Spring 2008 Study Question Collaboration

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Study Questions for Jan. 17

Topic: The Nature of Philosophy and Enlightenment

1. What are some of the distinguishing traits of philosophical thought?

Philosophy is using reason to attempt to develop a "big picture" point of view of the universe. Therefore, philosophy never appeals to divine revelation or to tradition when trying to prove theories true. In philosophy, there must be questions and with that comes arguments in order to defend what claims are made. The defense of such arguments further the development of the "big picture" view. The ultimate goal of philosophy is to provide one truthful picture of the universe.

The three key elements of philosophical reflections are as follows:

-we need to know more about the arguments

-we need to know how to construct arguments

-we need to know how to evaluate arguments

2. How do philosophy, myth, and religion relate to each other? Identify both difference and areas of overlap.

Philosophy, myth, and religion all try to make sense of the world. Myth uses stories in order to explain the world. Mythology can often merge into religion when a divine revelation becomes part of the story. Religion, therefore, can closely resemble myth because they both contain stories. However, religious stories have a key difference: they contain a reason why we should believe that they're true. Again, philosophy shares with myth and religion the pursuit of providing a "big picture" view of reality. Additionally, philosophy resembles religion in the sense that philosophers provide reasons for why their pictures of reality are true. But, the difference in philosophy is there is never an appeal to divine revelation or tradition.

*Extra: On page 4 in our thin book "Ultimate Questions: Thinking About Philosophy" there's a good visual aid

3. Do we need to know the truth of all the things we believe in?

We had a class discussion about this question. Some thought yes, we should know the truth in what we believe because to because living in ignorance is undesirable. The example of medicine was brought up in support of this view point--"You want to know that the medicine will work". On the flip side, some said no, you don't need to know the truth in everything you believe. Some people brought up religion and argued that it is enough to simply believe something is true. In addition, knowing the truth is not always positive.

4. What is the difference between philosophy and science? Identify an example of an overlap between the two.

First of all, it must be noted that science was originally a part of philosophy. However, science deals with only a part of reality, not all of it. If we were to mesh each scientific discipline together, we would not be able to obtain a comprehensive rational analysis of the universe. The key difference between philosophy and science is that science obtains information about the world predominately by measurements and experimentation while philosophy analyzes and clarifies complex concepts. However, once the appropriate set of scientific rules/methods are determined, many philosophical questions turn into scientific ones. Still, philosophy has a personal component that science lacks which is that the purpose of philosophy is to clarify your own mind.