Philosophy Now Forum

Hello my name is Letty I currently live in florida. I started college a year ago after waiting for so long ,and now Im actively taking a philosophy class that I don't know how to get a grip on .this has been the most difficult class I've taken .what can I do to better understand this subject? Please help! I really need to pass this class thanks.

Philosophy is about learning how to think and reason in a logical manner about questions which usually have no definite answer like why are we here? What is the purpose of human life? If I am here, and I am conscious am I the universe? Is there a God? Is the universe eternal? What happens when we die? Is there anything more powerful than God other than Chuck Norris? If God made a microwave pizza that was so hot even he could not eat it would he order take out and watch Oprah? If God is omnipotent and omniscient, and omnibenevolent why does he have a red phone secure line to Chuck Norris? Chuck Norris doesn't do push ups, he just bench presses the world? Could God beat Chuck Norris at chess, to which the answer is: no Chuck Norris already won before God moved the first pawn. How do we define a table, how do we define define and how then can we define that? Have you ever danced with the Devil in the pale moonlight? Is wikipedia omniscient if so is Google God?

What is consciousness, is there a soul, who put the bop in the bop shoo wop shoo bob, and hence who put the ram in the ramma lama ding dong? Assuming that someone did who put the dip in dit shoo dit shoo did.

No one can really teach you how to reason well its a subjective endeavour but you can gain a firm grounding by reading already existent philosophers such as Dennet, Plato, Nietzsche and so on.

Hey, Letty!

Am I right in guessing that you are a mature student? Been out of school a while and lost the mind-set?
As to that, remember: It's only school - not life. It's time out of the world, and you don't have to be there*. While marks and credentials are important, they're only as important as you make them: nobody will actually die if you answer incorrectly. Take a little of the pressure off!

Philosophy is eternal school: the occupation of grown men (and a few women) who either can't, or choose not to, live in the practical world. Put one of them on a desert island and he might do very well. Put six of them on a desert island and they'll starve to death, arguing over how best to survive. None of them has the one true answer or the single Perfect Idea, though they may all have some passably good ideas. Your job as a student is to understand their ideas, learn how to summarize those ideas in the very short space of a test, and present the rights and wrongs of them in a debate.

To this end: 1. Be very, very careful of your language. Use words that mean precisely what you intend. When writing essays, watch those capitals and punctuation marks, too: each one has a definite function. Make sure, also, that you read what's actually on the page, not any cultural and emotional associations you might have formed - and read no more than is written; do not assume, extrapolate, transfer or project onto the text any attitudes the author didn't put there.

2. Cheat. No, not in any dishonest way. Just by reading a layman's summary or synthesis of the material. There is some quite accessible literature, like the Oxford Companion to Philosophy, and 50 Philosophy Ideas You need to know That's from a series of little books. How they came up with exactly 50 in each category, I don't know... suspect they're not all equally important.) There is a ton of stuff available on internet video, as well, including this http://www.justiceharvard.org/ series, just to show you that Harvard students aren't all that sharp, either. If you follow along and formulate your own questions and answers, I bet real life experience will give you an edge over those kids.

3. Relax. Don't let them intimidate you. Anything a smart sixteenth century man could posit, a smart 21st century woman can comprehend.

(* You could do worse for a personal mantra than "I choose this.")

smartagent wrote:Hello my name is Letty I currently live in florida. I started college a year ago after waiting for so long ,and now Im actively taking a philosophy class that I don't know how to get a grip on .this has been the most difficult class I've taken .what can I do to better understand this subject? Please help! I really need to pass this class thanks.

When starting out sometimes it is easier to approach philosophy from the point of view of themes rather than individual philosophers.
For example, cause and effect universals and particulars, substances and properties.

Approaching the problem from the point of view of a theme can give some insight into the philosophical tradition of the time. Philosophers to tend to explore problems associated within a tradition.

smartagent wrote:Hello my name is Letty I currently live in florida. I started college a year ago after waiting for so long ,and now Im actively taking a philosophy class that I don't know how to get a grip on .this has been the most difficult class I've taken .what can I do to better understand this subject? Please help! I really need to pass this class thanks.

You'll might not find any answers in philosophy, try psychology.

HexHammer wrote:

smartagent wrote:Hello my name is Letty I currently live in florida. I started college a year ago after waiting for so long ,and now Im actively taking a philosophy class that I don't know how to get a grip on .this has been the most difficult class I've taken .what can I do to better understand this subject? Please help! I really need to pass this class thanks.

You'll might not find any answers in philosophy, try psychology.

Psychology Hex, a very weak science, you wont find answers there per se although I do not disparage it, it is a very new science and a very odd science that is more art than science.

Philosophy does not give answers hex it is not in its remit it just gives how you might logically or by reason explain an argument. Philosophy is more about how and why you reason than about the ultimate result of what you have reasoned, fact is science does fact and evidence, philosophy: if it is sound does how you do reasoning an argument and logically deduce a conclusion, and how you propound to make it into any argument right or wrong. Such a thing is not as worthless as you claim hex, such a thing is what all reason and knowledge is based on. Cozy chat it might be, but it is not a useless art form, you say what it is and complain about it so often, but it is what it is, you either like it or you don't, but it is just that.

My guess is, she doesn't need that kind of answers - she needs enough correct test answers to get the credit, so she can move on to the subject she really wants to study.