Understanding Philosophy in The Modern World

All I know, when it comes to philosophy, I always get that impression or message from people that you have to strengthen your faith because you’re going to be questioning every single thing in the world, even your own religion. With the term philosophy itself it may or may not have been already a pretty intimidating subject for me at first glance. Personally, I think the topics of philosophy and the learning that comes along with it is always has been a study about why we think what we think.

And that already sounds confusing.

But as I go along with the lectures about philosophy I began to understand about what that particular subject actually covers. The topics discussed are about “the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence,” a legit quote that I got from one of the lectures in the university. It is basically saying that we should all question the things we know all about the world, why do we think it that way, and how does those knowledge or concepts were first constructed in our minds, even how we identify the ethics or grasping the idea on what is “right” and what is “wrong”.

For me, the study of philosophy has opened my eyes wider to become more sensitive and aware about issues that are happening in the world, and to be more critical when it comes to receiving new information. But to see philosophy through my own eyes—honestly speaking—is still very blurry to me because I haven’t mastered the whole idea of that subject. Thus, here I am wanting—needing to learn that. 

Now with the help of the Internet, we can say that we have no limitation in terms of gaining knowledge anymore. The perfect example would be this; I came across a couple of essays that talks about the issues of philosophy, one of them that intrigued me the most was one that discusses the meaning of life itself. “Does life have a meaning?” the title says. I was too overwhelmed with the terms and the language used as the author relates sciences, theories of the great philosophers, and the basic knowledge of life itself, how the author thoroughly discusses about what may constitute life, and how he questions everything and just mainly throwing every bit of information that almost made me claw my eyes out when reading it.

I was able to access those essays so easily in just a type away. And that clearly helps studying, particularly in philosophy. Knowing that we have limitless access of information can sometimes make you very glad to be living in this era.

Speaking of the online world, I also had the chance to watch a video that talks about philosophy in the modern era. How we have the Internet that can connect us all over the globe, how it able to create communities that constitutes people coming different parts of the planet that contributes in storing their opinions and thoughts about the world. I also think the speaker of the video made a great point about having the online world as a door for us to take part in the society. How it enables us to connect and share knowledge with one another.

And that plays an important part in studying any philosophical studies. So I do expect a lot in this particular subject that I get to learn, who knows, maybe I get to be a philosopher in the future, without the beard of course.