Significance of Philosophy in Modern Times

“Wonder is the feeling of a philosopher, and philosophy begins in wonder.” – Socrates

At its core, philosophy is characterized by having a sense of wonder embedded in the way a person utilizes his insight –the ability to see intelligibly with the mind.  With sense of wonder, one is going to develop critical and reflective thinking.

Critical and reflective thinking becomes more and more difficult to do these days.  We live in a fast-paced society.  We run after every tick of the clock to beat deadlines and achieve things or goals on our set dates.  “Time is gold,” as the saying goes.  The speed by which we pace and live our lives today is very unwelcoming to any form of reflection (Sioco & Vinzons, 2016).  We are much preoccupied with individual achievements.  We forget to ask basic existential questions such as “Who am I?” or “What is the meaning of life?”

Moreover, our society is often labeled as “information” and “technological.”  With modern gadgets like cell phones, tablets connected in the World Wide Web, the volume of available information and entertainment on the internet and mass media consume most of our waking life.  Eventually, we become a passive recipient of information.  We don’t process such information because of “information overload” –the information we get from the net is too much for us to think critically and reflectively. 

The modern information-technological world deadens our sense of wonder.  Without any sense of wonder, we lose any sense of what is exactly life meant to be.

Insight: A Way of Philosophizing

As mentioned above, it is rather helpful to do philosophy rather than define it.  Doing philosophy is a good introduction to the course, Introduction to the Philosophy of Human Person.  To do so is not giving injustice to those great philosophers who were able to produce great systems of thought --now known (or, misconstrued) as Philosophy.  Also, the students deserve to know these systems of thought.  However, at the beginning of the course, it is better to let students be familiar with the business of doing philosophy.  In doing so, it's like "teaching them how to fish and not giving them fish."  This is, I think, the main objective of this course: for students to learn how to do philosophy and not give them all the systems of thought in the history of philosophy.  To give students all about philosophy is impractical because it's impossible for them to digest them all in one semester.  What is practical is for students to learn how to do philosophy.  

Ferriols (2001) suggests that playing with one's in-sight is a way of doing philosophy.  Take note: it's not the only way but one of the ways of doing philosophy.  At this stage, it is safe to associate insight with thinking.  As rational beings, we all have the capacity to think.  The crucial element of thinking is insight, which is a kind of see-ing with the mind (Ferriols, 2001).  The act of seeing with the mind is entirely different from seeing using the eyesight.  These acts of the eyesight and of the mind are cumulative, though.  As Aristotle would claim, nothing enters the mind without passing through the senses.  Aside from the eyesight, other senses like hearing, touching, smelling, and tasting provide the sensible to the act of understanding.  From the sensible, conceptualization (or the act of understanding) is able to "see something" intelligibly using a "concept" or an "idea" the external reality as represented by the sensible (Potter, 1994).  This is the stage of the whole process of knowing, which we call "in-sight."  The role of "concept or idea" is very important in playing with insight because this concept mirrors the external reality.  In other words, it is only with this "concept or idea" that a knower is able to understand (or see intelligibly) the external reality.  In deeper analysis, insight is not simply seeing with the mind but seeing intelligibly with the mind.  The act of seeing intelligibly with the mind is the challenging part in playing with one's insight.  However, there are two ways to counter this challenge: conceptual analysis and metaphor.  Conceptual analysis is an analysis by abstraction.  It helps clarify the "concept."  As mentioned above, the concept "mirrors" the external reality as represented by the sensible.  Analysis by abstraction sharpens the focus of the concept to have an "exact mirroring" of the external reality.   Metaphor, on the other hand, is made by comparing two things.  For example, Homer made a metaphor of this insight: “As the generation of leaves, so the generation of men” (Ferriols, 2001).  One portion of reality (leaves) casts light on another (men).  By contemplating the fall and return of leaves, we also understand the rhythm of the generation of men.

In summary, insight is a kind of seeing "intelligibly" with the mind.  You alone can do it.  Nobody can do it for you; I can help you see the insight though.  Some insights are so deep that they cannot be exhausted.  It takes another insight to understand another insight, like the metaphor of Homer.  Insight brings us to the very heart of reality –the reality is deep and unfathomable.

Class Activities: Philosophy can best be exercised when one is playing with insight.  Insightful activities can happen in many different ways.  Let the students engage in these activities to elicit insights from them, as follows:

1. Picture Analysis [click]
2. Song Analysis [click]
3. Analysis of philosophical insight [click]