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Have you
ever stopped to wonder about the beauty of
the world around you? To marvel at its mysteries?
What would it be like to unravel just one thread
from its awesome canvas? To behold and understand
its complexity? Where would you begin?
And if you could begin to understand the world’s mysteries,
what would you do with it? What could you do
with it?
Around 400 B.C.E., one of the great
Western philosophers, Plato, not only marveled
at the beauty he saw around him, but also despaired
at its ugliness. He saw the great democratic
city of Athens, known for its intellect and
supposed wisdom, execute one of her greatest citizens
and Plato’s teacher, Socrates. He saw her crumble
in war, ravaged by disease, toppled by one form of government
by another, and sought advice for these ills from
men who bedazzled with their great words, but knew little
of what they spoke. Plato saw a city that was confused
and likened its citizens to chasing after shadows in a
cave. He sought something deeper, more comprehensive,
more fundamental, more time resilient, i.e., something
more real. He sought these answers through gazing
at the sky and peering within his own soul. According
to Plato, philosophy reveals the light of reality in order to
guide our lives so that ultimately we will be in harmony with
the world around us. When we have followed this light,
we will find true happiness and true beauty.
From Plato’s student Aristotle onward,
many of the great philosophers have exhorted
their fellow men and women to search for this
light and follow its beacon. For the discovery
of such radiance would be more brilliant than even
the light of ten thousand suns. They have
exhorted because they see the ugliness most people are
mired in: from the foods we eats, to the 30 second
sound bit campaigns our politics and economy are based
on, on to the most treasured beliefs we hold dearly.
Although many of the philosophers disagree about what
is the ultimate truth and beauty, they agree about one
thing: much of our lives are filled with non-sense, confusion,
and ugliness. Have we been listening to their
exhortations? Have we really questioned and
marveled at the complexities of our own lives and the world
around us?
Our Introduction to Philosophy course
is an examination of our world, both the world
within and without, for the purpose of improving
our lives. But our examination takes
on a particular form. Therefore, we will
begin by briefly looking at one key question, a question
whose answer unlocks the door leading to the mysteries
of our worlds, and is also the key to my belief that we can
make ourselves and the world better by, of all things,
studying philosophy; namely the question: “What is philosophy?”
Once we have answered this question, we will
look at ourselves, the world around us, and the stars
above us in order to answer one of the greatest riddles known to the
history of man: “Is there a God?” We will survey a variety of views in order to evaluate
them using the skills of philosophy. Once we have a better
understanding of what there might be out there, we can better answer
the question about what lies within all of us. The second part of
the class examines the question: "How do we become happiness?"
We have all grown up with some standard (or standards) of
behavior stemming from our interactions with family, friends,
and society. But why have we adopted these beliefs as
opposed to others? What if these beliefs were harming ourselves
more than helping? Wouldn’t we want to change them?
In answering these questions, it
is my hope that both myself and you will be at
least one step closer to understanding the truth
and what is beautiful in our world. It is the
hope of beholding some light to dispel the shadows in
our cave.
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