Introduction to Philosophy, Essay Example

The term Philosophy signifies the adoration for knowledge. In a wide sense, philosophy is an action people attempt when they try to comprehend essential truths concerning their welfare and also the world and the link they have to the world and each other. As a scholastic control theory is much the same. The individuals who study philosophy are never-endingly occupied with asking, replying, and contending for their solutions forever's most fundamental inquiries. Methodology can be defined as an arrangement of expansive standards or principles from which particular strategies might be determined to translate or tackle distinctive issues inside the extent of a specific discipline.

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There are various ways in which Socrates demonstrates what it takes to be a philosopher. The first is through his ignorance as he had not recognized that he had wisdom in him. He gives an example of the craftsmen who possess the proper understanding of their craft but claim to know much than they know. This awareness of the absence of understanding is what is termed as Socratic ignorance. This made Socrates challenge many Athens concerning what they claimed to know and proved them otherwise. Secondly is the care about the soul where Socrates maintained that a person ought to prioritize his soul than anything else in the world (Ambury, 2013). Socrates believed that many people do value their wealth, bodies and reputation more than their souls. The mission that Socrates was sent to undertake of caring for the souls extended to the Athens. He argues that the City of Athens was a gift from God so as he can enhance the city. Without philosophical request, the popular government gets to be stagnant and careless, in threat of hurting itself as well as other people. The last thing that demonstrates that Socrates was a philosopher is through the concept of unexamined life. Socrates after he was convicted and a life sentence was applied to him, he tells the court that he will never maintain silence as unexamined life is not a good life for the human beings. Therefore, Socrates believed that we are supposed to defend our lives and maintain those views that dictate what a meaning life should be. The reason for the analyzed life is to reflect upon our ordinary inspirations and values and to in this way ask into what genuine worth, assuming any, they have. Plato calls it the imperceptible looks of things. It can be a figure. Plato trusts that there is somebody shape that all comparative activities show and which causes us to name them the same (Monaghan, 2010). According to Socrates, a form has to meet the following characteristics such as static, eternal, motionless, and indivisible.

Euthyphro characterized pity as how to speak and do what is satisfying to the divine beings in supplication and penance. This was wrong as gods do not be deficient in anything. Therefore, there is no gain from anything they get from us. He also defined pious as what pleases the gods. Socrates viewed thing definition as wrong as what is believed to please the gods is not per se explained by this fact. This implies that one ought to separate the world into two things that they can control and those they cannot control. Therefore, knowing your limitations will help in living a happy life. An example of this is controlling your anger towards your brother as nature dictates brothers to live in harmony. Things like death are beyond our control and thus, we ought to know these limitations. Freedom is associated with this in that if we remain in line with what nature holds, our liberty will be uplifted as, for example, violation of the law can lead to imprisonment limiting ones freedom. Freedom entails the power that one has in acting, speaking or even thinking without any restriction. Epictetus was a slave and an educator whereby he later realized his freedom from slavery and taught in Greece and Rome. He argues that things that are in authority are free from control but those things not in power are prone to weakness and can be subjected to restraint (Mark, 2012).

Epictetus talks of formal education in context as it shapes ones understanding and enables one to see things from another perspective that those who are not learned cannot see. He talks about the understanding of self to know our faults and refrain from blaming other people for our mistakes. This is because education enlightens one and equips him with the right knowledge about how to relate with people and accept their responsibility without questioning.

He people who have got no education cannot comprehend their mistakes as the view their actions as right. The uneducated people are often ignorance and this is the reason they fail to acknowledge their mistakes. This is because they lack self-awareness that enable people recognize their faults and accept them as no one is perfect in this life.

Descartes argues that people do not want to assume there is God who is the only source of our deception but instead believe there is a demon responsible for deceiving us. This adventure demonstrates how a normal illusion can fool people but can be distinguished from reality. It is because people are unable to differentiate between illusion and reality hence blaming the evil for their misfortunes.

In this contention, Descartes construct his contentions in light of reality where he accepts there are groupings of conditions that are non-fundamental properties that rely on upon essential properties (substance). Notwithstanding, there exist other groupings of made substances that rely on upon boundless substance and free substance that is a god (Kenny, 1997). Along these lines, Descartes contends that god has abnormal state of reality than some other substance and in this manner god is interminable and free, uncreated while different substances are limited, subordinate and made. He depicts the distinction between objective and formal reality. He views forma reality is the sort of reality something has by ideals of the sort of thing it is. Modes, limited substances, and unbounded substance(s) all have formal reality, however not to the same degree. He also described objective reality as just by representations, that is, by things that remains for different things. Presently the representations Descartes is fundamentally intrigued by are thoughts.

Reference

Ambury, J. (2013). Socrates (469399 B.C.E.). Retrieved from http://www.iep.utm.edu/socrates/

Kenny, Anthony, (1997). Descartes' Ontological Argument, in Descartes' Meditations: Critical Essays, Vere Chappell (ed.), New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc, 177194.

Mark, J. (2012). From Slavery To Freedom: Epictetus Path. Retrieved from http://www.ancient.eu/article/173/

Monaghan, P. X. (May 01, 2010). A Novel Interpretation of Platos Theory of Forms. Metaphysica : International Journal for Ontology and Metaphysics, 11, 1, 63-78.