We made it. More specifically, you made it. You read and wrote about a number of complex philosophical issues and discussed them every morning before half the world was even awake. Let me express my thanks to you for being such terrific students. You deserve a great deal of credit for taking the philosophical plunge. I have learned a great deal from all of you and you have made this course better than I imagined. Your sense of humor, raw intelligence, impressive diligence and plain-old good manners made me look forward to first period every day. You will be missed second semester--and that's a justified, true belief.For this final blog posting, you can write whatever you wish. What did you learn? What are your current thoughts about philosophy? Or about anything related to the subject? (Note that I didn't say "final" thoughts--since this course is only the beginning of what takes a lifetime to grasp.) Whatever thoughts on the topic or class you may have, you can post them here. This will remain open until midnight Monday, February 4th.
12 comments:
I am perhaps one of the worst morning people EVER! When my dad used to [attempt] to wake me up in the morning I used to try and hit him in my semi-sleep state. They were pathetic attempts, usually accompanied by my incoherent ramblings on why no one should have to wake up when it is still dark outside. He probably dreaded it every day. Now I'm better (I hope).
Anyway, the reason for my little story is that philosophy is probably the only first period class I have ever had (and will ever have) that has kept me fully awake and for which I have ever been excited to sit through in the wee hours of the morning. I love it. And when I tell people all about my new-found love for philosophy I get (alternately) really strange looks or discover how many people secretly take/took philosophy in college. All I can think about is that discussion we had earlier this year about math and science and how everyone thinks those are the most fantasitc majors because those people "have a plan," etc. and how people always wonder, "What is that English or Philosophy major going to do with their life?" It's actually really sad. I tell everyone I'm going to major in philosophy and once my best friend actually said, "But how's that going to get you anywhere?!" I told her something like, "Philosophy was the basis for every other subject we learn in school (and beyond), so I'm really learning everything. Beat that!" I will also add now, "Who cares?! I like it. Why should my parents spend thousands of dollars for my college education while I miserably sit through business and calculus classes when I can actually do something I enjoy--thinking!!!" (Not to mention the fact that I can be an editor with a degree in philosophy anyway, so it works for my life plan.)Which brings me to my conclusion. Not just math majors have plans--philosophers have them too, they're just more speculative and generalized than a mathematician's/scientist's To-Do list including things like, 1) Win Nobel Peace Prize, 2) Cure Common Cold, 3) Write the world's longest, most confusing, most ridiculous proof. We have ones like 1) Argue about God's existence and then conclude that no definite conclusion can be made, 2) Take a leap of faith (and learn how to properly pronounce "Kierkegard"), 3) Carry a copy of the green book around with me always, 4) Attempt to find philosophical issues in every movie ever made, and of course 5) Remember the blue sign--engrave it in your mind--THINK!
Sorry, this may seem random. But I've wanted to do this all year for a blog! Sadly. Talk on and on about nothing any non-philosopher would understand. But I really liked the class. I'm so glad I took it, but I have no idea how I'm going to stay awake during first period for the rest of the year. Health and study hall aren't exactly philosophical. At all. Plus there aren't any crazy teachers running around, shouting, and dragging desks around in those classes either. And I don't know what I'll do with myself all next year without any philosophical arguments to have during first period. But I shall continue to identify and point out to my fellow classmates every single philosophical element of our daily lives; something like the Gadfly of EBHS. Gosh, my English class will get so annoyed. Oh well.
I want to start off by saying, the main reason I chose to take this class was because it sounded like a class where you could learn even more, start to sound more scholarly, and perhaps even show off to your muffin making friends. But throughout the year I realized that the kind of learning I was expecting was the statistical and factual type. Philosophy is absolutely not like that as we were demonstrated on the first day of philosophy. What it really teaches you is that people don't really know anything at all, and it was exceptionally ground shaking. We were learning everyday that we didn't know anything. And every time I left the classroom, I was a little more confused than when I walked in. However, as the teachers in B-10 reassured, it is perfectly fine to be confused. Philosophy is in fact about breaking down the walls of complacency and embracing the confusion. I learned so much in this course! And the best part of first period philosophy is that while in other classes, your friends and maybe even teachers (especially in history class) are talking about ethics, freedom, and those nitty-gritty subjects you can quietly laugh to yourself and replay Socrates’ or any other philosopher’s arguments in your mind.
Philosophy has made a great impact on the way I think about certain things now. It broadened my mind and made me feel like a true “free intellect.” I love thought provoking assignments that made me really think about the world and the people in it. The thought experiments we did were enjoyable, yet sometimes confusing. Although it was too early of a class, I did surprisingly stay up to enjoy the lectures and confusing moments. Most of the time, I hate being confused and not being able to get a definite answer. Philosophy has taught me that “final” answers are not so great, and not knowing answers make it more mysterious and challenging. Even though some of the reading materials were completely beyond my comprehension, you, (the teachers) really helped me to understand and break down some of the materials. Although I am ecstatic that I will be having LATE IN!! I will still miss philosophy.
Philosophy was one of the greatest classes I have ever taken. I enjoyed it so much. I don't think I ever looked forward to first period so much until this year. There were things that I always wanted to talk about but never could. In Philosophy, I was in an environment where things like the existence of God and Determinism could be talked about freely and with people who also wanted to talk about them. Everyday I came home from this class learning something new. I would get into Philosophy rants and force my parents to listen. This class introduced me to some great movies. I’m actually planning on buying Primer. I really don't want Philosophy to end. I wish there was some kind of Philosophy club or a Philosophy II. I’m going to miss coming into first period actually awake. The reason I was awake was because of you and Mr. Moran. The class wouldn’t have been the same if you and Mr. Moran didn't teach it. The two of you make such a good team. Even though I’m really upset that this class is coming to end, I’m going to continue to Philosophize anyway. I will buy my own green book. And like you and Mr. Moran, I might even start listening to Philosophy lectures in the car. This class has made me a different person. Philosophy was a great experience and I want to thank you and Mr. Moran for that.
As soon as I read the topic for this blog, my mind went racing. I can think of about bazillions of things to say about this class, but I really can’t. We’ve had memorable experiences, some of which can be more memorable than others. Mr. Moran and Ms. Powers’ “cool” humor will never be forgotten, I’m sure. Neither will be the philosophical graffiti that we wrote on the white board in our epic “Free Will vs. Determinism” debate. The movies we watched were amazing and I think all of us planned to designate special times to watch them all over again, thoroughly discussing the philosophical implications in front of our non-philosophy-taking friends, proving we were free intellects. The one thing that is going to stay with me always, is everything that I learned about myself. During the ethics unit, I was surprised to even think that there could have been a possibility that I would kill the baby or push the fat guy in order to save my life, but claim that triage was the reason. I was also surprised to think that maybe I don’t believe in God. I came into Philosophy Honors (a non-muffins class, mind you) period 1, looking for the answers to all the questions but I am leaving the class with even more questions for the questions that I had started with. I also left with new friends and new ideas, but still I have those questions. Those questions haunt me, but now Miles and Flora do too, just joking. But in the end, I have to say the journey was worth it. I got more than I ever imagined, even though I never got answers. Well, one answer I did get…Mr. Moran had a weird childhood.
I can only lament not having this class the whole year and through the entire summer, and perhaps into senior as well. In fact i'm tempted to take you all to college with me. Is everyone okay with that?
All joking aside, i really really enjoyed this class, and the diversity of philosophy we read/watched/discussed.
This class has definitely firmly cemented in place my chosen profession ( a decision that was rather hazy these past 16 years...), and i am more than excited to take my place in the world and do what i love, as corny as that sounds.
I don't think anyone can really forget the cool balance we had between reading difficult literature and our awesome marker talk that one day. What i learned in this class will definitely stay with me in everyday discussions.
In fact, while Ash and i were discussing this blog 10 minutes ago ( he told me it was up) we had a bit of philosophical argument ourselves.
He thinks that philosophy was the start of every other subject we learn, but i told him that science was omniscient from the dawn of time, and humans weren't advanced enough to make it factual, therefore it remained in the gray area called philosophy. Then he argued that philosophy was first, it is the method in which we discuss these things, and form there comes psychology and all our sciences.
I conceded defeat, and i can admit that my love of science is the only reason is boast it being first.
I'll leave it off at here, there is so much more, but i would just like to express my gratitude to have taken a class that sharpened the most important skill a person can have.
I thought this class was just going to be something simple, and easy. The class that would start off my day without waking me up. I was wrong, this class has changed my life a lot. I have begun to think about everything; i used to over analyze things yet always think the same way with the same solutions to different problems. That has changed i know look at situations and attempt to rationalize the best exit from my problems. I now know that i don't really know anything, and surprisingly that makes me feel better. At least i know that i cant figure some things out because no one can know the answers for sure, no one knows the answers to some questions i ask myself, i have learned the answers to others. I began analyzing movies now as i watch them. When someone says something i ask myself if that is what they really mean, and i make connections between different parts of movies now and analyze how they are similar. Philosophy is a great class and I would love to take it again. I was inspired to take it again in college in fact.
I AM NOT A MORNING PERSON!! I have an alarm clock, an alarm on my cell phone, my mom tries to wake me up and she even sends in the dog so he can jump on my bed. Finally after about 25 minutes promising my mom i will be up in five i get up and get ready to go to school. And of course being in philosophy first period i had to think! I hated that poster up on the wall that said THINK! everytime they asked us to look a the blue sign all i could think about was the sign, not philosophy and not with an answer to the question. All i could do was stare at it and think "oh my God its way to early to do this!!!" for a while i couldn't understand why i was put in a class where you had to learn so much the first period of the day. i told my mom "i have no idea how much i can learn out of a blood shot eye and my brain running on empty" to be honest for a while there i really hated the class, i was like "im only 15, how the hell can i explain the meaning of life?!"
But as the semester went on i really started to like the class and it even got fun. I'm still not much of a morning person but now i can get up before my mom has to send in the dog to wake me up. Now i can honestly say that i am really gonna miss this class because a lot of people i probably wont see anymore and i got used to all of them. And i will miss both my awesome philosophy teachers, even mr. muran's loud voice at 7:30 in the morning. this turned out to be a fun class and i'm glad i took it.
When making my senior year schedule, I was deciding between what classes to take, and taking philosophy was definitely the best choice. I am glad that I was able to experience a semester of this class, although I wish we had it for the year. This has been one of the best classes I have taken in the high school because it has taught me a great deal, and I almost feel like a different person. I'll be sitting in different class, or having a conversation with someone and before I realize, I start relating topics to philosophy. I even wrote about philosophy in my college essay. I hope to continue to take classes in philosophy in college as well.
In class, I enjoyed thinking about different sides of issues and determining whether something was ethical or not. My favorite part of philosophy is there is no right answer, besides not allowing to except things without questioning or wondering. Philosophy is about asking questions and forming your own opinions!
When I saw a philosophy class as a choice of electives, my thoughts going into it were very different than they are now. I have to admit that I chose this class because I thought that it was just going to be an easy A, but that was proven wrong within the first two days, just reading Euthyphro and Socrates. Overall this class was very informative to different ways of thinking. Someone had told me once that the point of over 90% of human conversations were to prove yourself right, and I feel that this was the only class that I have ever taken where we didn’t have teachers “informing” us of what was right to believe and what wasn’t. I liked how we were presented with opposing sides to every argument. There would be times in this course where I would get so frustrated I thought that I just couldn’t handle it, but I see now that it is just because philosophy really does question all of your beliefs. But the way that this was taught allowed us to consider some arguments made by famous philosophers, but the next day it was like we were all living in those philosophers’ shoes for 42 min. The most interesting unit we learned about was the existence/belief of god. So in all I really appreciated this course for one semester, but I think that is all I can handle for right now.
Philosophy was probably one of the hardest classes I have taken…ever. When I signed up for this class it sounded like a chill, cool, laid back class. Boy was I wrong. It was challenging, thrilling, and confusing all the time. Whatever stories or whatever we read was like a new thought each day. One day I would think “Oh yeah this philosopher makes sense”, then the next day agree with the philosopher disagreeing with the first one. I’m going to miss being confused all the time in philosophy class and not knowing what is going on, especially in 2001 and Primer. Those were probably the coolest, yet most confusing movies. It makes you think though, and that is what I like about philosophy class. You have to think outside of the box. I’m really going to miss philosophy and the teachers too!
Philosophy was probably the best class i had this semester. It was the perfect way to start my day had my brain exploring all things infinite within minutes carrying on throughout the day, exploring all aspects of what i was learning. The best thing about philosophy is that it gives a name to those random crazy thoughts that pop into your head. Questions such as how do shooting stars occur and why are they so rare? what makes something rare? Wanting answers and solutions to the complexities of things simple and not is Philosophy. Just about everyone has a natural philosopher in them, we just never really understand that till we taste philosophy. I know before i took Philosophy i used to wonder about free will, determinism, ethics, and morals but i thought i was just being strange and watched to much television but apparently i was yearning for philosophy and its enchantment.
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