Alone/Solitude

At some point in everybody's life they have either been completely alone or felt the need to be. Being alone every once in a while is a necessary thing, in my opinion, to be able to think clearly and function properly. I remember the time when I was in Italy during the summer of 2007. I was having a bad day with my parents and before leaving to go visit the Colosseum we got into an argument. I angered them so much that they left without me, leaving me, a 12 year old boy, alone in an Italian hotel. Being unable to understand anything that was on TV I decided to try and make my way to the Colosseum and meet up with my family. I grabbed a map from the front desk of the hotel and set off.
I soon realized that while traveling by myself I noticed a much greater amount of detail. When walking about with my parents I become too focused on not wanting to be seen with them and not on the beautiful architecture of Rome. Even though I only had a vague idea of where I was headed I was in the best mood that I had been on the entire trip. I was finally able to think clearly and I realized what an amazing country Italy really is.
As I continued to travel I became lost and since I was unable to communicate with the locals I just kept walking. I eventually stumbled upon a group of tourists and asked for directions. Imagine my surprise when I learned that I had actually wandered off the map. Normally this would freak me out, but after realizing that I need to enjoy everything around me I laugh and ask them to point me in the right direction. I soon was approached by a police officer who asked me my name. I gave it to him and he said that my parents had reported me missing. He then took me to the police station where they were happily/angrily waiting. While I got in loads of trouble for my wandering it remains to be one of the best experiences of my life. It taught me to take in my surroundings and to appreciate everything that I have.

I Know This Means Something

I believe that everything in life has a meaning and that everything that happens, happens for a reason. One night while I was sleeping I had a dream that the bus would come 5 minutes earlier than it normally did. When I woke up I didn't know what to think of it. After all it was only a dream. I then remembered that everything in life has a meaning so I hurried through my morning routine and got to the bus stop 7 minutes early. Sure enough the bus arrived 5 minutes earlier than it normally did. It may be that I can see into the future, but it proves that everything has a meaning. When I got home that day from school I learned that my dog had thrown up all over the floor that morning when I normally would have been home. Thanks to my premonition I was able to miss that unfortunate event and I didn't have to clean it up.

What I Am Thankful For

This is the week of Thanksgiving, so saying who we are thankful for is appropriate. If there is one person in fifth period Philosophy In Literature that I am thankful for, it would be Artem Potemkin. Why? I have known Artem for four years and have never had a real class with him until this year. He seemed like a cool person so I was naturally happy that I had a class with him. In class, I can always count on him to make a joke or make me laugh. What he adds to the discussion everyday is very well spoken and well thought out. He is a very deep thinker and I respect that. Also whenever we have to break into groups for classwork, I know that there is someone who I can listen to and write down what he says without even looking at the questions. Even though you throw the the occasional insult my way and tell me that I'll be putting my glasses in two pockets I still enjoy your sense of humor. So, thanks Artem for being a cool person and making fifth period Philosophy In Literature better.

Voltaire and Camus would vote for...

I honestly think that Voltaire and Camus would not participate in any kind of political affair. They would simply sit back and enjoy the madness that occurs so they can satirize it in the future. They view government as a comical thing, not something that necessarily has to be respected, so why vote? Why take part in such an unreasonable thing? Voltaire satirizes the government in Candide especially when talking about the six kings. The kings serve as an extended mockery of the arrogance of the aristocracy. Although they believe they are naturally endowed with the right to power, they continually lose power through wars and political upheaval.As far as Camus goes he doesn't satirize government necessarily he just shows it from the point of view of a man who just doesn't really care that much. While both gentlemen are extremely intelligent beings I do not believe that either one of them would vote in a political election if they had the chance to.

Our Stranger Meaning

In class we are reading a book called the Stranger. The main character is a man named Mersault. He does not seem to care about much that goes on life. For example, at the beginning of the book his mother dies and he doesn't even know how old she is. He doesn't even cry at her funeral. He is a very strange man to say the least. However does he represent our stranger meaning? Is Mersault actually normal while we are the ones who are weird? Being normal is not something that can be defined. Everybody is normal and yet nobody is normal. We all have our own little quirks that make us just as weird as anybody else. So is what Mersault does normal? I think that it is. For him it is normal. Normality is just something that is perceived and it is different for everyone. So in a way this is our stranger meaning. We all have a little weirdness in us and we will all make questionable choices. I think Mersault represents our stranger meaning.

Candide's Punishments, Do They Fit the Crime?

Candide was naive and innocent but these are the only things he was truly guilty of in the beginning. He was taught the world he lived in was the best of possible worlds only to be nearly destroyed by it. Why? Pangloss, the man who was supposed to teach and inform Candide to the best of his ability, taught him an act considered an unforgivable crime, something that only led to his banishment and the beginning of his suffering,.  After his banishment, he nearly had his skin flayed from his body for "deserting" the army of another nation.

Candide, like his namesake, is innocent. He is like a child really. Children don't understand the cruelty, suffering and corruption of the world. This can cause them to be manipulated, abused, and suffer in an unforgiving and challenging world. If a child imitated what he saw his teacher do or followed the teachings of those more experienced, should he be banished? It's pretty extreme right? This also applies to when Candide was forced to run the gauntlet, a punishement where a line of men strike him with weapons. He simply went for a walk and it was declared desertion. Desertion is punishable by either execution or the gauntlet.

The people in the world Candide lives in practice their beliefs to the most extreme. Instead of simply accepting that maybe everyone may not have the same ideas and beliefs they do or even know of them, they punish them with the most harsh or extreme sentences imaginable.

How Do I Know What I Know?

How do I know what I know? Rene Descartes altered the course of philosophy by raising this question. Descartes’ method of doubt questioned beliefs, both scientific and religious, that could be known with utter certainty. Descartes was able to show most of our, scientific, mathematical, religious, and everyday beliefs really cannot stand up to that kind of assessment.  

This systematic doubt brought an issue that philosopher would debate upon for decades to come. Do we learn about the nature of things, through our physical senses or by logic or reasoning? A great philosopher by the name of Immanuel Kant tried to resolve this issue. He argued that we in fact never have understanding of reality but only of things as they appear to us, and that the mind itself supplies the form in which we know appearances.

What do I think of all this? Even before I took this class, I often wondered about my and others’ perceptions of reality. I used to think what if my entire life was a dream or a hallucination? How do I know if the things around me even exist and do they exist to others? It’s really terrifying to think about and I believe that the phrase ignorance is bliss truly sums up what I think about it. Would you want to know if you were a brain in a jar or would you rather continue believing that you are an organism who actually interacts with his environment?  We would say a scenario like that is highly improbable but how do we know?

Modern Gadfly

The word gadfly is defined as a person who persistently annoys or provokes others with criThe word gThe word gadfly is defined as a person who persistently annoys or provokes others with criticism, schemes, ideas, demands, requests, etc and as a constantly irritating or harassing person. During the 400s B.C., Socrates was known being a gadfly or an annoyance. His innovative way of asking questions regularly times forced people to think outside of their comfort zone. He was often times a bother to those he questioned. It came to a point when Socrates was arrested and sentenced to death for his continual questioning of the ideals and views of the people in power. In my lifetime, I do not think that anyone can be classified as a gadfly, or modern day Socrates. To my knowledge, no one has been such a nuisance to society like Socrates. Not once have I ever turned on the news and heard about one person constantly hassling people in public places in the name of education or philosophy. Today, if someone wants to question the beliefs of position of power, like the government, they do so with a group of people, striking or petitioning is very common. Seldom have I heard of someone who went on strike against the US government alone, or someone who would give up his/her own life because they wanted to ask questions. Socrates is a one-of-a-kind man. His methods and ideals about life are ones that can not be duplicated. He is the original philosopher.
       I do not agree that the unexamined life is not worth living. I don't think you necessarily need to examine your life all that much to the fullest extent. I think you can live life without a purpose or goal of getting a certain job or doing something you always wanted to do. I think everyone stops and question their life once in awhile but no one will really philosophise about it and really think about it hard. There are things you have been doing your whole life that you haven't really examined because it’s unimportant so you don't think about it. But there are also things that you don't examine and you should. I think that most people do examine their life at one point in theirs lives as they're maturing and getting older. For example when you are senior in high school and you have to decide what college you have to go to, that is sort of examining your life because you have to decide what college would be best for what you want to study, if you already. I would imagine that when I get into college and start going to school I would find myself examining my life more because if sometimes I wouldn't want to do homework or if I got sick of school I would remind myself why I'm there and what I'm doing or trying to accomplish. I already do that in high school. Some days ill just want to relax and not think about school but I know that ill regret not doing that homework assignment so I get myself to do it. In the end i believe everyone examines their life even when they're not thinking about it. But as a whole the unexamined life is worth living.

fined as a person who persistently annoys or provokes others with criticism, schemes, ideas, demands, requests, etc and as a constantly irritating or harassing person. During the 400s B.C., Socrates was known being a gadfly or an annoyance. His innovative way of asking questions regularly times forced people to think outside of their comfort zone. He was often times a bother to those he questioned. It came to a point when Socrates was arrested and sentenced to death for his continual questioning of the ideals and views of the people in power. In my lifetime, I do not think that anyone can be classified as a gadfly, or modern day Socrates. To my knowledge, no one has been such a nuisance to society like Socrates. Not once have I ever turned on the news and heard about one person constantly hassling people in public places in the name of education or philosophy. Today, if someone wants to question the beliefs of position of power, like the government, they do so with a group of people, striking or petitioning is very common. Seldom have I heard of someone who went on strike against the US government alone, or someone who would give up his/her own life because they wanted to ask questions. Socrates is a one-of-a-kind man. His methods and ideals about life are ones that can not be duplicated. He is the original philosopher.ticism, schemes, ideas, demands, requests, etc and as a constantly irritating or harassing person. During the 400s B.C., Socrates was known being a gadfly or an annoyance. His innovative way of asking questions regularly times forced people to think outside of their comfort zone. He was often times a bother to those he questioned. It came to a point when Socrates was arrested and sentenced to death for his continual questioning of the ideals and views of the people in power. In my lifetime, I do not think that anyone can be classified as a gadfly, or modern day Socrates. To my knowledge, no one has been such a nuisance to society like Socrates. Not once have I ever turned on the news and heard about one person constantly hassling people in public places in the name of education or philosophy. Today, if someone wants to question the beliefs of position of power, like the government, they do so with a group of people, striking or petitioning is very common. Seldom have I heard of someone who went on strike against the US government alone, or someone who would give up his/her own life because they wanted to ask questions. Socrates is a one-of-a-kind man. His methods and ideals about life are ones that can not be duplicated. He is the original philosopher.

Eulogy for a friend

Christian had lived an amazing life even though it was rather short. Christian was a great friend; he was the kind of friend that stands by you when you need somebody to be there. He once saved my life. We were both young kids then and we weren’t very close. I was hastily walking across the street when Christian saw a speeding car. If it wasn’t for Christian, I would have died right there. That’s how I became close to him. Yes, that was 10 years ago and we’ve been inseparable ever since. What is it we think of when we remember Christian? I think we can all agree that it was genuine kindness and personality. He had a great character and did many things for those around him. I remember working with him at our volunteer program. We both volunteered to help teach soccer to kids who suffered from autism. We both were doing it just because we needed service hours. That changed for Christian as soon as he started. The energy he brought with him was just amazing. He always had a smile on his face and never got frustrated. He inspired many people including myself. Christian is in heaven now and we are here at his funeral. This is not the time for us to grieve his death but it’s our time to celebrate his life. Don’t ever forget Christian. He never wanted to see people cry. He wanted to make everyone happy. So at this moment when we are about to lay his body to rest, let’s all think back and remember how Christian touched our lives. How he made us laugh and how good Christian was as a person. This is not the moment for us to shed our tears but we should all be thankful that we were given the chance to have known a man named Christian.

Christian will forever be missed but I know in the right time, I will meet Christian again. We will all meet him again and he’ll greet us with the same warm smile that he always has.