Take home final exam PDF

Preview

Summary

Final Exam paper...

Description

Professor Nordin PHIL 130 Take Home Exam Part 1: Plato’s Five Dialogues opens one eyes to the reasoning and purpose behind the practice of Philosophy. It is revealed in the text through the representation of Socrates that, essentially, Philosophy is rehearsal for dying and death. In death is the separation of body and soul. The body only has capacity for physical elements- wants, needs and desires- while the soul is the capacity for reason, it is the part that seeks true knowledge. In truth, there is goodness. Philosophy gives us purpose. It forces us to question everything even if the answer is unsettling, because being critical and seeking to discover the truth is a more fulfilling way of life rather than being complacent at the surface level. Moreover, this conception that the philosophical life is the life well lived presupposes that philosophers in a sense go beyond death-- the acquisition of knowledge allows for us to find value in things that are not explicitly tangible, to share new discoveries with those around us which will expand indefinitely. This is how the soul is able to carry on even after the body is gone. While most seek that which satisfies bodily needs- things of materialistic nature such as money or power, philosophers seek true knowledge which feeds the soul and for this reason it is the highest good. The things that the body needs are only limited resources-- such as food, water, shelter. The body “fills us wants, desires, fears, all sorts of illusions and much nonsense” (Meno, 66c). It craves things that are not truly good for us. The virtues of the soul are everlasting and pure- to have courage, live in moderation, and to know what is just and act accordingly.

Furthermore, as stated by Socrates in Apology, it is imperative that “you not to care for your body or your wealth in preference to or as strongly as for the best possible state of your soul, as I say to you: wealth does not bring about excellence, but excellence brings about wealth and everything else good for men, both individually and collectively” (Apology, 30a). Moreover, being ‘wealthy’ in the traditional sense is meaningless, things of materialistic nature have no real value. The most important kind of wealth is the wealth of knowledge because in seeking the truth, it enables a person to serve others by allowing them to realize what is inherently good. To solidify this notion, Socrates also goes on to say, “it is the greatest good for a man to discuss virtue every day and those other things which you hear me conversing and testing myself and others, for the unexamined life is not worth living” (Apology, 38a). Even if the pursuit of knowledge gets him in trouble- or quite possibly killed, and regardless of how ugly the truth is, it is still worth the discovery. To go through life complacent to mystery is simply surviving, but to follow the teachings of Philosophy, to seek true knowledge and spread it to those around you, that is what it means to genuinely live. Even after a person dies, the knowledge and the truth they shared with others will live on indefinitely. This is why, in Socrates eyes, death is not the end to a philosopher’s life. Therefore, there is no reason to be afraid of death. Socrates says, “to fear death, gentlemen, is no other than to think oneself wise when one is not, to think one knows when one does not. No one knows whether death may not be the greatest blessing for a man, yet men fear it as if they knew that is the greatest of all evils” (Apology, 29a). This notion implicates that we, inherently as humans, can’t know and don’t know everything. There is no certainty after death, which is why we have to make our time on earth meaningful. For this reason, the acquisition of knowledge becomes that much more imperative. Because Socrates believes the soul, which seeks this true knowledge,

separates from the body after death, there is reason to think that the soul lives on for eternity. Philosophers continue on past their death, so in truth, death might actually not be such a bad thing. Furthermore, Socrates states, “there is good hope that death is a blessing, for it is one of two things: either the dead are nothing and have no perception of anything, or it is, as we are told, a change and relocating for the soul from here to another place” (Apology, 40c). Again, there is no way of knowing what happens after death, but for philosophers, there is peace of mind in knowing that whatever truth they unravel in their lifetime will still have meaning after they are gone. “To believe this requires a good deal of faith and persuasive argument, to believe that the soul still exists after a man has died and that it still possesses some capability and intelligence” (Meno,70a). Ultimately, a truly good and just man cannot be harmed in life nor death. Philosophers obtain genuine wisdom when dead- a wisdom that leads to the path of virtue and excellence. In conclusion, the practice of philosophy allows for one to cultivate virtue and to expand the knowledge of their soul. This way of life gives people purpose, for there is no point in living if one does not seek new discovery and contribute to others. The life of philosophers is infinite, everlasting-- the teachings of Socrates are still valued hundreds of years after his death.

Part 2: In this passage from Book III, Boethius and Lady Philosophy are concluding their discussion about the nature of true happiness and its origin. They agree upon the notion that everything people do they do because they believe it will lead them down the path to eternal

happiness. In the minds of most people, happiness should be a step by step process. For example, people become educated so they can get a job, they get a job so they can get money, they make money so they can have and support a family-- they do all these things because they think that each and every one will somehow bring them closer to happiness. However, they are searching in the wrong place. The most crucial element to understand here, is the difference between imperfect goods and perfect goods-- the key to happiness relies within this. Additionally, Boethius and Lady Philosophy come to realize that the ultimate source of true happiness is God. Goodness is the natural property of God and therefore, God is the complete essence of happiness. Often times, humans look for happiness outside themselves. However, only imperfect goods can be found here, and any gratification they provide is just an illusion in reality. As explained by Lady Philosophy earlier in the text, the gifts of Lady Fortune bring nothing but false happiness. Material possessions, power, wealth or even simply pleasure cannot bestow true happiness. Even if one finds satisfaction in that which Fortune provides, they will never provide authentic fulfilment. In actuality, they are only temporary, borrowed earthly goods. True happiness cannot be found in something that can be given or taken, it is not dependant on one’s material possessions or power-- true happiness is eternal (Consolations, 2.4). The perfect good cannot be found in things of this nature because they do not come from oneself. It is found only in one’s spirituality and does not stray from God’s light. What Boethius and Lady Philosophy conclude at the end of Book III is that rather than turning away from oneself-- in other words, towards earthly goods, to find true happiness, one must look inwards. The individual soul emanates from the divine soul with God in the center. The highest form of happiness can be achieved through seeking a closeness to God. Pursuing God, believing in God, understanding God, following the teachings of God-- these are things that

are true (Consolations, 3.10). This happiness is perfect because it is pure.

Part 3: In “Rebellion”, Ivan Karamazov explains his disdain for the amount of suffering among innocent people-- more specifically, children. Some adults are corrupt by nature and thus their suffering doesn’t sting Ivan as much. But children who are chained to a life of torture is something that he simply cannot fathom. He exclaims, “If everyone must suffer, in order to buy eternal happiness with their suffering, pray tell me what have children got to do with it? It’s quite incomprehensible why they should have to suffer, and why they should buy harmony with their suffering” (Dostoevsky, p. 245). Here he is questioning why eternal harmony can only be achieved through the pain of people who are innocent. He then goes on to say that he denies the concept of a higher harmony and that such a thing is not worthy of a child being abused, that child praying to a so-called God to end their suffering. He states, I absolutely renounce all higher harmony. It is not worth one little tear of even one tormented child who beat her chest with her little first and prayed to ‘dear God’ in a stinking outhouse with her unredeemed tears” (Dostoevsky, p. 245). He believes that it is worse to allow children to believe that God is real, and that he is complacent to their suffering than to tell them that there is no God at all. Ivan’s beliefs go against Boethius’s notion that Providence is the solution to evil. Providence is the single plan of life that comes from the unchanging mind of God. Boethius claims that sometimes a good man recieves a bad fortune for the purpose of ‘self discovery through hardship’ (Consolations, 4.6, p. 108). But Providence always balances things out. When one faces suffering, they have hope that God will reward them for their patience and fix all their problems. When a person succeeds, they thank God and sees it as “part of his plan”. However,

Ivan would say that the concept of Providence is naive and is just a coping mechanism to deal with tragedy. He claims that humans made up God and the devil to use them as scapegoats and look to these figures as explanations for life circumstances when people are too afraid to take responsibility for their own actions. Additionally, he says that humans built God and the devil in their own image (Dostoevsky, p. 239). So ultimately if there is no God, there can be no Providence. There is no higher order or grand plan. Life simply just is what it is....