society? Perhaps some philosophical dialogs do not always follow common sense, reach a conclusion or resolved a conflict; however, they do something more - they open one’s mind, challenge and change current believes and make a person evolve as an individual. Philosophers are experts in moving us forward, unleashing imagination, discussing controversial subjects and discovering new things. In my opinion, not only philosophy is an important part of college education, but also it should become an important part of everyone’s

May be ordinary human mind is not ready or cannot comprehend certain ideas and concepts that philosophers are presenting to us. Perhaps Socrates was correct in his believe that certain things should be left to experts. Experts who have a comprehensive and authoritative knowledge of particular area which often lightly understood by masses. For example: as I read The First Dialogue Between Hylas and Philonous, I followed Berkley’s logic and was convinced that “to be is to be perceived” makes complete sense; however, Berkley’s philosophy questions my common-sense believes. It is hard to imagine that the world can consist only of ideas that exists in my mind. At the same time, I must acknowledge that Berkley’s philosophical view made me reexamine my beliefs. For example: I can’t argue the fact that water can’t be cold or warm at the same time, or a mountain doesn’t change regardless of mine or ant’s perception of its size. However, I am not convinced that this word exists only of ideas and our mind perceiving those ideas. The concept is interesting and mind twisting, but I wouldn’t necessarily call it a common-sense. On another hand, what if my common sense is different from Berkley’s, after all he is the philosopher and I am not. Therefore, I accept the fact that I may not fully understand the existence of matter or an object. Furthermore, light

However, I have been inspired by it as philosophy teaches how to develop an ability to analyze, to think critically, accept things we may not understand, how to debate as an intelligent and civilize person, how to be open minded and not dismiss the most ridicules ideas, how to equip yourself as a meaningfully ethical person, etc. In my opinion, these skills should be essential and developed from a young age just as math, writing, readying, etc. Thus, society continues to move forward and produce new philosopher who will move us forward by questioning, thinking, debating and teaching. I find that philosophy is among most practical courses of study. Taking philosophy imparts skills that are used not only in any career but also in personal life. The study of philosophy enables to think carefully, critically, and with clarity, take a logical approach to addressing challenging questions and examining hard issues, reason well and evaluate reasoning of