Ethan Skinner
Mrs. Wagener
AP English
8/11/2013
Blog
Response Five
Philosophical thought has been an
important part of human culture for thousands of years. While questions of
origin and purpose are innate in the human mind, and fun to think about, they
are certainly not easy to answer. From a finite perspective, how could any one
person possibly hope to comprehend questions regarding infinite subject matter,
such as the nature of time or God?
For the most part, none of the
philosophers in the book really stood out to me as particularly insightful. Occasionally
one of the philosophers that Gaarder described would make an interesting point,
but generally I felt that most of the philosophers were simply making things
up, and then espousing them as the truth regardless of whether or not there was
anything insightful about their philosophy. One exception to this rule was
Locke. His concept of primary and secondary qualities of objects was
fascinating to me (although Alberto’s classification of color and taste as purely
qualitative aspects was ridiculous, seeing as light an flavor both have
scientific scales of measurement) and I agree with his thought that it is inherent
in human reason that God exists. For the most part, I found that the other
philosophers were arrogant academics who felt that their own minds were a
better source of information than the world around them. Obviously, people like
Socrates had the right idea, actually asking solid questions until he arrived
at a solution. But even Socrates fell short, in that he did not back his
theories with real evidence, opting instead to take people’s inabilities to
answer his questions as proof that their views were false, therefore making his
views correct. This is a frustrating tendency in all of philosophy. I love
science, and philosophy often feels like a deliberate rejection of the
scientific method which, while flawed, is generally the best way to find
answers to our questions.
In regards to the question of my
position in the rabbit’s fur, I feel that the premise is flawed. To ask where I
reside in the rabbit’s fur is to ask whether I am a seeker of knowledge,
longing to gaze into the eyes of the “magician” or am comfortably nestled down
in my safe little world, happy to live my days in ignorance. I reject the
concept of the rabbit. I am no hater of knowledge, and love scientific research
and the acquisition of new knowledge. But in regards to questions of the
universe itself, I have found my answers. I believe that the Christian bible is
the inspired, infallible, inerrant word of God, and that anything I may need to
know in regards to my origins or the purpose of my existence are contained therein.
I am happy to seek answers to most questions through scientific reasoning, but
in regards to more existential questions, I look to the God for my answers
