While things are going relatively well, people in
general accept life the way it usually happens, choosing to avoid the
complicated philosophical questions on the subject of why things are the way
they are.
The difficulties and obstacles that we face every day during the
normal course of all events are directly related to the many material, emotional or spiritual problems: the
same old and familiar thoughts
that have always worried human minds.
However, philosophical problems in our lives are
not obvious or self-evident, they are often silent; and nevertheless they are ever present at every thinking moment, constantly influencing
our personal opinions.
So, without thinking much about it, people are going on with their own lives, as if philosophical problems were just non-existing, with no interest at all in philosophy...
It is only at moments of discouragement and the negativity of hardship times, people say they accept "philosophically" their own
personal failure.
The individual effort to learn more about
philosophical issues is an endeavor seeking to examine each emerging
idea, and the reward is an access to enriching self knowledge, becoming a very useful skill for the benefit of this person's well-being.
It is the value of the critical, deep logical/rational
thinking tool that enables us to formulate the correct interrogations that bolster the
resolution of philosophical concerns, present and future, aiding in the understanding process and the decision-making of personal worries.
But how do we begin to think about the philosophical
problems? In fact, what
are they?
Many philosophers define questions that are solely philosophical by simply excluding the ones of a different nature, that is, are excluded the questions about science and interrogations
about religion, mysticisms, sociocultural questions, and so on.
Others have interpreted the philosophical
issues as being the quest for a more satisfactory life, a philosophy in search of personal happiness.
Some thoughts and notions about ethics, morality
and political organization are also explained by the philosophers, but to begin an analytical philosophical questioning could be a basic
definition, for starters:
The Sciences offer answers to the questions: - How does it work? What are the natural phenomena we
find around us, what causes them, and what are their effects? How are their processes and mechanisms?
But Religions ask: why things in life
are what they are, what could be their purpose?
Finally, Philosophy asks the question: what is this particular thing or phenomenon in our understanding?
What is the definition, the description and the explanation of this event?
And so we begin
the application of the descriptive critical assessment-reasoning on philosophical issues,
by asking this question:
Do people really understand the things they
think they are able to understand?
Many assumptions and conventions that do not hold
up against a critical review are in fact quite widespread and accepted within the human society, even political positions and personal opinions based on these ideas are often quite
extreme.
If we want to carefully think about how we live and
why a given premise or some opinion might be important to us, then we must ask
this:
Are these arguments sound and solid?
If we know how to extract the doubts and submit
them to criticism and deliberations,
we can use our rational argumentative tool to resolve any impasse in the debate
of ideas. The main function of an analytical philosopher is to clarify
the arguments, to examine all sides of the question and to ask: Why this or that is
important?
The primary objective of analytical philosophy is to
examine all human ideas, beginning with the language employed to express them, and following with the
methodology for reasoning and the critical analysis of the results.
And here lies one philosophical conviction: By means of sound reasoning we are able to attain conclusions that are much better and more truthful than words imposed and accepted without verification.
What am I, the subjective conscious mind? What is Reality?
What is a cause and what is an effect?
What does Science know about the Universe?
What do we know about something and how?
What is spirituality, what is religion?
What is righteous? What is evil?
Wouldn't you like to know it all? Go ahead and ask,
question everything. …The answers?
Well, they will come to you, and without doubt in an
assorted fashion, extending the debates on the topics.
Note, however, that there is no definite solution to a specific
questioning, but rather several options and points of view, and you do not need
to be true to one of the answers, you can always change your mind.
But, to effectively question things is forever important: By considering the problem in depth, the questioning never ceases; it is never stationary,
standing by one reply for long. By working progressively, it will upgrade itself and
improve the answers to the question.
In fact, the philosophical answers are no less
important than their respective questions (The same questions that are always hanging over
our heads like the sphinxes of human knowledge, ready to devour us if we do not
guess the right answer).
But what would be the right answer, among many
possible?
The philosophical sphinxes devour our intellectual peace
of mind, chewing on our thoughts, demanding an explanation for the things in life.
To find for yourself your own answers (those that will
work well for you) is an individual effort, since the answers to the questions
must be shaped by viewpoints and make sense in your head; (you have researched alternative replies and you might wish to modify them in the future, if
necessary).
Just do not lose sight of the original question and
the critical reasoning arguments of the debate at any time.
The inquiries that are free by definition are also open
to a healthy discussion about the issue in question in order to elaborate a
carefully reasoned reply.
The consensus of logical points of view within the general
understanding of the population has built the foundations of Human civilization.
