Conclusion

Well here we are at the end of the quarter... it's been quite a run, huh? In the spirit of closure, I suppose I'll reflect a bit on what we've learned about philosophy in class this quarter.

So first of all, the main point of everything. EVERYTHING. Philosophy's goal is NOT to determine what is TRUTH. Philosophy is merely trying to clarify the MEANING behind ideas and events in life. If philosophy does its job correctly, what we end up with is not truth but meaning. When we ask "why do we say and do what we say and do," hopefully we are able to find the meaning (or I suppose another word might be intent) behind what we say and do.

So where is the truth to be found then? Science? Certainly not. Pretty much everything in science is a working definition. I like how one of the readings from this week put it. Something about how what we do in science is merely the best available application of our knowledge [until further discovery and progress can expand our knowledge and increase the range of its application anyway].

What about religion, then? I mean, since everyone keeps turning back to religion, maybe that's where truth is? But then we have religions that can't agree. Islam vs. Christianity, for example. Of course you can't say "well everyone is right in their own way" (i.e. 'pluralism') because once any two parties claim contradicting viewpoints as Islam and Christianity do, then it follows that only one or possibly neither may be the bearer of truth. So if pluralism isn't plausible, then that suggests there is only one truth (or perhaps no truth at all-- but I shudder to think of the implications of that proposition). One could also suggest that truth can be accepted by faith, but faith can easily be misplaced. For example, children have faith in the existence of Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny, but their faith alone doesn't somehow create the [physical] existence of these entities. (Although it could be argued that faith can create some kind of conceptual, or in God's case metaphysical existence, yet faith alone seems to have no bearing on the realm we interact with most, that is the physical one.)

So we know or at least we think we know the workings of the physical realm thanks to science, but we know there are other aspects of life not physical in nature. As was pointed out in class, we have studies in music and literature, law and sociology, etc. These fields are not affected by physics, and yet they are important in that they affect our everyday lives. But even knowing that there are important ideas beyond science does not get us any closer to the truth.

At the beginning of the quarter, I was hoping to learn new truths about the world. I found out that that's not philosophy's real goal. But despite that, I still feel a deep desire to know truth. As of yet, I still have no means to find it... not in philosophy, not in science, and not even in religion either (it's more of a faith thing than 'knowledge' of truth). But if nothing else, philosophy has granted me the tools to understand the meaning behind the workings of the world, and for that much I am grateful. Well, it's been a good quarter, and I've gotta say I really enjoyed this class. I will try to keep the lessons I've learned and apply them as often I as remember. So to you, philosophy class, I bid you "adieu."

Fin.