WEEK ONE: Traditional Philosophy
Philosophy

WEEK ONE: Traditional Philosophy


TEXT: THE LIFE OF PYTHAGORAS
Pythagoras once stated, "...the purest and most geniune character is that of the man who devotes himself to...beautiful things." He basically was talking about himself because he has left a lasting influence on this world. His Pythagorean Theorem, a2+b2 = c2, lead to more innovations math. Math has enabled us to understand life problems. Math would not have been as advanced with out Pythagoras.
He was a geniune character because he was well respected. He had many followers. Cenobites and Hearers ranked him with Pythagoras with the Gods. He was against greed. He rather help others before he helped himself; his work in mathematics and religion showed how he wanted to teach others new findings of his.

Related Websites: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pythagoras/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagorean_theorem

TEXT: HOW DID SOCRATES DIE?
Socrates was wrongly put to death. The charges brought against Socrates were not about him murdering someone. They were lesser charges. They were ignorant charges. He had the right to express himself. In those times, You could not object against the State. He was killed for expressing his opinion.
There was evidence that the charges were outragious. For example, The first charge-he did not believe in the gods recognized by the State- was untrue. He conformed to religious customs and believed in God. However his defense did not work in his trial. He was sentenced to die by drinking poisonous hemlock. This man did not cry bout his death sentence. I praise him for his courage and faith. Socrates believed after death, he would pass to a better and happier life.

FILM: EITHER/OR
I agree with the idea of Existentialism. The philosophy that human life is not fully satisfying is true. Soren Kierkegaard stated "do it or do not do it--you will regret both." The statement means that no matter what you do, your decisions in life will always have something negative attached to it. Throughout life, you have to deal with suffering and loss. Nobody has the "perfect" life. Jean Paul Sartre stated "Everything has been figured out, except how to live." There is no right way to live life.
Existentialists believe that people do not have individualism because they become followers of people in power.This is true because people in society have to follow laws and rules. People can not be fully themselves because there is always a law or rule than dehumanizes.
Website of Related Interest: http://www.allaboutphilosophy.org/existentialism.htm

FILM: Nietzsche's Myth of Eternal Recurrence
There are some pros and cons to eternal recurrence. I would like to live with eternal recurrence for the simple fact you get to relive the good moments you had during life. You dont remember the fact that you are reliving the same life over again when the recurrence happens. Your life can not get worse in the next recurrence is a positive.
The cons of eternal recurrence is the fact you have to relive the negative moments you had during life. I would hate to have to deal with the death of someone I love over and over again. I would hate to have to repeat my life all over again. I like change. Living the same life over and over again would irritate me. The fact you can not improve your life when you are reborn again is another negative.
Website of Related Interest: http://eternal-recurrence.com/

FILM: The Limits of Science: Illuminated Ideas in 56 seconds
"The limit of our skull is the limit of our understanding" stated by Neuralsurfer. We do not know anything, truthfully. Our ideas are based on theories. We place the blame for why things work this or that way on religion and, or science. We truly do not know what is out there in the universe. Our brains can only process and understand so much.
We will never know the entirety of everything around us. We can not 100% state why Earth and the universe was formed. All we can do is make educated guesses on why things are this way. We live in darkness just living day by day in mystery about life.

FILM: The Emergence of Rationality: Wisdom in 56 seconds
The narrator rejects rationality. He does not like the fact people use reason and science to understand life. He believed mythology was a better idea for how people should live life. Anaragozas began rationality with his thought that the Sun was not a sun but a hot stone. I am thankful for Anaragozas. Mythology is simply "make believe." It was misleading for people who lived in ancient times because they believed everything was a God.
Present technology does not reduce one to be a specimen. Technology gives us a better understanding of life and allows us to get a better fulfillment out of it. If we need to know an answer, we can just hop on the computer and found out in the minimum of seconds.




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