Help! about philosophy, can you explain the following sentences,according to your philosophy or others' phil.

Question

"Philosophy is a lifelong attempt to make a personal answer to a personal answer to a personal question through a personal struggle. Philosophizing, however, is not only personal; it is, at the same time, communal. The search for truth always involves a tension between a sense of knowledge and a sense of ignorance." or you can just explain it the way you understand it.

Answer 1

I sort of like that definition right there, although I think you added a few extra words...

"Philosophy is a lifelong attempt to make a personal answer to a personal question through a personal struggle."

I do agree, however, that philosophy benefits from being shared and debated with others, to create a cognitive tension to force you to engage in a struggle to come to a personal understanding.

Answer 2

If you go about explaining things just the way you understand them, then that would be simple, wouldn’t it? But a closer look reveal some more fact about this apparently simple statement, first of all, you might like to ask – is it easy to understand? For any understanding entails forming of opinions about things, as opinions are what the entire body of intellectual knowledge is made up of. The process of forming valued opinions about all things, and especially about things of mutual interest that are open to common conjecture and speculations, is by no means easy; or at least as easy as taking your chance to express them. If your opinions are not accepted as educated, authentic and reliable then you have not succeeded in your efforts to explain things away, as you understand them. The way you understand things is, in the end, of no consequence if you are unable to make other people understand what you do yourself. The question I have in my mind is - is it easy to explain something away to someone?

And when it comes to the ‘tension’ caused between ‘a sense of knowledge and a sense of ignorance, we can never know how much we know, or what exactly is it that we know, or need to know. We are never certain about the unsettling boundaries between our knowledge and the great unknown beyond. The cure, the treatment or the remedy for this ‘tension’ is that all our knowledge is relative, and most communal in its development. If for example most people think something to be true, that thing may or may not be actually true, however it is a fact as a common knowledge or a common believe and that is in truth. It has never been easy to shake exiting opinion and introduce new one in place. The entire stretch of the history of human knowledge is written with such struggles. If I live I a society where most people believe in the existence of God then I will benefit from this fact that might actually not be true. I personally will never be able to see intellectually if it is true or not, but by the virtue of common observation of the common belief as a certain fact I see a proof in the existence of God.

And now we come to the most fallacious part of your sentence that is ‘philosophy is a lifelong attempt to make a personal answer to a personal answer to a personal question through a personal struggle’, one cannot be more wrong than this. The fact is that philosophy is never a name of mere personal pursuit for truth, as nothing ever is. Development of human mind is not a process leading up exclusiveness, on the contrary the wider is the reach of human mind the more inclusive it get of the things in its observation. So much so that I do not know myself, I do have opinion about my own self if I do not take into consideration all that exists around me. May be in the beginning all searches start a personal endeavours but no sooner one takes the first step in the direction of an objective it no longer remains personal, but most essential communal.

Answer 3

i agree but it is communal to an extent.because philosphy is basically pure thought combined with known facts and common sense.i mean anyone can do it but the one that appeals to the higher percentage of a crowd is the most respected.i mean if you sit down and actually try to make since of some things you might go crazy but then again we all are a little crazy were actually the only ones who arent crazy everyone else is, because they are so addicted to this so called reality they arent willing to look at whats right in front of them.well srry i drifted off there for a bit you question made me think like all questions.so there you go in full detail my mind scatter brained with irrelevent beliefs now dig up the meaning, and make your own .see communal but just with what you agree with and dropping what you use to.

Answer 4

many of the standard philosophical structures are not "observed" by all and sundry, they are utilized to particular problems. even in spite of the shown fact that, I adhere to the philosophy of Wittgenstein because of the fact it places the emphasis on examining consumer-friendly language. for my area, maximum confusions in daily existence arise because of the fact of a misuse of language and words. occasion: A accuses B of 'libel' because of the fact the different individual wrote him a foul observe. no longer so. To be 'libel' the accusation has to have been made to a minimum of another 0.33 party, C

Answer 5

well one must understand the nature of philosophy..

it usually is one man..asking himself a question..trying to formulate his own answer..

yet this process is universal and holds truth.

it like the comedian that gets up on stage and tells a joke..
perhaps the contents of the joke aren't as funny as the set up..
say he starts off by telling us something like..yesterday I was standing in line at the grocery store and this one guy has more than 10 items in the express lane.
the joke is funny because it holds universal truths/situations we can all relate to.

as we read philosophy, we see the man wrestleing with his problem...struggleing to hammer out it truth.
we see ourselves as this man and yearn to learn the soultions to the problems.
then apply these solutions to our own lives.