Are you ready for the challenge?
What is philosophy?
It literally means the love of wisdom and search for knowledge and there is a very wide area for us to wonder and argue about. Every subject has a philosophical side where there are answers still to be found. Things like:
Aesthetics ( Art and Beauty)
Epistemology (Theories of Knowledge)
Ethics (Morality)
Philosophy of Mind
Philosophy of Religion
Logic
Politics (How our society and political structures are organised)
Nigel Warburton points out “philosophy is not a spectator sport; in order to study it, you have to do it”. Philosophy is for the curious. Have you ever wondered?
Can killing ever be justified?
Why is it morally worse to kill a human than to kill an animal?
Is it acceptable to disobey the government if you disagree with it?
Does the tree in Sharples Park make a sound when there is no-one around to hear it?
Could a machine think?
Does God exist?
Are there conditions in which it makes sense to suppose that where I see red, you see green?
If you havever thought about problems like these then you halready started to philosophise. Philosophy is an intriguing, sometimes frustrating but always fascinating subject.
It makes you THINK !!
News!! Congratulations to the Philosophy class of 2008 on achieving excellent A level results (100% A/B grades)
What are the benefits of studying philosophy?
You will develop transferable skills like the ability to:
Break down really complicated problems into solvable bits
Find creative solutions and think outside the box
Be an independent thinker
Express difficult ideas orally and in writing
Develop good analytic and research skills
Win arguments
Where can philosophy lead?
The skills and creativity of the philosopher are welcomed in many careers such as law, politics, journalism, education.
The skills can be applied far beyond the study of philosophy. If you look at some of the people who have studied philosophy this becomes more obvious. Philosophy has been studied by:
Bill Clinton (ex US president); the Coen Brothers (film directors), Philip K Dick (Sci-Fi author), Harrison Ford (actor), Ricky Gervais (actor & comedian), Matt Groening (creator of the Simpsons), John Paul II (pope); Bruce Lee (actor & martial arts expert); Peter Lynch (successful Wall St Investor), Martin Luther King (civil rights leader), Aung Suu Kyi (political prisoner and democracy activist) to name but a few!!
It is also quite cool to think that your ideas might be argued about centuries later. it worked for Aristotle, Plato, Descartes and John Stuart Mill, why not you?
