About Philosophy What is philosophy?

I am a nerd. I just happen to be an ignorant nerd. So when I started reading this textbook About Philosphy, I just had to take some serious notes. You've been warned. I've never taken a philosophy course in my life, so this is all fresh for me.

First thing I noticed from reading this book, is that the author/professor writes in a very conversational manner. Philosophy is defined as "the love of wisdom. Philosophy is the systematic, critical examination of the way in which we judge, evaluate, and act, with the aim of making ourselves wiser, more self-reflective, and therefore better men and women." Socrates believe that the main hindrance to wisdom is the unwillingness to admit that we still have more to learn.

I can't deny the fact that I find Socrates to be a pretentious d-bag. Socrates’ line of questioning is deceptive, rude, and self-elevating. He starts off with false-humility and uses it to corner his opponent. How then can he pretend to impart wisdom when he himself has so little? He claims to be benefiting others by forcing them to think more about their own beliefs, but in fact, HE is the one benefiting by puffing himself up at the other person’s expense. If he does in fact have wisdom and yet refuses to impart that to others, is he not withholding good? He says that every man must find truth for himself, but it is Socrates’ assumed truth. What is so beneficial in deflating the egos of others?

Wolff claims that “philosophers are, above all else, seekers after unity.” How can this be so, when we see the discord Socrates brought about? Even if his purpose was to reach unity only after tearing down the assumptions and building togetherness through critical questioning, this presupposes that he himself was willing to be torn down and rebuilt. Unless I’m missing some crucial evidence, I don’t see him ever allowing himself to be the victim of his system. If this was his goal, he ultimately failed. If they’re seeking an “underlying oneness”, it must be ignorance. Because according to them, this seems to be the only thing we all have in common.

According to the stoic philosophy, logos is the power of reason. Logos is also identified as God (or as Biblical scholars might say, the “word of God”). How then would God embody the “power of reason”? Logos is also identified as the power of reason within all human beings. Could this then (according to stoic philosophy) be what God meant when He said “let us make man in our image”? Is this power to reason, the godly part of us? Emperor Marcus Aurelius seems to believe this, although his concept of God certainly did not coincide with Judeo-Christian tradition.

For there is one universe made up of all things, and one God who pervades all things, and one substance, and one law, one common reason in all intelligent animals, and one truth…

What role then did the tree of the knowledge of good and evil play?

Although each chapter contains study questions, I'll spare you all the misery of seeing the inner workings of my mind. More to come.

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