Reflection:

Since the last post I've been able to think about philosophy a lot more. Learning about Aristotle and Plato and their ideas was interesting because I could see how their philosophies influenced other people and things. When we watched Source Code, I was able to see how it was an allegory to Plato's prisoner in the cave idea. When Captain Stevens was in the capsule, it was like the prisoner only seeing shadows in the cave. as he works Goodwin into finally telling him what's going on, it's like the prisoner walking out of the cave, being blinded by the sun but not completely out yet. Eventually when he finds out what's really happening to him, it's like the prisoner finally escaping the cave and being blinded by the truth. He didn't want to accept it at first, just like the prisoner was accustomed to seeing shadows and not things in such detail.

Connections:

When we talked about the Hellenic philosophers, it was cool to see what kind of philosophies you fell under and for what reason. I especially found it interesting how the meaning of cynicism changed from when it was thought up to now, from more of a monk point of view to a distrust of everything. Seeing how Cicero thought about the different Hellenic philosophies was a good way to dissect each one, such as how he thought skepticism was useless unless it was intellectual curiosity. I enjoyed talking about Saint Augustine's ideas and how they worked into weather or not we believed in a soul because it made me think about why I think we do instead of just we have one because we do. The more we get into philosophy the easier it is to understand how things in the world work with those ideas

Reflections and Connections

Reflection:

Sophie's world so far is a very interesting book. I like the way Sophie's encounters with the philosopher give information like a textbook would, but it makes it more interesting because you're thinking about the story at the same time you're getting the information. I feel like the philosopher is like Socrates in the way that he asks Sophie questions, and then questions her answers. I'm not really sure what Sophie is an allusion to, she might be like a sophist but I don't think she believes that she knows everything like they did. It's a little odd that the philosopher doesn't want Sophie to meet him unless it's on his terms, and he's using Hermes to transport the letters to her. It's pretty cool that the dog is named after the messenger god because he's the philosopher's messenger to Sophie. I think soon that Sophie will meet the philosopher, because he's shown her who he is in the video, so it seems like they might meet up in the near future.


Connection:

Philosophy can be applied in the real world in more ways than I had originally thought. Socrates's methods of Socratic irony are used in media a lot to express flaws in someone's arguments or ideas. Democritus and his ideas of atoms making up all living things are used every day in science. I like how if you know what to look for you can spot the ideas of philosophers a lot. Plato's ideas of forms are showcased in the example of beauty. Like he said, beauty has one form that can be interpreted many different ways. While the fashion industry might see one side of it, other people might see it in a different way. To each person, beauty is an individual idea, but it's all based off of the concept of the form of beauty that always stays the same.