Philosophical Thoughts and Issues - Essay Example

Philosophical Thoughts and Issues My Philosophy of Life Development of a person’s philosophy is a remarkably rewarding experience in anyone’s life. Personal philosophy helps people to understand who they really are. My personal philosophy guides me to make the right choices in life. It also encourages me to make sound judgments about different scenarios. My philosophy is that of metaphysics and it encompasses open-mindedness as well as flexibility. Metaphysics is a belief that there is existence of things beyond what we see. There are four schools of thought in metaphysics; realism, pragmatism, idealism and existentialism (Hay 15). I am an existentialist, and I highly regard people’s choices and decisions. I listen to other people’s views and I am flexible when making decisions. I value my interests greatly. With regard to reality, I believe that it is subjective, and determined by an individual. Reality is the existence of things in a certain state. This does not involve imaginations, instead real things are things which are there at the moment, or have been there in the past. They can be observable or not observable. Moreover, reality involves things that can be easily comprehended and those that are difficult to understand (Hay 41). Individuals must be free to make their own decisions and choices in life. As an individual, I do not live by predetermined choices of other people. I make my own decisions depending on my conscious, subconscious and unconscious mind. Acquisition of Knowledge Epistemology gives us a basis for discussing the nature as well as the scope of knowledge. It helps us to know how knowledge is acquired (Hay 5). We acquire knowledge through experience. As people grow up, they face many situations some of which are happy moments whereas others are sad moments. Results from these situations help people to uncover the knowledge presented by these situations. We cannot claim to know everything with absolute certainty, because we only believe some things to be true. We have no complete proof that they are true; for instance, we belief that we will die but we do not know our fate after death. We use our senses to make assumptions of what is certain, but we cannot claim to know everything. Ethics and the Notion of a Good Life Ethics or moral principles that guide a society, an organization or professionals, are essential in life. Ethics is mainly concerned with leading individuals towards doing good things for colleagues or peers. They are seen as universal, with acceptance from all the people governed by them. Ethics affect people’s behavior as well as judgments and decisions. Ethics guide people on how to establish and lead good lives. They also teach us our rights and responsibilities as members of a certain community (Hay 57). No one can undermine the significance of ethics in guiding people on the right and wrong. In essence, ethics are essential in living a good life. A good life is a life that a person desires to live, and works extremely hard towards achieving this desire. It is usually associated with happiness, since no one loves a life full of misery and sorrow. Many people view a good life from the side of materialism. They believe that a good life is determined by the amount of money one has in the bank, property and wealth. Others view a good life from the perspective of living without fear of future occurrences. However, my view of good life is quite different. I visualize a good life as life full of health. I believe that if I am not sick, I am living a good life. Wealth does not really matter to me. Of what use is it to have wealth and spend it all on hospital bills? There is no point having plenty of money, and spending most of one’s life in hospital. I would rather be healthy and not wealthy. Life is Absurd People often wonder whether life is real or unreal. We often try to find out if life has a meaning or it is absurd in totality. Basically, many people seek for meaning of life in religion. They hide in the cocoon of religious thoughts when they cannot explain the true meaning of life (Hay 26). That is why we find people going to worship institutions such as churches and mosques from time to time. Religious leaders have never been at par with philosophers because they view life from totally different perspectives. In my view, life is absurd. It has no meaning. Human beings are always seeking the meaning of life, and this often causes lack of harmony among them. When they fail to understand its meaning, they turn to acts such as suicide, spiritual arguments while others just live with the notion that life is absurd. The latter action depicts ignorance as a result of failure to understand the meaning of life. Suicide is not a solution to life’s absurdity. In fact, it makes life more absurd since we fail to understand where the dead body goes after burial. Religious people will argue about the immaterial soul which is intangible and invisible. Philosophers will always counter this with their philosophical thoughts which claim that religious thoughts are irrational (Hay 15). In order to live in this absurdity, one must erase all thoughts of religion and any moral principles, from their minds and lives. The ultimate solution in dealing with this absurdity lies in the acceptance that it cannot be unstopped. Thus, people must devise ways of living within this absurdity since suicide is not the perfect way of handling this dilemma. The Future of Humankind Humankind is heading towards a bright future. With the technological advancements that come along from time to time, there is no doubt that we are not heading into a dark path. However, there will be many obstacles and casualties on the road to a bright future. Cultures will suffer from degradation, and traditional methods of doing several things such as cooking will be eliminated. Many diseases will come along with the advent of technology especially in the field of medicine. Genetically modified organisms in agriculture might pose serious health risks to humankind. Humankind is headed for centralization of markets with the current trend in globalization. Countries such as America will largely influence markets with their dominance in global trade. It is also good to look at the positive side of humankind growth. Education will become vital in future and everyone will strive to be educated. Otherwise, the uneducated will take up casual or manual jobs in industries. Religion faces a danger of being replaced with philosophy. Human beings are very rational nowadays. There will come a time when people will rely on reason to make clear judgments, instead of using religious beliefs. At that time, what is sacred will have a profane explanation. Ways of Becoming Wise Some people hold the notion that wisdom is God-given. Therefore, they claim that it is a gift which is unique to some people. There are others who equate wisdom to intelligence, whereas others feel that wisdom is a preserve for the old. In my opinion, anyone can become wise. People become wise by putting their creativity into good use. People often say that we learn from our mistakes, and fools never learn. When we make a mistake and correct it, we learn a thing or two. When our colleagues or peers make mistakes, we learn too. This is how we become wise. People who do not care about their past mistakes cannot become wise. In other words, ignorance is a major hindrance to wisdom. Those who do not recognize the mistakes of others and make efforts to avoid them, also remain unwise. Taking considerable amount of time to make decisions also makes a person wise. Those who make hasty decisions are likely to engage in conflicts and violent activities with their peers (Hay 32). This is not wisdom. Wisdom is taking as much time as possible to decide on a task or an issue. Another remarkable way of gaining wisdom is carefully thinking before acting. Sometimes, people act and think later. This is quite dangerous as it could lead to serious consequences; for instance, anyone who does an action after receiving pieces of advice from friends without critical thinking might live to regret the consequences of that action. When someone is told that his or her friend is mean, and they judge them as so without thinking clearly, they might lose friendship ties unnecessarily. Frederick II Exemplifies my Idea of Wisdom I consider Frederick II the Great (1712–1786) to be a wise person in the history of humankind. He could read and speak ten different languages including French. He was a renowned poet, writer, philosopher and a musician (Asprey 3). Thus, he was an all-rounded person. He was a King of Prussia between 1772 and 1786. Within this time, he made remarkable transformations in governance and military. He is widely known due to the wisdom he exhibited when organizing Prussian armies. In fact, this wisdom earned him the title Fredrick the Great. He was a good strategist who managed to capture some parts of Silesia, and made them part of Prussia. This occurred when the War of the Austrian Succession was taking place, and the capture strengthened Prussia in an immense way. Frederick was an autocrat who ruled Prussia with a lot of diligence. He organized his army so well that it was rarely defeated in war. He made major decisions about Prussia without influence of his subjects and advisors. Although he got advice from numerous people, he carefully scrutinized the advice carefully before acting. He was not accepted by all people in Prussia since he made most of them to work for low pay and charged them many taxes (Asprey 35). However, this earned his government a lot of funds which were used to run the state. He centralized his government for reduction of money that would be used in a decentralized government. This earned him recognition among the nobles. He acknowledged that past governments had failed in administration, and he made major reforms to enhance governance of Prussia. In summary, he was an extremely remarkable strategist and administrator. Work Cited Asprey, Robert. Frederick the Great: The Magnificent Enigma. New York: Ticknor & Fields, 1986. Print. Hay, Clare. The Theory of Knowledge: A Coursebook. Cambridge: The Lutterworth Press, 2008. Print. Read More