What is Philosophy Essay Example for Free

What is Philosophy EssayUpon reading the opening chapter of Cahns, Exploring Philosophy An Introductory Anthology, I was in a flash drawn in by the opening statement from Beardsley and Beardsley The study of philosophy is unlike the study of any other subjectThe only prerequisite is an communicate mind (Cahn, 3). For a science major, my first reaction is excitement, for there is no need to memorize dates, formulas, or rules (Chan, 3). As I continued reading however, I start to think to myself what I believe it humbles to take a philosophy course?My definition of taking a philosophy course is I would be studying the ideas of ones thoughts, thoughts, morals, religion, and any other stereotypical philosophical description. However, thanks to the definition provided, when broken down, the word philosophy is of Greek ascendent and literally means, the love of wisdom (Cahn, 3). What does that even mean? Throughout the opening chapter, both authors try to dissect, analyze, and exa mine these ideas of philosophy and philosophical questions for readers, like myself, to gain a better understanding for exploring such a concept.Still, how do I truly know that I have reached such an answer? There are threesome chief benefits that the authors provide, that are to be derived from the study of philosophy. The first being, change magnitude clearness in your own beliefs (Chan 10). For me, I believe this statement to be construction that I must truly be sure as shooting that what I hold to be true is in fact true to me. The second is, increased authorisation that your beliefs are reasonable (Cahn, 10).So to my understanding, now that I believe that such a fact is true, I must also make sure that it is reasonable. What does it mean for something to be reasonable? Reasonable has a broad, but definite, meaning here a reasonable belief is simply a belief for which a well behaved reason can be given. Reasonable beliefs are logically justifiable (Cahn, 3). Okay, so if I put this in my own words, it means that this fact that I hold to be true, must also have some sort of good purpose for it to hold such meaning.The third and last benefit is, increased consistency (Cahn, 11). Because there are so many questions one can ask that can force us to contradict most anything, this third belief to me is saying that, with consistency, there may be a possibility of coming to an actual answer or an agreement of such facts or ideas. Not sure if I cleared up what philosophy means to me, or if I confused myself more. Hopefully I do not confuse you either.I wrote on this first reading, because it really captured my attention in that, sometimes we as humans do philosophical persuasion and questioning though we may not ever so be aware of it. Whether we are questioning some sort of fact out loud, or internally we are participating in philosophical view (Cahn, 7). Therefore, it is important to understand what this term philosophy means. I am excited for this cours e to explore many ideas and to uncover/discover such conceptual thinking and ideas that I may not be aware of, through the readings and discussions we will be holding in class.