PLIGHT AND ENTHUSIASM OF A BEGINNER IN PHILOSOPHY
Anything
that has advantage has disadvantage. Nothing good, comes so easy. What one
longs for, another may detest. Here, we will be looking in details, the plight
and enthusiasm of a beginner in philosophy. Before we go into a detailed
discussion of the above mentioned topic, we will first of all look into the following:
·
The etimology of
philosophy
·
The etimological
definition of a philosopher
·
Definition Of Philosophy
·
Who a philosopher is
·
The role of a philosopher
·
The role of philosophy
·
Definitions of plight and
enthusiasm.
After discussing briefly, the above mentioned; we will then discuss in
details the plight and enthusiasm of a beginner in philosophy.
The Etymology of
Philosophy.
Philosophy is a combination of two Greek
word ”philien and Sophia”, meaning the love of wisdom or the practice of
keeping company with wisdom.
The
Etimological Definition Of A Philosopher.
A philosopher is anyone who loves wisdom,
or who searches for wisdom.
Definition Of
Philosophy
Philosophy is the science that
investigates the highest causes of all things in as far as they are knowable by
reason.[1]
Selected Definitions Of Philosophy.
v Philosophy
is the love of wisdom
v Philosophy
is the search for reality: Philosophy as the search for reality tends to search
for or seeks to know the ultimate nature of a thing, or the thing in itself,
the real nature of a thing which is behind the appearance of the thing.
v Philosophy
is the search for the value or search for the best form of life: philosophy
here, sets standards to which things should conform. One who searches for value
searches for the yardstick for measuring behavior.
v Philosophy
is the rational study of nature
v Philosophy
is the critical discussion of received ideas
v Philosophy
is concerned with human existence.
v Philosophy as a search for truth; it takes the
form of justifying our claims. [2]
Who Is
A Philosopher?
A philosopher is one who sits pondering questions of the
ultimate significance of human life while the rest of us have only time to live
it.
The Role Of A
Philosopher
According to Richard Popkin and Avrum
Stroll, in Philosophy Made Simple, they stated that:
The
philosopher following Socrates’ contention, insist upon bringing to light what
our implicit beliefs are, what assumption we make about our world, our selves
and our values. He/she insists that these can only be accepted by reasonable
and intelligent people if they can meet certain tests set up by the logical
mind. Rather than merely possessing an unorganized mass of opinions, the
philosopher feels that these must be inspected, scrutinized, and organized into
a meaningful and coherent system of views.(page xi)
The Role Of
Philosophy
According to Richard Popkin and Avrum
Stroll, in Philosophy Made Simple, they said that:
Philosophy, in a less dangerous way , also
makes a person think-think about the basic foundations of his//her outlook, his
or her knowledge, his or her beliefs. It makes one inquire into the reasons for
what one accepts or does, and into the importance of one’s ideas, in the hope that one’s final
convictions, whether they remain the same or whether they change as a result of
this examination, will at least be rationally held ones.(xv)
Definitions
of Plight and Enthusiasm
Plight according to the advanced oxford
dictionary [8th edition], is
a difficult and sad situation.
Enthusiasm
is a strong feeling of excitement and interest in something and a desire to
become involved in it. It is also something that you are much interested in and
spend a lot of time doing it.
THE
PLIGHT OF A BEGINNER IN PHILOSOPHY PLIGHT
1. Knowledge
of history: studying philosophy has to do with a good knowledge of history,
like :studying the emergence of philosophy which also will include a good
knowledge of the ancient Orientals such as the Hebrews and their believe of of
the immortality of the human soul and the life to come which involves
retribution for the good and evil one did while on earth, Studying groups of
religious philosophers among the Hebrews which include the Pharisees who claims
to be the only authorized interpreters of the moral and the ceremonial laws,
the Sadducees who accepts the existence of God but denied the existence of
spiritual being, the essen who lived a cloistered life, who lived an ascetic life
believing to free the soul from its body prison with the ascetic life,the Chaldeans,
the ancient Egyptians who practiced zoolatry, the ancient Chinese, the ancient Hindus,
the ancient Persians. It also include the study of the Greeks like the Ionians
who took up cosmological questions; the original matter of which the bodily
world is made. Among the Ionians are:
Thales: who taught the world is a mixture
of solid, liquid and gas.
Anaximander: who taught that all matter is
alive and that plants and animals come by a progressive upward stages from the
slime of the heated earth.[evolution]
Anaximenes, Heraclitus, Empedocles,
Anaxagoras. Etc. it also include:the Pythagoreans, the eleatics, who taught
that bodies are of the same essential nature. The atomist, the sophist etc to
study philosophy, one really and compulsorily need to study, know, and be
familiar with the above mentioned
2
It requires much reading:
another plight a beginner will have is much reading. Philosophy requires much readings
like reading the philosophers, there time, history, teachings and arguments.
The much readings also include arguments and teachings of different
philosophers and their views on things like God, the existence of God, Heaven,
free will, good and evil etc. it also includes reading various school of
thought like the perennialism,
essentialism, progressivism, existentialism, social reconstructionism etc.
3
Getting use to
philosophical terms. This is also one of the problems a beginner may encounter.
At first it is very confusing. One tends to practice them often and sometimes
forgets and this causes a serious problem of understanding. The philosophical terms
include words like ontology, teleology, critics, plausible,objectivism, subjectism, relativism etc sometimes one has
to consult and consult the dictionary just to have the philosophical terms
recorded permanently in the memory. even with the consultation of the
dictionary, one may not fully understand fully; the meaning of the words.
4
It requires a lot of
research work: philosophy as a discipline covers a lot of field, like metaphysics,
which deals with the study of the foundation of things, the study of what makes
up a the universe, the science that studies what is or what constitutes reality. Others
include idealism, materialism, epistemology,[the theory of knowledge],
sceptism, rationalism and empiricism, sensation, abstraction and universals,
truths, ethics etc.
5
Switching from science to
art: actually, this is one of the biggest problems a beginner may encounter,
most especially if the beginner is science inclined. Science, as we all know is
not a thing of play. It is a very serious aspect of education that calls for
great intelligence. One who is not intelligent cannot do science, even one who
is super intelligent needs not only to attend lectures but also, to work hard
in other to excel; then you can imagine somebody who went through this
difficult discipline, the stress, sleepless night and at last after working
very hard, passed his Senior School Certificate Examination , with high hopes
of becoming a doctor, or an engineer, or scientists, etc. now, finally sees
himself in art department, not even as a law student but philosopher. Oh! What
a great sorrow it will be for the student, then, you will see the science
student singing if I forget you Jerusalem [science] let my right hand wither.
6
Value of philosophy in
Nigeria: Philosophy in Nigeria is considered by many to be worthless; this is
also seen in the subjects required for admission into the course. Philosophy is
the only course that its admission requirement is just any three credit pass in
s.s.ce[3],
other courses has some specific subjects that one has to pass in other to gain
admission into the school. Disciplines like linguistics has its place of work
in the school where they teach language, music in the studio, doctors in the
hospital, lawyers in the court of law. But
the philosophers, I wonder where they work, except if the person takes up a
second discipline. Considering the ex-seminarians who are graduates of philosophy,
many of them walk on foot, they don’t have cars of their own not to talk of
owning a house, except those who are from a wealthy family. Considering them
alone is enough to discourage a beginner in philosophy. Many philosophers
becomes successful in Nigeria only when they have another discipline, or when
he (the philosopher) goes for masters degrees or doctorate degree. Many People
study philosophy only when they have tried getting admissions in other
departments and failed.
7
Thinking: thinking is
also another plight, like moving into logic which is a core course in
philosophy that has a lot to do with thinking, one have to think and think, and
it may not be easy.
8
Questioning: some argument
s in philosophy sounds not only foolish but very foolish to a beginner. For
example. The truth table, when something is true; then it is true, but in the
truth table one begins to see true, false, true, false etc this sounds very
ridiculous to a beginner. Also a philosopher may raise some certain question in
a statement which may sound very foolish and unnecessary to a beginner. For
example; there was a discussion about Christmas carol, and some body made
mention of presenting a special number. In that context, special number is
known as an individual or group presentation of a song or something similar to that.
And the term special number has always been widely used, a philosopher may ask,
what do you mean by special number, how is it special, what make you think it
is special. As he asks these questions, he will await your answers just to
attack it with more questions and this result in unnecessary argument, and to a
beginner the philosophers question is just pure and confirmed foolishness.
9
The world of ideas: Plato’s
teaching of the world of forms or ideas, which said that the things we see and
touch like table, food, computers, cars etc that they are not real that the
real one is in the world of ideas. This sounds very foolish, one can just say
if Plato’s thought is true, then he shouldn’t eat since the food is not real,
he should eat the real one in his ideas, that he shouldn’t also build house or
labor, by the time hunger deals with him and rain and sunshine hammers him,
then he will learn his lessons, change his thoughts and know that those things
we see, touch and feel are real and not mere illusions and that his world of
ideas is the illusion.
10 Some
beginner may see philosophy to be all about argument; irrelevant arguments,
knowing fully that somebody who argues a lot and ask useless questions is seen
as abnormal by the people and is also avoided by the people. No one will like
to have discussions with him, knowing fully that he/she (the philosopher) will
raise irrelevant questions and start unnecessary arguments.
11 To
some beginners, argument is just very disgusting.
THE ENTHUSIASM OF A BEGINNER IN PHILOSOPHY PLIGHT
1. The
good thing a beginner hears about philosophy: a beginner who lives in a religious
setting, tends to hear from his fellow students or formators (who are
philosophers) when he makes some statements, that in a very short time, he will
start philosophy and philosophy will clear the cobwebs in his brain i.e. makes
him more enlightened. This makes the beginner to develop some interest for
philosophy.
2. Test
monies of people who did or are doing philosophy: one tends to hear the
philosophers say, “If I did philosophy before I ventured into this or that, I could
have done well”. This tends to make one love philosophy.
3. Some
beginners see philosophers as wise people, people whose words are of great
weight and meaning, people who are well respected in the society, people whose
words makes great impact, people whom when they speak, every other person keeps quiet. So moved by
this, it tends to make the beginner zealous to be a philosopher and to have
these qualities he believes a philosopher has, and to gain the honors he thinks
the philosophers have.
4. Philosophy
as we know questions things and as it questions, it presents its argument. This
is also among the enthusiasms of a beginner. He tends to jump into argument and
question things , and tries to show himself
to be a wise man and will always want to show or prove himself a
philosopher.
5. Believe
of philosophy as a discipline of enlightenment and transformation: a beginner
may start-off philosophy with the notion that philosophy will transform him/her
and bring out the best in him/her. Some just see it as something that will refine
them.
6. The
joy of being in touch with reality: this also gives a beginner some kind of joy
that he will now be in touch with reality and see things the way they are.
7. Right
judgment: as philosophy refines the beginner, making him see things the way
they are, it finally makes the individual to make right judgment, and decisions
etc
8. Thinking
well: philosophy helps one to think well, reflect, and then talk, this also
gives joy to a beginner.
9. Argument:
as one begins to argue and starts using philosophical terms, it also makes the
philosophy interesting.
10. Fallacies:
when a beginner engages in a discussion or argument; it boosts his ego when he points
out fallacies, and name the fallacy the person he is discussing or arguing with
has committed. e.g. The Argument From
Ignorance(Argument Ad Ignorantiam), The
Argument To Inapproprite Authority(argument
ad verecundiam), Argument Ad Hominem, The Appeal To Emotion(argument ad populum), The Appeal To
Pity(argument ad miserecordiam), The
Appeal To Force(argument ad baculum)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Onyeocha
Izu Marcel, Themes
And Issues In Philosophy. Clacom Publishers, Enugu, Owerri, 2014.
Richard H Popkin, Ph. D., And Avrum
Stroll, Ph.D., Philosophy Made Simple,2nd
Edition. A Made Simple Book Doubleday, New York London Toronto Sydney
Auckland.
Advanced Oxford Dictionary [8th
Edition].
Becoming a teacher, [am unable to get the
full details of the author and the publisher]
Jim Unah, lectures on philosophy and logic, professor of philosophy faculty
of arts university of Lagos.
[1] Onyeocha Izu Marcel, Themes
And Issues In Philosophy. Clacom Publishers, Enugu, Owerri, 2014.[
NB: Philosophy has no definition
that is universally accepted. The definition above is just to make us have a
little knowledge or idea of philosophy.]
[2] Jim Unah, lectures on philosophy and logic, professor
of philosophy faculty of arts university of
Lagos.
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