Final Exam

Philosophy 101

The base questions posed by philosophy, seem almost like puzzles themselves. “What is knowledge”, “What is it to exist”, “is it possible to know something”, these questions at first seem so simple that it's easy to assume an answer but by nature so abstract that the answers will always be arguable.
Looking at it from a teachers view point, arguability may have been the point, to cause a student to continually question, to inspire them to reevaluate past beliefs. In ancient times the Question was the only tool they had to investigate the world around them, so it stands to reason that the purpose of the Questions was more than just a problem in need of a solution. The Question was a tool used to investigate the problem, and once the solution was thought to be found, it would then be turned into a question of it's own and used to see if the original question was correct. It's easy to see how algebra evolved from this type of thought. Religion is a subject that I've always avoided it turns normal rational people into crazed unyielding lunatics. While this is just my opinion, it is hard to argue, because of how many wars have been fought and people killed over religious beliefs. One fascinating behavior is the way a person can be rational level headed and kind even when faced with beliefs that conflict with their own. But to challenge the shared beliefs of a group of rational level headed, kind people is often deadly.

My WOW moment in this class was when we studied the Atomists. I found it incredible that philosophers in the 5th century BC discovered through deductive reasoning the existence of atoms. To publish the idea that atoms and void are all that exist must have taken Lucretius a lot of guts. He basically stated the churches had no divine power and one should not fear the Gods or death. I don't remember how he died but I'm