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Philosophy!&
Philosophy!
I would consider philosphy to be the single most important invention in human times. Without it, there would be no wheel, no technology, no mathematics, no religion, nothing created by people. Here's my philosophy (don't be offended)
Things only exist as how we can sense them. I sese my calculator to be blue, therefore for all intents and purposes, it is blue. I sense my fingers to be typing, therefore for all intents and purposes, they they are typing. We can't tell what matter 'really is' as we are limited by our senses. There is, in one section, your mind, where, you are trapped, only able to peek through the window of our senses, which may be shaded. Outside is reality, but one cannot know what it actually is, as we cannot observe anything except what our senses tell us. I could be upside down, dancing witha pony, but as I sense I am sitting at my computer, that is only what I can know. In the mind, there are you thoughts and feelings, where you intepret things. You all could sense the world very differently than me, but we'd refer to it the same way, as we'd think we'd be seeing the same thing. Your 'red' could be my 'blue' but we both call it red, so it is red. In fact, I can't know whether you actually exist or not, or if you are just chat-bots programmed to fool me. But, I seriously doubt that, as you all act very human. So, in short, we can only sense the world as we are able to, and we can never know what reality really is.
So, what are you views on the world?
submitted by Pirocks/Enceladus
(July 18, 2009 - 7:44 pm)
(July 18, 2009 - 7:44 pm)
I believe there is more than what I can just sense. Even though people a long time ago didn't have the ability to sense that the world was round, it was. Our senses aren't always totally reliable. Imagine your hearing isn't perfect and someone makes a high pitched sound with a whistle. You can't sense it. Did the sound exist?
(July 18, 2009 - 11:17 pm)
@ Pirocks: That is extremely intelligent. I do mean that. It made me think. But I disagree. (sorry...)
I believe in the if-a-tree-falls-and-no-one-hears-it-does-it-make-a-sound idea. Yes, it makes a sound. Just because no one hears it doesn't mean that it didn't fall, and therefore make a sound. There a millions of planets and stars and moons in the universe that no one has discovered, and possibly will never discover. But that doesn't mean that they don't exist. The same goes for touch, smell, and taste. Is this making sense?
(July 20, 2009 - 9:24 am)
I don't think Pirocks meant they don't exist. I think he meant no one can really know whether they exist or not.
(July 20, 2009 - 11:23 am)
That's exactly what I mean. And, for the element on the periodic table, there are reactions that any element will do. If we can observe the reaction, then, we can find if that element exists in our reality or not.
(July 20, 2009 - 5:23 pm)
My philosophy is very much the same as Grace's. Look on a periodic table of the elements. There is an element there which cannot be seen, smelled, or tasted. It is an invisible gas, but it is very real. I think that while science is very important and genuine, there are many ways besides the scientific to tell if something exists or is true. I do beleive in God. (And there is a whole lot more to it that that, but I won't get into it right now because I'm going away to camp and won't be able to continue this discussion.)
(July 19, 2009 - 10:47 pm)
I agree with all 3 of you. We all think that the sky is blue, but maybe there is a corner of the sky we can't see that is brown. Or maybe all humans are colourblind, and the whole sky is brown. We can never completely trust our senses, and there is more to life than what we can see, smell, or touch. Maybe I don't exist. Maybe I'm just someone else's dream, and I'll wake up soon. You never know. That's my philosophy. Also, like Emily, I believe in God.
And I don't believe that any living creature is better than another.
(July 20, 2009 - 11:14 am)
I agree with all 3 of you. We all think that the sky is blue, but maybe there is a corner of the sky we can't see that is brown. Or maybe all humans are colourblind, and the whole sky is brown. We can never completely trust our senses, and there is more to life than what we can see, smell, or touch. Maybe I don't exist. Maybe I'm just someone else's dream, and I'll wake up soon. You never know. That's my philosophy. Also, like Emily, I believe in God.
And I don't believe that any living creature is better than another. (I accidentally pressed submit just now, but maybe if I press back it won't submit till I want it to. Maybe). That goes for all living creatures.
(July 20, 2009 - 11:21 am)
I'm sorry, my dear, but philosophy did not "create" religion - unless, of course, you mean evolution.
(July 20, 2009 - 8:12 pm)
Well, being a Christian, I don't think philosiphy created religeon. However, it might have created some of the ideas that are often asociated with certain religions.
(July 21, 2009 - 11:25 am)
I'm sorry, my dear, but evolution is not religion.
(December 9, 2009 - 4:52 pm)
I think if you believe in God you probably believe in what He says, and in Gen. 1:28 He says " . . .Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground". So humans are better creatures than animals; after all, we aren't animals like them.
(July 21, 2009 - 11:12 am)
I agree with Niso (name person as Soni, with the letters mixed up?). I believe God gave peopple dominance over animals, and animals do not have souls. They act on instinct, not choice.
(July 21, 2009 - 12:45 pm)
That particular Bible verse can be interpreted 2 different ways. There is your interpretation, and there is my interpretation. You 2 have already voiced yours, and this is mine:
I think that God meant for us to take care of the animals and the Earth, and to be a steward. Rule doesn't necasarily mean 'you are better'! Our parents have authority over us, but we certainly have souls!
And as for 'animals act on instinct, not choice, I belive that it is a combination of both. Some of it is instinct, but they can also learn things. For example, take Japanese macaques. They, suddenly, started washing their potatoes before they eat them. You could say that that's instinct (the instinct to avoid disease/dirt in their food, although the dirt seems like more of a choice thing - although you could say that it's to avoid choking on it, although I doubt that, although I need to stop saying 'although'), but explain this: after some time, they started almost invariably washing their potatoes in the ocean, rather than the fresh water. Can you think of any reason for that other than potatoes taste better with salt? Oh, you could always say that the fresh water has been polluted, or poisoned, or something of that sort, but then why would they bathe in the warm fresh water during the cold winter? Because they do that too - instinct, I know, but it proves that the water is perfectly safe.
And if that's not enough, here's another example - my dog. She's terrified of water. However, when we took her to the beach with us (long story, but we had a very good reason), and my mom held the leash (my brother and I were in the water), instead of pulling away from the ocean, she stood at the waters edge, looking staraight at us and whining, as if begging us to please get back to land. Can you think of any reason for this behaviour except that she cared about us, and was afraid we would drown? I can't.
And next time you go to a dog park with kiddy pools (for the dogs to swim in) you'll see that some dogs seem to enjoy being in the water more than others.
Animals aren't the only ones to act on instinct, either. When you're hungry, that's instinct telling you that you need food. When you're full, that's instinct again, saying you don't have enough. It's true that we don't have to listen to instinct, but if we put off obeying it for too long, you might die.
I do not think that animals are as smart as humans, by the way. I believe that we are more intelligent. But I don't believe that smarter means better at all. Was Albert Einstein a better person that Mother Teresa just because he was smarter? I don't think so (although if you do, I suppose that's just your opinion/philosophy).
(July 21, 2009 - 10:38 pm)
"Rule" does indicate we are stronger, though, and that we are not equal - our parents do have authority over us, because they are wiser and sometimes smarter than we are. I also think animals don't really have souls or worth that humans do because humans were made in the image of God.
(July 22, 2009 - 9:46 am)
How do you know our choice isn't instinct, and we have the illusion of free will?
(July 22, 2009 - 6:30 am)