We're limited beings living tiny lives of ignorance.
In this class we will ask ‘what is philosophy?’ in the hopes of defending the importance of this discipline for the individual and society. In this endeavor we shall trek through the history of philosophy while unpacking some of the major issues and problems in metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, logic and politics. Furthermore we will address the perennial problems of the good life, personal identity, authenticity and social responsibility.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Infinity and Ignorance
In the discussion about the existence of God, we examined God being the cause of the earth and universe's existence. It seems that the concept of God exists as an unfolding of questions, and though some philosophers may argue that God must be the end to this line of questioning, the ultimate cause, I'm not convinced that this is so. I feel like that understanding of God assumes that what we know and can conceive of knowing is all that exists. Yet, throughout my college journey I have had the concepts of the fourth and further dimensions and infinity thrown at me. These exist as concepts, because, maybe, our human minds can't see more than the idea of it. I have had infinity explained to me as being a book, that no matter even if you put a marker in between the pages, you'd never be able to get back to the page that you had been to before. Crazy, right? I'm inclined to believe in these concepts, I think part because I find them rather thrilling, but they are exhausting. If applied to our questioning and knowledge, if infinity exists, there is no end to the questioning. What's the point of knowing if there's no end, no complete knowledge? And, in the sense, if we can never know everything we're always in a degree of ignorance compared to the infinity of knowledge that exists.
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