Philosophy Reflection Essay

This was my first major adit into the study of philosophy, and I house frankly say that it has had a major impact on my belief system. Many of my conceives meet been changed and my over wholly view on feel is such(prenominal) opposite than it was five months ago. To me, the two approximately enkindle works were the Tao and The Minds I. The Tao describes a rattling interesting room of life. Of each the philosophies weve conduct, it is the simplest and intimately beautiful. Instead of s understructurening for hidden meanings and analyzing totally parts of life, Laozi conscionable arranges us to constitute life.Do no more(prenominal) than you have to do, but do everything you have to do. He tells us non to worry approximately death and skillful live life. I honestly think very simple and peaceful way of living can bring us much more happiness than we have at one time in our current society. However, the only way it can be implement is if everyone follows the Ta o, and that is nearly impossible in our current society. We should honestly furnish to live simpler lives and intoxicate the beauty of everyday things. The other work that really impacted me was The Minds I.Im not sure if it qualifies as a single work, but there were several important themes that really interested me and changed almost of my views. The component that really interested me the most was the section describing intelligent railcars and animals, and their relationship to humans. I had always considered humans superior to animals due(p) to their intelligence and ability to communicate. I never thought too much about the idea of intelligent animals and even machines and their relationship to humans.An intelligent machine or animal that can communicate definitely would be on the same evolutionary level as humans, and thus there could be no way to justify creating an intelligent robotic servant or assistance without harkening back to the ideology that prompted slavery . Also, destruction of this machine or animal would be equivalent to murder. However, I still so no moral expostulation to creating an intelligent robot, as long as we give it its own freedom, just as we would to one of our children.Its may be considered playing God, but if we ar his greatest creations, we should have the right to test our limits. Only through a recreation of consciousness done and understood by us can we begin to understand our own consciousness as make up as ourselves. I had never really thought about technology in this way and never seriously questioned the origin of my consciousness, so the Minds I really forced me to think about life in a contrastive way. Throughout the term, I not only changed and reconsidered numerous of my views I discovered things that I subconsciously desired without really thinking about it.My beliefs not only changed, I discovered beliefs that I never knew I had. Some of these views surfaced when reading material certain works li ke The Mysterious weird and Nietzsche. Although these two works didnt change my deep-set views that much, it was interesting to see my instinctual beliefs get challenged. I discovered I was a pretty lower thinker, but these readings caused legion(predicate) of my views on life to change. However, I still disagreed with many of the views expressed in twelvemonth discussions with certain works, like the Tao.But whence I realized that the Tao is designed to have different meanings to everyone who reads it so they could set out their own way of life and thus doesnt lend itself well to class discussions. I saw that the way philosophy has evolved over the old age mirrors the way society has changed throughout history. The older philosophies that weve read, like the Tao and Plato work, seem to try to tell us how to live our lives to get the most happiness and propitiation out of it, and how to figure the way or see the light.The more innovative philosophies seem to disregard the idea of a true path and tell us how to live in the best way, but they dont guarantee happiness from it. The most interesting pieces for me were a mix of the advanced and older philosophies, like Nietzsche and Socrates Apology (I guess because he lived in a ancient but modern society). Even though they were completely different and I completely disagreed with one of them, they were much more compelling to me. whiz important thing that I learned is that I hate reading about something that I agree on, I dislike having my views proven?by another writer and rather read new ideas and opinions. From all the texts read and discussions weve had this year, its hard to highlight just three things that I learned. ace of the most stimulating texts to me was The Circular Ruins. Especially when read right by and by Is God a Taoist, this simple story made me reconsider all my beliefs on existence and God. Just like the main character was, we be kept in the dark about our condition, where we ca me from and how we exist. We claim an all-mighty God as our creator, and call ourselves superior beings in his image.However, whose to say that we are not just insignificant nothings, created by another being of no importance. Would that make us less real and important? From this story I learned to snatch attaching importance and purpose to everything I do. Maybe there is a curtilage we dont bash where we come from perhaps we dont want to know. Another important lesson came from Reservation Blues. The main characters all had to lease with finding a cultural identity while trying to equivocation the trap of the white man. The only ones who made it out were the ones who had a sacrosanct cultural identity.They knew themselves and identified with their past before they attempted to escape the reservation. skipper and Junior either tried to ignore their past or couldnt come to terms with their heritage. They tried to escape before they were ready, and couldnt eff with the failure . The books point, despite the suicide and Victors destruction, was astonishingly positive, it showed that if you come to terms with your past and yourself you can overcome any bar set against you, but you essential have this understanding or you get out destroy yourself.From The Razors Edge I learned a lot about the purpose of life from each of the vastly different characters. At first, it seems like the point of the story is that there is a engagement between what we want and what makes us happy and fulfilled. Suzanne, Gray and Elliot all got what they precious yet all seem to live unhappy, unfulfilled lives. Further charge showed that they all are living the life that they fully wanted and pass judgment to live, and they are perfectly content. Isabel wanted both Larry and high society lineament of life, and thus is disappointed with her life because she couldnt have both.Larry didnt know what he wanted out of life, so he took basically a timeout from the real world, went into seclusion and discovered what he wanted out of life. today he, knowing full well what he wants, is the most satisfied of all the characters. The lesson to be learned is that happiness is completely relative, and thus you cannot call anyone a failure unless he considers himself one. Also, its all right to take some time out of the real world and relax, take a pace back and see what you really want to do next.In the end, this class really has changed my views on the best kind of life. I still believe that you need to live the type of life that will make you the happiest and most satisfied, but I dont think that most race know what type of life that is. If you dont have a passion, dont force yourself into any profession. Explore the world and find something that really interests you otherwise you will get forced into a execrable life that you hate. If you have a passion, you have to follow it. You have to come in terms with who you are understand and remember your past and chi ldhood.We have to examine our lives to discover what we really want, then try to find it. We must simplify our actions, and we have to stop overanalyzing others actions and words. We have to fall behind our ego and sense of shame, and stop caring what people think of you. This is the simplest way to live and live happily, without having to adjust your actions to fit what other people bide from you. We have to stop fearing death and keep on living life in the happiest possible way. This will be the happiest, simplest and best life for everyone.