INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY

Introduction to Philosophy



Introduction to Philosophy

Statement of Learning Focus

The following essay intends to demonstrate my understanding and comprehension of the subject regarding my course of philosophy. I will write the following essay utilizing my experience and skills that I have acquired by working as an entrepreneur for a gas station 7-eleven, accountant, senior loan officer and hotel manager.

College Course Equivalency

The experience and skills I have acquired by serving on different positions with different companies and by working as a manager has extended my comprehension in understanding the basic concepts of the philosophy. In its personal sense, the term philosophy denotes a particular person's beliefs and presuppositions about the world. The best I learned when I was a senior loan officer. This post really helped me in understanding the customer perception. After gaining the experience I realized that philosophy is that person's worldview or outlook on things. Some believe, for example, that the universe had a beginning and will have an end. Others hold that it always was and will be. At any rate, the notion of worldview was given philosophical currency by the German philosopher Wilhelm Dilthey (CE 1833-1911), who used the German for worldview, i.e. Weltanschauung, to denote a comprehensive view of the universe and of humans' place in it that includes factual beliefs, judgments of value, and ultimate goals.

Working in Hotel make me learn more about the philosophical concept that in its social or group sense, the term philosophy denotes a particular group's predominant beliefs and presuppositions about the world. In attempting to resolve differences in personal outlooks, people sometimes appeal to philosophy in this social sense, i.e. to the philosophy or predominant worldview of a particular church, ethnic group, society, or group of societies. In this social sense, one can talk, for example, of Western philosophy by contrast, say, with East Asian philosophy (Shusterman, 1997).

A group's philosophy can be and often is criticized by members of the group or of other groups in more than one way. Most commonly, the criticism expresses views opposite to those being criticized. Thus, critics thinking that time is linear might simply state this belief in criticizing the views of Hopi Indians in the United States or Aymará Indians in Bolivia who think time is circular. Other times, however, a group's philosophy might be criticized on the grounds that, on a certain matter (say, whether humans are complex physical and chemical systems), the group's philosophy is unclear or silent. In either case, the criticisms indicate the philosophical problem formulated by the question: “What is the right view on these matters?”

One might reject this question, and criticize the philosophies just mentioned and any other attempts at resolving philosophical puzzlements as irrelevant, a waste of time, or a pointless exercise. However, this in itself would be to formulate a philosophy (Wittgenstein, 1958). So, unless one refuses to think about these matters at all, having a philosophy is inescapable.

The best experience in philosophy is gained when I served as accountant and senior ...