My Ideal Philosopher

Aristotle is the one.

Aristotle, for me, is one of the most brilliant and overrated people in the world. Overrated? When teachers asked something about who were the contributors in Mathematics or Science or whatever subject he’s asking, Aristotle always comes into your mind right? That's how smart Aristotle is. He’s like a robot that is trapped in a human body.  He gave major contributions to everything we are learning now in school. Plato, who was his professor, called him “the thinker” because of his disciplined study habits. It was said that he was very studious and very dedicated to what he was doing. He is a kind of person we should look up to. He always disagree with Plato and created many postulates like humans have different kind of souls, the id and the ego, desire and reason, which relative to Psychology, and the his famous study that everything in life has a purpose. A student should not be afraid of what he think is right and prove it that it is worth arguing with or standing up for.  Also, the reason why I like Aristotle because he gave so much contributions in the field of Psychology. 

He made us believe that everything and everyone had a purpose and that purpose is that human should think how to live to have a good life. The human entelechy (having a telos or aim or purpose inside) is rational activity in pursuit of the good. All my life, my perspective in life is like what Aristotle's belief and I believe I was created for a mission, a mission that I still don't what it is. 

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You may also watch this video about Philosophy with Aristotle:

Intro To Philosophy And Ethics

A scene from How I Met Your Mother series

I haven't seen Star Wars so, did I become a part of Star Wars? Haha! Ok Marshall! 

I already defined Philosophy from my recent post, that Philosophy is an academic discipline that exercises reason and logic in an attempt to understand reality and answer fundamental questions about knowledge, life, morality and human nature; Ethics is under philosophy which studies about moral judgement.  I really find Philosophy and Ethics interesting but I think it is so hard to study that I have to squeeze some brain juice to figure out things about premises, arguments, etc. Well at least it will trigger my brain to work hard. 

In fact, I love arguing with other people and prove them that they’re wrong and turn back at them like a boss. Isn't amazing? But I’m not like that. But, I really like debating with other people, especially if the topic is really interesting.  I like learning new stuff. Learning is fun, you know.

Philosophy and Ethics will help us to think wisely, to communicate effectively (like debating or arguing), to find legit evidences or proof regarding a certain issue, to help us appreciate the points of others and most of all, it will teach us how to respect other's views and opinions. Everything that we'll learn from Philosophy will be a lifelong benefit to us.

Socrates, for instance, he said, "I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing." I believe Socrates' curiosity made him the wisest man alive. Socrates asked the youth continual questions and by that, he discovered different opinions and answers from them that made him know everything (which are the gathered answers). For me, his hunger for information and passion to know the truth by asking these people, made him the wisest man alive. 

Maybe I just need a new perspective when it comes to studying philosophy. I have to see it as a tool of helping me to think critically to produce wise decisions, a food for the brain (oooh! Food!), to study society norms for future references. 

But in reality, everything changes right? With the things I will learn from this subject, can I still use them in the future if almost everything in life is constantly changing? 

I hope I will enjoy and survive from this subject…

May the odds be ever in my favor!

Philosophy vs. Science

Philosophy and science, the two subjects that most students find hard and boring. Oh please, don’t pretend you love both science and philosophy because most of the students don’t. But, if you do, congratulations! We have a new Aristotle! or Einstein! Or whoever you want to become! 

Seriously, these two subjects are really hard to study and very deep but, as time goes by, you’ll probably enjoy it. A pre-med student like me has no choice but to love science because sooner or later, it will be the foundation of my career as a future psychologist. Philosophy? Well, it can help also, it will help me to make wise decision and be a critical thinker, just like what a psychologist should be. 

So what’s with philosophy and science? What’s the clash between these two “life-changing” courses? First, let’s define both philosophy and science, shall we? 

According to www.whatisphilosophy.net, Philosophy is an academic discipline that exercises reason and logic in an attempt to understand reality and answer fundamental questions about knowledge, life, morality and human nature. While, science, as we all know, is a systematized body of knowledge based on facts and everyday phenomena. Well I hope you understood those meanings. If you don’t, let’s put this way. Philosophy talks about talks, exercising your mind to understand and to reason out like, did God really exist? Science, on the other hand, uses step-by-step procedures and oh-so-long formulas to prove something. In short, Philosophy is reason-based logical analysis while science is empirically-based hypothesis testing. 

Generally, people think that science and philosophy are as one. Science did originate from Philosophy, originally called as Natural Philosophy. But, they are very distinctive. Though, they both apply critical thinking. 

Why do we need to debate over these matters? Can we just get over it and be happy what we have now? Can we just be contended and be thankful that philosophers and scientists did these amazing things to make our lives comfortable and knowledgeable? If you are really curious as I am, then you’ll probably take some time to read about these things. It’s like a food of knowledge, food for your precious brain. It is nice to learn something new, you know, for future references. 

All in all, we have to realize that philosophy and science, whether they different or not, gave huge contributions to our lives. They are the foundation of the careers that give professionals huge amount of money! They help us to live accordingly, from what we plan, to making wise decisions. You may not appreciate it that much, but sooner or later, you’ll get interested and will have time to squeeze your brain thinking and thinking about this or that, everything you want to find out! That’s why curiosity can be an advantage to become a critical thinker. The more curious you are, the more you search and prove what you’re looking for. This is what we need to become, to be a critical thinker. 

Philosophy and science are just like game of sports. You can’t have a basketball award if you are a football player. You just can’t. Basketball and football are two different games but both exercise the mind and body to focus and be ready for the next game. Just like philosophy and science, they use different methods to prove a thing but both of these feed your mind with knowledge to help you in living your life.

Short Critique for the article: "Philosophy is Not a Science"

To sum up the article, it was stated that Philosophy is not a science because some disciplines we follow, where we treat as science, are more of philosophical than scientific. Thus, these disciplines don't rely on empirical observations but see them as rationalized concepts. Science can produce incomplete or inaccurate observations while in philosophy, findings primarily depend on logical and rational principles. Science tends to update and improve its finding everyday through trial-and-error but with logical deduction, it will take you forever to alter. Philosophy is not a science for it employs rational tools of logical analyzing and conceptualizing than following standard measurements.

I will probably agree with the author that philosophy is not a science. According to McGinn, the definition of science is indefinite that is betrays a widespread confusion of what actually science is. If we replace some disciplines like "Fine arts" to "aesthetic science" or "Literary studies" to "literary sciences", it will sound genius or smart right? But these kind of disciplines are primarily subjective and more on qualitative ones and for science, its objective and quantitative. But Philosophy can too, with logic and critical analysis.

Philosophy doesn't need measuring tools or instruments to define love or knowledge; it doesn't only rely on empirical observations but it searches for the logic behind it. We test our knowledge with science, but we test our reasoning with philosophy. Science cannot test one's value but philosophy can. Philosophy sets it standards for science and it doesn't reject evidences but it interprets the evidences critically.

Heraclitus' Flowing Reality

With all of the great quotes out there, why did I choose this saying by Heraclitus? 

For instance, you have this bestfriend of yours since high school. You always hang out and go to the malls and do things you both like. Then, when you both got in to college, everything slowly changed until you became civil to each other. Until the time came you wish you can go back in time and be reunited again with him or change everything to be his bestfriend again. Obviously, you can’t, 'cause that's reality. 

Change is beyond of your control, if we’re talking about time of course, but it is all up to you to make it happen. In life, everything changes. You aged and you developed physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. People come and go, some will stay, and some will never come. New babies are born, old people die. You live with great fame and fortune then got booed after 20 years of your career. Some people change for their betterment, and some change to rebel against others. Most of us envy Peter Pan or The Cullens for not aging, but they are fictional characters. Don’t get your hopes up. Haha! 

But seriously, that’s Heraclitus trying to say, that change is inevitable. Our reality is not fixed and permanent. Change, change, change, change! But that’s life! We cannot step twice in the river because the water is constantly changing, just like human life, our reality flows, and it is impermanent. We have to accept it and just be grateful about it. 

Maybe that’s why I chose this motto, I need to accept change and just keep moving forward. 
Just for a moment, you might wanna listen to this song by Green Day. It's a beautiful song. Enjoy! :)

"It's something unpredictable, but in the end, it's right" - Green Day, Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)