The Rabbit's Fur: The Fifth Post

Sarah Chamblee

Mrs.Wilhelmus

AP Language

8 August 2013

The Rabbit's Fur: The Fifth Post

                    The philosophy I enjoyed the most was Romanticism. It reminded me greatly of the transcendentalism we were taught about sophomore year. It highly stressed being one with nature would make you one with yourself. Also that art can express more than what a philosopher can tell you. It also said that bringing you closer to nature can also bring you enlightenment. I think I like this chapter so much, just because of the artsy side of it. I do believe than most forms of art can express true feelings and ideas more than words can. That is exactly the type of thing that this type of Romanticism teaches. My favorite part of this chapter/philosophy is when they said that everyone holds the entirety of the universe inside of them. It's just a matter of recognizes it.  

                    My least favorite philosophy was Aristotle's, based solely on the fact that he thinks women are incomplete. That opinion of his is completely absurd. Even with the time period he was in. I already went over why this is ridiculous in a different blog post. I also think Aristotle focused too much on why the things in nature were happening. He never stepped back to enjoy them or use them to his advantage, like the romantics did. Nor did he use them to enlighten himself. He was almost like a scientist trying to figure out why nature is how it is. Aristotle was also Plato's student, but didn't take the good ideas/opinions of Plato and add on to them. It seems like he didn't listen much to Plato, he just went about his own work. Which could have been a good thing, if I thought his ideas were correct. 

                  We finally come to the most important question of this project, I presume. Where do I reside on the rabbit's fur? I've thought about the question a lot since I begin reading this. I would love to say that I am at the edge like a true philosopher, but I am not a true philosopher. I think people who are on the very tip of the fur are taking too much time examining life and end up not actually living it, which is the sad part about true philosophers. My answer is that I am somewhere in the middle. I'm not constantly searching for the point of everything, because I am content with not knowing where everything started, I'm just happy I'm here now. I'm also not completely tucked into the fur, because I do search for more knowledge and more opportunities. I don't settle for mediocre answers. The middle is a place that I think I'd like to be. I also believe I have plenty of time to figure out where I truly belong on the rabbit's fur. 

Kant's Perspective Test

Sarah Chamblee

Mrs.Wilhelmus

AP Language

8 August 2013

Kant's Perspective Test

              This "red tinted glass" experiment is basically saying that your reason weakens you're perspective and makes it smaller. Without our reason we'd be open to more ideas and things, like children and animals. With the perspective you get as you grow older or the so-called "tinted glass", it makes us look for more answers and believe in less things. It limits how we see the world. This is a curse of growing up, I believe. I'd love to keep the child-like perspective but also have the knowledge I have today, so that I could see more things for what they are and also understand them. 

              Kant's experiment ties in with a lot of things from my life actually. I like to look at my life goals in perspective and see which ones are actually obtainable and which ones are not. I will always have the dreams from my childhood of doing amazing things with my life. Growing up puts those tinted glasses of reality on and shows you that some of those things can't happen. I'm a big believer of working for your dreams to become real, but there is a point where it is not possible. The dreams you gain as you grow older are the tinted dreams, the ones you think you can achieve.

               Humans lower the standards of their dreams as they get older because they think they can't reach them. Some people would say that's just growing up. I think that it's blasphemy. If you work hard enough you should be able to achieve anything, I like to think the tinted glasses of  my young adulthood are not too tinted. I like to think that I will never give up on the dreams I believe in or stand for. I've wanted to move to California for as long as I can remember. Logic, the tinted glasses, and every person I meet, doubts this dream or thinks it's idiotic. They either think that or think it's a thing I'll grow out of. I guess you could say that people like to use their lessened perspectives to put down my widened perspective. I like to keep in mind that not everyone wears the same tinted glass. 

Christianizing Philosopher's

Sarah Chamblee

Mrs.Wilhelmus

AP Language

7 August 2013

Christianizing Philosopher's

           This chapter is one of my favorites out of the entire book. St. Augustine christianized Plato just by believing that his ideas were so similar to the Old Testament, almost like Plato had had knowledge of it. St.Augustine didn't start out being Christian, he actually tried different religions before choosing Christianity. He got a good taste of things that were out there. He thought philosophy and Christianity didn't have to be separated. He believed Plato's ideas aligned with what he thought Christianity is.  

            Aquina's is why this is my favorite chapter. He believed that going to church was not the only way to be saved. The fact that he thought there were two ways to salvation is my favorite. He believed that going to church was one way to salvation and having reason and knowledge was another way. He christianized Aristotle with saying that the two's ideas are similar and their ideas solidify each other. Aristotle's ideas support the idea of a God and other ideas in Christianity. Which is why he believed that philosophy did not need to be separated from religion. Philosophy's natural reason went right with Christianity's beliefs, so he was not outcast from any church. 

           In the Middle Ages they shut down Plato's philosophy school, which is why this chapter is surprising to me. Surprising because these two were not exiled from their churches for supporting philosophy. They went through the ideas of separating church and state, which finally ended up happening, It seemed like they would do the same with separating religion and philosophy  These two kept the idea of philosophy alive in these times and that is something I did not know. They are the people who kept the ancient Greek philosopher's ideas alive, instead of letting them get lost in time. 

Philosopher's View on Women

Sarah Chamblee

Mrs.Wilhelmus

AP Language

7 August 2013

Philosopher's View on Women

            As a female, I think Aristotle's view on women is ridiculous. Most women should think the same. The fact that he thinks women are incomplete as human beings and the only reason they exist is to bear a man's child is preposterous. The incomplete part is almost infuriating to me. I understand that this was in times when women were not equals, but men could still support women as humans. At least Plato's opinion wasn't so offensive. I would think that any woman with a bit of self confidence would be angered by his views. Women should be able to anything a man can, or they should at least be given the opportunity to. Also their bodies should be their own, not just used for a man's child or for their pleasure. They shouldn't be forced to have a child with these men who think that women are inferior. Aristotle's view on women is one of my least favorite parts in this book. 

           I think my favorite philosopher's opinion on women was definitely Plato. He thought they were equal with men, that they could be government leaders, and their only use was not child-bearing. He even said that child-bearing was so important it should be handled by the state, not the individual. I think this is very empowering for the time he lived in. He also thought that women had the same brain power and capacity as men. i really appreciate Plato, because he probably influenced some other philosopher's to think the same. His words could still be influencing the people in the women's rights communities today. His opinion is one that I completely agree with. 

          I feel indifferent about how most of the philosopher's in the book are men. Keep in mind that some didn't even have many of their works written down or recorded, let alone have them last years for others to find them. Most of these philosopher's also come from a time when women were not taught to read and write. Therefore even if there were women philosopher's they could not have written down their works. That part does not bother, when you think about the above evidence of why they aren't in the book. Maybe the author included mostly males because he enjoyed their pieces more and thought it fit better. I'm not bothered by the fact that the philosopher's are mostly male. 

Garden of Eden by Sarah Chamblee

Sarah Chamblee

Mrs. Wilhelmus

AP Language

31 July 2013

              Who Are You and What Are You Doing Here

        These two questions are probably the most trivial thing you can ask a teenager. As an adult most people still don't know who they truly are or where the earth comes from. I'm constantly trying to get to who I really want to be. I don't think about who I am. I like to think about who I want to be and how I will get there. I want to be a better person, more honest, less judgmental , less lazy, and etcetera . To me, it's all about becoming a better you or a better person. But, to answer who I am right now it takes a lot of deliberation to figure out what I'd like to say about myself. 

           The basics being that I'm a sixteen year old girl, but really how much does that say about me. The real me, would be someone who is honest and cares about people she doesn't know. A girl who doesn't feel right in her own skin, but most teenagers are at this stage right? Trying to be comfortable with themselves and who they are. I guess you could say that's where I'm at. Back to the point, I'm a person who already knows where they want to be when they graduate and I have my goals set. Nothing will stop me from achieving these goals, so you could say that I'm determined. I'm one of those people that is wise for how old they are. I wouldn't say wise, maybe experienced or cultured are better words. I'm not one of the people that has lived here their entire life, I've been all over the world and plan to keep seeing more. Seeing death at a young age is part of me too, I'm pretty understanding when it comes to that kind of thing. I can sympathize with a lot of people in a lot of situations. I like to think these things describe me, but I also know that there is much more to me than just the written word. 

       This is the part that I'm worried about. The "Where Did the World Come From?"part is a little different for me. I also know that my opinion is going to be very different than most of my classmates and judgement could very well happen, but here we are. I don't identify with a religion, so my answer is not God or any all powerful-being. My answer is also not Satan, contrary to popular belief. I wouldn't say that I believe in the big bang, but I bet it probably is something to do with science. I think the universe has been around for way longer than any of us or any of this. Why calculate it all down to it just being one thing that created it all. To be honest my answer to the initial question is I don't care. Not in the typical teenage I don't care. I mean that we're here now so why does it matter how we got here. I'm a big believer in living in the now and not worrying about the past. The world's here now, so that's pretty awesome right? Why do we have to have debate about how it got here, when we could be changing the world right now? That's just me and my silly opinions.