Before taking Intro To Philosophy my knowledge of philosphy did not consist of much. I thought it was mainly asking questions and playing with the idea of religious, that I knew. Now I know the history of a few philosophers and their principles they've developed based on their views of life like Kant, John Locke, Hume, Sartre, Descartes. I can now label each philospher with his view; these people are not just names anymore but I can identify what they stood for. I enjoyed the class discussions on freedom of the will versus fate. I understood and took in a lot from class but it did not really change my religious views although the information was thought provoking. One thing that stood out to me was the concept of doing good--we do good selfishly. We do good only because it feels good to do so and without this inner satisfaction we would not do so. I explained this concept to my boyfriend and he shed even more light on the subject, arguing that of COURSE if makes us feel good, doing anything has an effect on our attitude or emotion and it's natural that we would do something that makes us feel good or gives us pleasure, we wouldn't naturally do something that makes us feel bad. Doing good just happens to make us feel good.
It is in this way that I found this concept interesting and I did take some knowledge from class that I will continue to apply. I will continue to ask questions and be curious; not simpy take in information and automatically assume it correct. I will be skeptical. I will challenge views but I have always been an open minded person so when I listen to other peoples beliefs or values, I listen with open ears and put aside all judgements. Philosophy class was thought provoking and proved to be an insightful class.
