it's really hard to pick just one subject as a favourite. I read in economics, history, psychology, science (popular, easy accounts these days) and other areas all the time. They all interest me. But I guess philosophy is still my favourite if I have to pick just one.
I first became interested in philosophy in high school when one of the Catholic brothers introduced me to it. In fact, he was also my maths and physics teacher. I'm not sure why introduced me to philosophy. Perhaps he thought that because I loved science and mathematics I might stop believing in Christianity and that the philosopher he introduced me to would save me. He suggested I read Kierkegaard, a very gloomy Danish philosopher and founder of existentialism, but unlike his existentialist followers such as Jean Paul Sartre, Kierkegaard was a Christian and tried to give solid reasons for maintaining a faith.
It didn't work out as Brother Graham had hoped. I became really interested and read as much as I could from Plato onwards, and that did not help me keep any religious faith. In fact, 73% of professional philosophers are atheists, only beaten by scientists, of whom I think about 80% are atheists. (I need to check this last statistic.)
Wednesday 11 November 2015
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you were young, you were interested in science and mathematics. but why did you
ReplyDeleteThank you Nori, Don't worry about spelling in response writing. We want to practice writing for fluency, not accuracy. As long as the sentences communicate your ideas, that is successful response writing.
DeleteFirst, I was interested in botany because I loved growing things at my family home in the country, and that led to a wider interest in biology, which led me to want to understand how cells worked, which led to chemistry, which led to physics, and under it all was mathematics. (This is the one sentence summary version of how my interest in science and mathematics evolved.)
DeleteWhen I was young this subject alway bores me. However, I changed my mind about it around 4-5 years ago. I think , it is very useful for my life. Almost thais respect in Buddhism same as western they believe in Christianity. Both of religious help people to select the right way when they get some problems.
ReplyDeleteI don't know about Buddhism, but I'm pretty sure that historically Christianity has led people to make very bad decisions and to commit great evils, from the bloody Crusades, to witch hunts and Holy inquisitions.
DeleteI very much like the teachings in Buddhism's Kalama Sutra (กาลามสูตร), which are a healthy basis for academic work, and much, much better than any set of commandments such as the Judeo-Christian Ten Commandments in the Bible.
Your fact is very interesting. Because I've heard that most of lecturer from philosophy department in Thai university is atheist, actually not buddhism. I think that might be a result of modern influence to Thai lecturer, because the critical or skeptical environment is hardly found in Thai culture.
ReplyDeleteI sort of responded to this in my comment above in reply to Pong's comment on my post. I think that the Buddha, although perhaps not many of the political versions of Buddhism, was strongly supportive of critical thinking. I think he would want people to question his own teachings and if he knew what modern science and later thinkers have discovered, he would change his mind about a lot of things such as karma.
DeleteNow I understand why the last term class turned out like that... but I realise that teaching method give me another vision, different from what I have. So, thank you for sharing your knowledge. Actually, (this is from my daughter. She happens to be reading this with me) if looking at the meaning of religion, according to oxford online dictionaries, it is 'A pursuit or interest followed with great devotion', both philosophy and science are a kind of religion. So, saying you are an atheist is not exactly accurate. Atheist should be applied to someone who does not believe in anything at all. And by the way, thank you for opening her mind, I have been trying for years. ;D
ReplyDeleteThanks Na. I think an atheist could also be very religious. I think atheism just means not believing in any god. But the other things that characterize religion can be solidly founded in other ways.
DeleteIf you continue to level 3 next year in AEP, there are some interesting readings in anthropology which talk about the sort of question you raise here, including defining what religion is. I'm always glad to see students thinking carefully about issues and applying ideas in new contexts - that's what academics do.
I believe in a lot of things, but not gods and other supernatural things. And I usually find that I believe in moral values far more strongly than most of my students, who tend to think that morals are only socially accepted customs with no more solid foundation.
Saying you do not believe in any supernatural things, but I wonder how you will explain many things that even science cannot explain? I could consider myself as a none believer, yet sometimes it's so difficult to explain some situation that I've self experienced without resorting to believe in supernatural power.
DeleteI can't explain many things.
DeleteI think the best thing to say in many cases is "I don't know." That seems to me preferable to making up explanations that have no solid supporting evidence or good reasons.
One thing I like about scientists who are experts in their fields is that they are always saying, "We don't know ... ." And it's because they don't know that they look for new knowledge and a deeper understanding. If you think you already have an answer because it's written in an ancient story, there is no reason to look for better answers.
When I've had strange experiences that might have tempted me to believe in ghosts or something, I suspect that the explanation is more to do with my psychological state than anything in the world outside of my head.
I've always remembered one mysterious thing that happened to me when I was about 14 years. I was in bed sick, so my mother left a dim light on during the night. At some time I awoke and saw, very clearly, a golden figure under the light, with peaceful light streaming out from it. It seemed kind, so I wasn't very scared, but I was a bit shocked. As I drifted in and out of my feverish sleep, the figure stayed there as if it was looking over to protect me. I found that thought comforting and eventually fell into a deep, healthy sleep.
When I woke in the light the next morning, I saw that my kindly spirit was a yellow balloon that had come to rest under the light. I think such accidents are often the unknown explanation for mysterious experiences to which we give spiritual or supernatural importance.
After thousands of years of speculation by human beings, the total absence of any good evidence seems to me to count strongly against the reality of any supernatural entity.