Reflection and Connection #7

We learned about Sartre. Sartre was an atheist. He believed that there is no general human nature and we must create our own. Sartre believed that our freedom was a burden since we arrived in the world free. We must take responsibilities for our actions and find our own meaning of life through the use of consciousness. He believed that there is no female and male natures. In the book we Alberto also explained the Big Bang Theory to Sophie.

This chapter is very similar to today. Scientists are still debating on how the earth was created. The Big Bang Theory is one of them. Some people think that the earth just had this big bang, and puff everything came into place. We also debate over free will, which is what Sartre argued. Is everything really pre-determined or do we create our own future? Today we argue that in school and even in culture and religion. All the philosophers that we have studied had some questions whether God determines are future or we create our own. This book has taught me a lot. I learned about many philosophers and how everyone had such different ideas and their own outlook on life. So the question is, are Sophie and Alberto really real people or are they just made up?

Reflection and Connection #6

We have got to the point where we are learning about how the world was "formed." We have read about Darwin and his thought of evolution. Darwin believed that species evolved over time. He thought that natural selection occurs. Natural selection is competition between species seeing who will remain alive through environmental and climate changes. Man was believed by Darwin to have descended from animals and human life started from elements then transformed into the first living cell. We also learned about Freud. He believed that we have a drive for certain things that can affect our actions without us knowing about them. Freud studied the human mind and he believed that dreams were a way of fulfilling our wishes.

Today scientists still don't know how man was formed. Some believe in the creationism theory which is belief that God created everyone and everything and some believe in Darwin's theory that we evolved over time. Scientists have found Darwin's theory to be more effective because of studies. Some animals do appear to have evolved from extinct animals. Today in school we are taught Darwin's theory of evolution.

Reflection and Connection #5

Now we have learned about Romanticism. Romanticism is pretty different from the other times. We are starting to question more and more about the Sophie and Alberto being real characters. This fits into Romanticism because it involves people making up another reality,which is what Hilde's father is doing. We have learned about many philosophers now. There are two kinds of Romanticism. One that studies history and people their self. We learned about a phliosopher name Hegel. Hegel believed that history is progress and believed in community over the individual. He believed that language forms people. Hegel also believed that philosophy is the greatest form of knowledge because it involves the world spirit reflecting on itself.

Romanticism somewhat relates to the 60's and 70's when hippies were around. Romanticism was a period and individualism and freedom, which is what the hippie movement was like. Romantics felt that art was the greatest expression of freedom. Hippies were into being free and they were into art. We were more of Universal Romanticism than National Romanticism. Love was a big thing. Just like the Romantic who got married, but his wife died and he continued to love her even when she died never letting go.

Reflection and Connection #4

I can not believe we have learned about so many philosophers. In the past reading we learned about Berkley, Kant, and the Enlightenment period. During this time the french believed in reason. They believed that people had natural rights. We read about Kant and how he worked off empiricists and rationalists. He believe that certain factors in our mind influence our experience of the world. He thought that we cannot know the answers to certain questions because they lie beyond human reason. Kant believed that everyone has innate moral reason. We are learning that Sophie and Alberto may not be real people just characters in a book.

Kant can relate to some things in today's society. In his Universal Moral Law, he states that it is a moral necessity to assume the existence of God. Today in a lot of cultures,we just automatically assume that there is a God and if you don't agree with that then you may possibly be "evil." Today we are taught to believe that God is in our presence everyday of the hour. It's just natural for us to depend on a God.

Reflection and Connection #3

The book is getting better and better each chapter. I love learning about every philosopher. It's interesting because we are now talking about religion. I am very surprised that we have not had a debate or something about religion because everyone has a different religion and opinion on it. It seems that every philosopher we have learned about in these last few chapter have all believed in God, but their opinions are quite different. I like learning about religion a lot because it is interesting to hear someone else's opinion on religion.

Spinoza ideas relates more to today's society. Spinoza believed that the bible should be read critically. With a lot of religions today the bible is very essential to living the religion the right way. Locke believed there should be a division in the power of government. Which is how our government here in America works. Spinoza and Locke's thinkings are more modern than Descartes. However, like Spinoza and Locke, Descartes believed that God is certain.

Reflection and Connection #2

At this point in Sophie's World the book is getting more interesting; however, I am confused. Who is Hilde? Is that Sophie's dad or someone else's dad? I like how religion is coming into the book and how Christianity developed. I never knew that Judaism, Islam, and Christianity are Semitic religions. In Holocaust Literature we learned that a lot of Christians in Europe were Anti-Semitic. It feels like the book is no more about philosophy, but it's getting personal with Sophie Alberto. It's interesting to learn that there was a female philosopher. In those times women were just saw as a child bearers. I like learning about women power for a change. All philosophers we have learned about have been males and it's interesting to learn about how the world should be from a females perspective. Is Alberto going through chronological order for a reason?

In class we have been learning about fate this week. We learned about determinism. We were asked if we believed that god already planned out everything out for us, or do we live by free will and some stuff is fate. I do believe that god planned some things. For example, in the Bible it says that 2 towers will fall and in 2001 the 9/11 attacks took place with the 2 twin powers being destroyed. However, I do not believe God planned everything. Did God plan diseases, and the horrifying things that happen in the world. I know that the world has to have evil to balance out the good, but it seems like there has been more bad than good. Without bad, the world would be a utopia which is not possible. I believe that god puts everyone on earth for a reason, but I believe that he lets free will takes it place. I do not believe that people were meant to die at young or even old ages, I believe that free will took place and they were just cut down before their time.

Blog #55 - Which Hellenist philosophy works for you?

I believe my life can most relate to Stoicism. Although I am a very sensitive person, I had learned to accept things for what they are and don't let things get to me. Things happen, deal with it and turn a negative situation into a positive one. Everyday I learn more and more. I endure pain,instead of talking about it. I believe that things will one day get better and everything will come out in light. I have accepted that I cannot change things. Things happen for a reason and one day I will understand that reason.

Stoicism isn't the best way to think, but at the end of the day we should all think this way. Don't let your emotions get in the way of you doing something. Emotions only put a hold on things. I agree that Stoicism is how the way we react to events, not just standing by watching things happen. Stoicism is not supposed to be taken as a way to say screw the world. Stoicism does not mean that when somebody is killed, we show no sympathy and we just say" Well things happen." Stoicism means that when it comes to things that happen to us personally we should get over, especially little things that will not even affect our lives.

Learning to endure pain makes you a stronger person; however, holding in your emotions is sometimes bad. You can one day just explode because you had so many things bottled up. Sometimes I feel that hiding my emotions makes me see things better and more clear.