Blog #3

Reaction to Sophie's World
         I'm starting to get frustrated and annoyed by Sophie's World. The entire book has been one big cliff hanger and I'm losing patience! I want to know the connection between Hilde and her dad with Alberto and Sophie. Also, why is Alberto still calling Sophie Hilde? Is it purposeful? Although I'm getting annoyed, I have been learning a lot. For instance I have learned about three new philosophers; Descartes, Spinoza, and Locke. Descartes was a lot like Socrates, he knew that he didn't know much. He was the first philosopher of his time to attempt to create a philosophical system that used all known knowledge. He focused mainly on mind/body connection. According to him the mind should rely on reason. Descartes was a major influence on Spinoza, the next philosopher mentioned in this chapter. Spinoza focused heavily on the Bible, reading it deeply and thoroughly. He had a deterministic view of the world, believing God ruled the world through natural law. The final philosopher, Locke, focused on our senses... Are they reliable? He felt we could perceive simple sensations, and that we then build them up, ultimately creating complex ideas.


Applying Philosophy to Real Life
        I was really interested when learning about the three hellenistic philosophical views; epicureans, cynicism, and stoicism. While reading about the three different views of life, I was trying to place myself into one of the categories. I guess I'm somewhat of an epicurean because I do try to "seize the day" or "carpe diem", but I also believe that there is some interference from God, not everything is chance. I would like to be a cynic, not worshiping things or relying on materialistic items for happiness and I try to do so, but there are things, like my phone, buying clothes,etc. that do make me happy and it would behard for me to live without them. I also ocassionally find myself acting like a stoic. Relying on reason, and ignoring my feelings, because sometimes its easier to follow your head (what you should do) rather than your heart (what you want to do). Saying that, I'm also an emotional being, I do let emotions cloud my jusgement at times... but who doesn't? What I discovered is that I don't necessarily fit into of these categories, I'm somewhat of a Hellenistic mutt, a little bit of everything.