The Great Debate - 3 Big Questions
Andrew Ford
Philosophy
1st Hour
February 13, 2002
Philosophy Book: Chapter 1
Old guys, old rules, old news, right? Wrong. Philosophy is an important subject, because it helps us understand three big questions; "why are we here", "what do we do", and "how do we treat each other". These are important questions to answer because without them we may end up in a situation much like the Taliban is in right now. Complete chaos created from confusion about those three big questions. These questions are left in a general sense because there are many different ways to look at them. After all we have many different people with many different ideas and so to come to a more concise understanding of such important topics we need everyone's viewpoint. This is the purpose of something philosophers call "The great conversation". For example: Think back to the attack on the US of September 11th. These attacks were caused for a variety of reasons, one of which being that the Taliban believed they had the answer as to the correct way to run a society. Therefore "The Great Conversation" was stopped. After all if I am the Taliban and I believe I have the answer as to how to run a society because I feel I have answered the three big questions, then why keep discussing? Why include anyone else's opinions and beliefs? Because if you don't then things could become violent, just as they did in Afghanistan. So you say you don't want to be like Afghanistan? Well good! So then how do you determine the answer to those three big questions, and what if there is more than one answer? That's the purpose of philosophy and more specifically "The Great Conversation", to come up with the best possible answer to all questions that may arise without eliminating the possibility that a better answer may exist.
Take "Plato's Cave" for example: People sit in a cave looking at shadows cast on a wall, from the light of a fire behind them. They have been chained to the floor for centuries. They are
Philosophy
1st Hour
February 13, 2002
Philosophy Book: Chapter 1
Old guys, old rules, old news, right? Wrong. Philosophy is an important subject, because it helps us understand three big questions; "why are we here", "what do we do", and "how do we treat each other". These are important questions to answer because without them we may end up in a situation much like the Taliban is in right now. Complete chaos created from confusion about those three big questions. These questions are left in a general sense because there are many different ways to look at them. After all we have many different people with many different ideas and so to come to a more concise understanding of such important topics we need everyone's viewpoint. This is the purpose of something philosophers call "The great conversation". For example: Think back to the attack on the US of September 11th. These attacks were caused for a variety of reasons, one of which being that the Taliban believed they had the answer as to the correct way to run a society. Therefore "The Great Conversation" was stopped. After all if I am the Taliban and I believe I have the answer as to how to run a society because I feel I have answered the three big questions, then why keep discussing? Why include anyone else's opinions and beliefs? Because if you don't then things could become violent, just as they did in Afghanistan. So you say you don't want to be like Afghanistan? Well good! So then how do you determine the answer to those three big questions, and what if there is more than one answer? That's the purpose of philosophy and more specifically "The Great Conversation", to come up with the best possible answer to all questions that may arise without eliminating the possibility that a better answer may exist.
Take "Plato's Cave" for example: People sit in a cave looking at shadows cast on a wall, from the light of a fire behind them. They have been chained to the floor for centuries. They are