December 1, 2023

What makes a life worth living?

The first question we will ask ourselves involves the nature of philosophy itself. What is philosophy, and why should we study it? It may be easier to define what a student studies in math or science classes. The same holds true for law, architecture, English, and maybe even psychology and sociology. However, philosophy does not seem to be as easily defined. Philosophy is more concerned with critically reflecting upon questions about the nature of existence than with providing definite and certain answers to these questions. Philosophy thus aims to teach students how to think, rather than dictating what a student “should” think. That said, we will also see that many philosophers believe that we become wise by realizing that much of what we think we know is in fact simply an opinion. This is not to say that your opinions about the questions we will be discussing are irrelevant. On the contrary, there is perhaps no discipline more concerned with what you think than philosophy.

Your Learning Objectives for the Week:

Understand and engage in the Socratic method and critical thinking by reflecting upon their own beliefs and making connections between philosophy and their own experiences and perspectives on social issues

Understand and explain different approaches to epistemological and metaphysical questions of human knowledge and the nature of truth and reality, including spiritual reality.

Textbook:

Mitchell, H. B. (2019). Roots of wisdom: A tapestry of philosophical traditions (8th ed.)