Jonathan's paper

YAY! This is a paper Jonathan had to write for his philosophy class. It is totally awesome, HE is totally awesome!!! :D He is sooooooooooooooooooooooo amazing. He's a thinker. *looks proud* Anyway here it is:
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What Is the Purpose of Philosophy?

Why do we have philosophy? Is it so we can talk idle and not ever actually learn anything as some would think? In The Elements of Logic, Simon Blackburn says,"For people who want to think about the big themes: Knowledge, reason, truth, mind, freedom, destiny, identity, God, goodness, justice." This answers the question about why we have philosophy I believe in a very effective way. It states that mankind wants to know about deep theological matters. By our nature we are curious and desire to know the truth. And that's what philosophy is. The search for truth.

Now we realize why we have philosophy. We know that we should understand about the deep theological issues. It is a widely known concept that the more you know about the world and the way things work the better off you will be. When you have knowledge you can often transpose that knowledge into invaluable wisdom. You can know how to ride a bike but if you understand the mechanism then you will know that when the chain comes off the gears you must put it back on before you continue. For one to realize that if he has knowledge he can translate into wisdom and be better off, he is already ahead of the crowd. Take for instance the simple man who always takes things for granted. He isn't interested in engaging his mind in order to have a brighter future. Instead he is interested in knowing as little as possible to get by. Such a man may find himself in an emergency that he would have known how to handle had he engaged his mind in understanding basic concepts on a deeper level. In the same way when we have insights to the deeper spiritual issues it greatly affects the way we live. If a man does not believe in God that will also affect his belief about morality therefore affecting the way he lives. It is absurd for us to think that we can separate our beliefs from our actions. Therefore philosophy has a purpose to find truth and understand why we believe what we believe.

This raises the classic question. What is truth? Since we as humans are often deceived, how do we know truth from falsehood? Is it really possible for an imperfect person to have perfection in all of his views by using philosophy? Is it possible for a human to always believe the truth and never believe a lie? No. Believing a lie is part of our natural habitat, however we must strive to expose the lies and expel them whenever possible. Rene Descartes states, "I shall efface even from my thoughts all the images of corporeal things, or at least I shall esteem them as vain." This makes an interesting point. Decartes is reexamining everything he knows to find any falsehood. This is certainly taking it to an extreme. It is unnecessary to reexamine everything we know. There are things that would be a much wiser use of our time than spending hours and hours and finally concluding that we really do have two hands and if you walk out in front of a car you will get hit and it wasn't just something you imagined. This is foolishness. A man who doubts if he has a hand even though he sees it, and uses it will perhaps never have any spiritual beliefs. For if he cannot believe something physical that he can experience how will he ever believe the truth about God and spiritual matters? The Bible says without faith it is impossible to please God. So what about you? Do you have faith?

In conclusion, there is a time for philosophy. And there is a time to believe and a wise man will know the difference.