Find a quotation that we have not discussed in class from a philosopher that we have or have not read. The topic can be any of the topics we have already discussed--or a new one. Type out the quotation and source and then a 150-200 word response. Why is this quotation so meaningful or important to you?
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Quotation Collection
Find a quotation that we have not discussed in class from a philosopher that we have or have not read. The topic can be any of the topics we have already discussed--or a new one. Type out the quotation and source and then a 150-200 word response. Why is this quotation so meaningful or important to you?
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"Old ideas do not die when the beliefs which have been explicitly associated with them disappear; they usually only change their clothes." Obviously there is no better place in the WORLD to look for a philosophy quote than the green book. When i read this blog today, i immidietly went to the green book and started flipping through it. When i read this quote i thought about my experience of moving out of a country that is totally different from the united states to America at such an old age. 4 years ago when my father took this massive desicion to sell everything we own in our country and start moving here, i had no clue how my life was going to turn out. I couldn't imagin leaving my friends and my house and my personal driver and my cleaning lady that cleaned the room after me almost everyday. Hoever, as i look at myself now, i can actually not imagin myself going back to my old country. So when i look at the quote i picked above. i totally understand it when it says "they just change cloths" Although i moved here and all the things that i dealt with in the past disappeared, my old ideas certainly did not die; however, they changed cloths. They turned into something else. They changed into something that helps me adapt better to where i'm living right now. The quote is from page 390 from the green book. The End
Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self. Therefore, trust the physician and drink his remedy in silence and tranquility - Khalil Gibran
i don't remember where i found this quote, i think a friend might have shown it to me, regardless i saved it because this struck me. I think it means that from pain comes knowledge, in other words, you learn from experience. No matter the cost/intensity of this feeling you might have to suffer, and what damage it might causes, the reward reaped is much greater in magnitude. Especially when referring to emotional pain. People say that once you've cried about something worthwhile, you find it harder to cry about something a bit more trivial. Hence, through pain we can learn the meaning and the importance of things. We can also learn how to deal with situations. We learn more about ourselves in the process. The quote also mentions how we must drink it in silence and tranquility- in other words, we shouldn't whine or complain. We can remember that other people have problems too, we aren't lonely in our problems. Handling pain silently also keeps the burden more minimal--lashing out at people is not a good idea. It is far more noble to bear it that way.
“Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence” –Aristotle
This quote from Aristotle shows a great portion of my personal goals in life. Everyone wants happiness in his or her lives and to be content with anything that they have. For me, happiness is something that I long to achieve, as I get older in life. I want to be happy with whatever job that I have and whatever life that I live. In this quote it says that happiness is ‘the whole aim of human existence,’ which is true for me. My whole life I will aim to be joyful and content. I do not want a career that will make me bored or that will dissatisfy me. No person wants to die unhappy. Also, Aristotle is right in saying that happiness is the purpose in life. No matter what anyone strives for, it is always going to be that blissful emotion. Money, God, friends, a good home, a great family; these are what most people strive for and all of these have an outcome of happiness. No one ever aims at being a lonely, miserable man without any happiness.
"Almost every wise saying has an opposite one, no less wise, to balance it."
--George Santayana
This quote makes me think about philosophy itself. After reading every argument on every topic, I continue to find it hard to take a definite side. Since philosophers are such eloquent speakers and thinkers, each side seems equally plausible, no matter what the argument. Even something as absurd as the idea that nothing exists except our own minds, seems to have its reasoning. This quote reminds me most of when we studied determinism and free will because after reading a serious of essays it was extremely difficult to choose a side. The issues were literally the opposite of each other, yet it was impossible to have an infalliable argument for one side, and no proof at all for the other. Since philosophy cannot be practiced in a vacuum, it takes a bunch of philosophers to come up with arguments to these huge issues, but sometimes due to the fact that philosophers are so intelligent on both sides of the argument that it makes the issue more obscure. Philosophy just seems frustrating and fascinating at the same time, and I think this quote really summarizes this catch 22.
"Are there genes for practically everything? For being gay? For being mean? For being a philosopher? Does modern science show that we are largely the product of our genes --- or not?" This quote is from John Dupre about determinism, found at http://www.philosophytalk.org/pastShows/GeneticDeterminism.htm. This quote is significant to me because I am always wondering if there are answers to these intuitive questions. I question why I am a certain way and why other people are so similar to me or so different than me. How do people recieve genes for their personality or appearance? Many people these days want to be someone who they aren't. Not in a bad way, they just want to improve themselves. However, there is a reason for being the person that you are. There is a reason for being yourself and not anyone else, I just do not understand this reason. Determinism is a very hard word to define which makes people question it. It also makes people question their existance, such as why they are here living the life that was chosen for them. Dupre is asking how people become gay or mean or even a philosopher, he is unsure if it is genes or determinism or another cause. I am unaware of this cause as well.
Although a lead singer of a band is not a renown philosopher, he can still philosophize. A line of a song from the lyrics of "Fiction" by the band Narayan, is a line that has definitely intrigued me. "Some call it love, I call it fiction." I interpreted this line as being a philosophical argument as to whether love is something feasible or it is just a false emotion. This has caught my eye since the first time I ever heard this song. Luckily, I was able to interpret it as being philosophical due to the fact that I heard it during this class. This allowed me to explore both sides of the topic. On one hand, there is love as a feasible thing, an actual connection to something that usually both parties feel unless the second is an inanimate object. On the other hand we have that it is a false emotion that always leads to something worse. There is also another line in this song that I would like to discuss. It has everything to do with determinism. Another line is "everything is premeditated." This line connects back with the other to say that if love was just a false emotion, then the sad thing is that we would have found it out anyway. One of the most philosophical songs I have ever heard.
"I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand"
-Confucius (http://www.saidwhat.co.uk/quotes/famous/confucius)
Truthfully speaking, this is not a quote that I live by, but I understand the philosophical implications in Confucius' quote. The first part is to hear and forget. I think it is a reflection of how everything we hear is through someone else's opinions. Confucius is advocating self-thought and is reminding us that everything we hear is not what we believe in and that we should formulate our own beliefs. This is key in philosophy. The see everything and remember part reflects on forming the opinions through your eyes, and your eyes only. Without auditory sense, all we see is all we get, therefore we are on our own when it comes to forming beliefs. Finally, Confucius wants us to apply all that we believe into daily life by understanding where these beliefs are useful and where they are applicable. I think Confucius wants us to pass on our beliefs, but also wants us to UNDERSTAND the beliefs of others. The listening part comes in again here. We should'nt only listen, we should learn what we hear. This is what I think Confucius is saying.
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