Re: Re: The Rise of Philosophy

["James Alexander Cunningham" <0203734C@student.gla.ac.uk>]

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I took an A-Level in Religious Studies (Philosophy and Ethics) about six years ago now. In all honesty it was very soft stuff, although usually better than “Is Bush a good president?” which is hardly a philosophical question. 

I only bring it up because I found a folder of my old essays the other day. They reminded me of the time I made someone cry during a discussion of the teleological argument for the existence of God. Ahhh, halcyon days.

Anyway, as the reasons usually given for studying philosophy being flippant, especially “it teaches you to think”. I challenge anyone to come up with an accurate one-sentence summary of any academic discipline (apart from engineering and things: “you learn how to build bridges”, and anyway they hardly count.). “What is philosophy?” is still an active debate, so it is hardly surprising that any good answer of the question “why study it?” will be very long and convoluted. I think my best answer would be “Um, I don’t know.”

X 

James




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