Philosophy

My exposure to philosophy was much like the beginning of a good discovery, accidental, and I have become enamoured by it. My enthusiasm for philosophy far outweighs my acquitance with it and I might write things that you disagree with but that is fine. i am writing for myself, to look back and see how far I have come in my understanding and practise of philosophy.

There isn’t a better well to quench the thirst of philosophy than that of Socrates and that’s where I went to start. Very quickly it became clear to me that philosophy and faith are joined at the hip and Socrates appeared to me to be more than a philosopher but also a mystic and prophet. Ironically, he was found guilty and executed for impiety.

I found the relation between philosophy – love of wisdom – and faith intriguing and immediately the Bible verse, “Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.” came to mind. The love of wisdom imminently leads us to God because whatever wisdom is, God has it and man seeks it. In the fiery battle between faith and reason, I side with the medievals agreeing that faith is a precondition for philosophy. I believe that I may understand.

To add onto that, philosophy is a humanity not a science. The distinction is important because sciences progress automatically with new insight obliterating old theories as we develop better measurement tools. In philosophy new ideas are not necessarily better, apparent progress may not be forward.

But what is the point of philosophy ? According to Socrates, it is to know thy self, which involves knowing the nature of humanity and the purpose of human life. This starts with a wonder, followed by a questioning and ends in a deepened appreciation. It is through this questioning that we do philosophy.