I have never really been interested in philosophy, and that is why hearing that there is a day dedicated to philosophers was surprising to me. It turns out that the third Thursday of November is World Philosophy Day, created by UNESCO in 2002. On this day people can share their thoughts on philosophers, promote intellectual philosophical debates and have the ability to confront challenges today.
Apart from Socrates’ quote “I only know that I know nothing” and binge watching “The Good Place,” my knowledge on philosophy is limited. Looking more into it, we can take this day as an opportunity to expand our knowledge on philosophy or discus what we already know.
Philosophy can offer their own views on life. Nihilism being the belief that life is meaning less and rejection towards religion and moral principles, but on the other hand, there is existentialism that believes we are born into a world without a meaning and it is up to the person to decide and take action to give your existence meaning. Then, we even have absurdism which believes that the universe is irrational and meaningless and so is the efforts taken to find the reasoning to your existence.
My takeaway from philosophy is that it can be another way for others to understand life, but philosophers do not tend to have one answer, but a collection of thoughts and it is up to us to see which we believe in or relate to. I probably would agree more with existentialism and absurdism, I have personally stayed up late at night thinking about my existence, in the end it left me feeling useless and small. I think life too short to spend time thinking and finding what the meaning of life is, especially cause it is a question that has no specific answer, it is up to the individual to decide what to do with their lives and decision whether they want to give their life meaning.
There’s also the trolley dilemma created by philosopher Philippa Foot. The trolley dilemma consists of a trolley travelling down railway tracks and heading towards five people, but there’s another track where one person is standing. The question being is would you pull the lever to save five people. This moral dilemma is interesting but also driving you to pick the answer that would cause the least damage, since this dilemma is about giving the better outcome to a greater amount of people and give the suffering to the least amount.
In a way this dilemma is a bit unrealistic when applied in the real world especially since this scenario Is almost impossible to happen but at times decisions are more complicated and personal. A variation of this dilemma might be that the one person standing on the other tracks is a loved one or having to push a person to save the other five. This change of scenarios can change the way of thinking.
While the philosophy of giving good to the more amount of people and suffering to the least is not always a decision to be followed and, personally, not one, I would apply to my life. I think the trolley problem will never have a satisfactory solution, in the end whatever solution is decided someone will get hurt. However, just like the general public I would also save the five people and sacrifice the other person.
