Reflections on Philosophy 101

It seems in life today we have no real scholars. We have college grads and of course people that have their PhD’s in a variety of subjects but as far as people that spend time just thinking and coming up with possible answers to the big questions none come to mind.

After a five year break from the college life I have returned to obtain my Elementary Education degree from Ohio University Lancaster. My second semester into my first year I am realizing I am far more ready for college now, closer to thirty, than I was right out of high school. Be it maturity or just the need of worldly experiences I have no idea, but I am glad I have returned to school to further my education. Needing a humanities credit I was advised to take Philosophy 101 and was dreading it. When one thinks of Philosophy one might picture people in togas talking about the sands in an hour glass, or a few chemically altered people sitting around trying to figure out what it would be like if we were really in a “Matrix” situation. But after the first class and meeting the professor, who to my relief was not wearing a toga or drugged, I realized maybe more people should take this introductory course on, basically, just thinking.

To break down the word Philosophy it means love of wisdom. Can we as a population really say today many of us have a love of wisdom? The ancient Greeks had Socrates, Aristotle and Plato. Who do we have? Brittany and Kevin? Paris? Nick and Jessica? Are these the people that are going to define our culture to our future generations? I really hope not.

The visual media of this country has taken away people’s real capacity to think. And not just everyday thoughts like “what am I going to cook for dinner?” Or “where did I leave my keys” but big questions like “why are we here?” and “what happens after we die?” We are constantly assaulted everyday with different visual images or even just sound bites we over hear. When was the last time you drove anywhere with out the radio blaring? Or just sat in your living room with out the TV on? Even more importantly when was the last time you saw one of your children turn off the television and pick up a book? Or, take off their headphones and say “Hey, mom, dad, what do you say we sit and talk about something meaningful?”

Visual media has put us in a perpetual state of want. We always want more information but it is served to us on someone else’s platter. We are in a relentless pursuit for entertainment and now we can get it anywhere. We have television streaming on our cell phones, portable DVD players, gameboys, MP3 players and wireless internet. I am not saying that I am completely immune to these temptations or want to be. Last year we bought a portable DVD player for our son and it has saved his little hind end many a time on long trips. Now instead of the incessant “are we there yet?” or the kicking of the back of my seat, all we hear are giggles and laughter from his enjoyment of his cartoons or movies. I would rather have him read but that ended in a rather messy situation a while back the truck carpet has still not recovered from.

I watch television with a vengeance; the Discovery channel (any four of them) is my addiction. I read like crazy also though, be it text books or novels, my real enjoyment is from reading. Until starting this class I never realized people are just shutting down and taking what they hear and see for granted.

Now that I sit and think about people and what I have learned I realize that the majority of us are a lazy society. There are two schools to philosophy and the search for truth, realism and relativism. Realism is basically what it seems, that truth is the way the world is no matter what anyone else thinks, a very firm stand on your beliefs (Example 2+2=5. Are you nuts?). Relativism is the belief that truth changes from person to person depending on their beliefs, and is pretty much a lazy approach to life (Example 2+2=5. Okay, what ever you believe man.) If you can’t stand up for what you think why should you have any beliefs at all? And that is what relativism is, a way out of standing up for what you believe, avoiding an argument, and saying “Okay, what ever you say.” Popular culture has adopted this relativistic approach and I believe it may be our down fall. Not only is it a lazy way to approach life but it is also a careless way to more or less define yourself. A famous quote from Socrates states “The unexamined life is not worth living.” By “unexamined” he means to look inside yourself and know who you are, what you are doing, how you are doing it, and what you believe. Do many of us know this?

The longer I live the more I believe the further you travel from our state’s urban center, in any direction, you will find incredibly intelligent people. These people are usually lumped into the category of “ignorant redneck” or “simple country folk”. I beg to differ; not only are my fiancé and I lumped into this category but people are shocked to find that we can both speak intelligently and have a very good handle on what life is about. Anyone you meet from any or all of these small towns knows what they believe, knows what they are doing and why they are doing it. They are realists and won’t back down from their views even if you tell them otherwise. I love this mentality. It’s the reason we moved here to Pataskala and the reason we are staying. Our son was taking on a relativistic attitude where we came from and we decided it was time that we took matters in our own hands and immersed him in some real people, real ideas, and a real community. We want him to grow up like we did with honesty, dignity and a good sense of self worth instead of this insecure view on life he has adapted. We are settling in and aren’t planning on going anywhere; we are hoping you all will rub off on him eventually.