Introduction

One common feature of a beginner of any endeavor is a strong desire that seems
bankrupt of capacity for gradual progression, most times, they just cant wait to begin, and the
excitement in them is almost unquantifiable as they look at the horizon with lots of hopes and
aspirations. Whenever there is this goal in a beginner, there is also something else that tampers
with that goal. This kind of experience often is the case for beginner of philosophy.
Thus this paper intends to discover the enthusiasm and the plight of a beginner in
philosophy. The discussion will be based on my own experience as a beginner in philosophy.
While it is undoubtedly true that my experience lacks the requirement for universal application,
it does capture the experiences of a handful of beginners in philosophy and to that extent, any
generalization based on this discuss is likely to be limited in application.

An Overview of Philosophy
People often think of philosophy as simply ones general outlook on life, for
instance, a football Coach once said that his philosophy was Its not whether you win or lose,
but how you play the game. Hence, another Coach said that winning is not the most important
thing its the only thing. Companies sometimes express their philosophy in adverts. Our
corporate philosophy is Providing reliable products with good service. Certainly, a number of
philosophical issues are contained in these statements; for instance, what is the role of sports and
competitions in human life? Does the end justify the means? What does good service mean?
Who decides whether it is good or not? However, the notion of philosophy latent in these
pronouncements falls short of how the term is properly understood. Each of these people stated
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their beliefs, but offered no justification for them. Besides, being a general outlook or policy,
philosophy is the attempt to provide arguments or good reasons for our conclusions.1
From an etymological view point; philosophy is seeing as the love of wisdom and in the
quest to attain this glorious height wisdom the very form of the quest have gradually evolved
from a sense of wonder to a more formal and methodic approach to the very art of
philosophizing which presents philosophy in another light a discipline, an academic field of
study which allows for the development of analytic skills that are prized by all Career fields.
This is certainly, true especially for those going into ministry. The ability to read people and
situations, texts and understand the important claims, commitments and reasons being given
for those claims and commitments is a crucial component of engaging on interpersonal
relationships of trust and respect. Fostering such relationships is something to which ministers
should be deeply committed a crucial part of their role as counselors and mentors to those
wrestling with the difficulties of life of faith and the experiential storms of existence. While it
may not only be philosophy that can assist in attaining these aforementioned values, it is indeed
an important resource for one aiming at such values and it is on that note that beginners of
philosophy are highly enthusiastic to plunge themselves into this;
Human attempt to systematically study the most fundamental
structures of our entire experience in order to arrive at beliefs that are
as conceptually clear, experientially confirmed, and rationally
coherent as possible.2

1
2

William F. Lawhead: Voyage of Discovery, Wadsworth / Thomson Learning, 2002. P. XXV.

William F. Lawhead, p. XXV

The enthusiasm of a beginner in philosophy

I grew up in a very multi- religious Christian family and everybody seemed to have firm
opinions about all sorts of big questions. I was interested on how they knew what they seemed
to know, or claimed to know. Thats what I would now call an epistemological question. I was
allowed to read widely, in many cases I couldnt quite comprehend what I was reading, but I was
hooked on the search for answers. Many times it seemed the little I had uncovered is tentative
and infinitesimal compared to what is to be uncovered about my many unknowns. With this
enquiring mind that challenges faith and beliefs, I gained admission into the university to study
philosophy as a Religious. Its like the long awaited, Mr. Philosophy the dream course
-

That will furnish me with definitive answers to my questions.

That will equip me with the ability to read people, situations texts and reasonably, grasp

the underlying claims.

That will help me gain an appreciation of the historical context in which Theology,

unfolds.
That will equip me with conceptual analytical ability, logical precision and rigor of
philosophical inquiry to facilitate intelligibility and clarity in theological reflections and

writings.
That will equip me with the ability to appreciate the different background assumptions
and beliefs that affect the way in which an individual or a community approaches an issue

or a question in view of being a good listeners and meeting people where they are.
That will help me to understand that there are good reasons to believe what we would
ordinarily, dismiss without a second thought for in most cases when you interact with
those who generally thinks like you, then it is easy to begin to believe that what you think
is the only rational option and that anyone who disagrees is immoral, ignorant or
irrational.

That will help me to be epistemic ally humble, dialogically hospitable and cognitively

healthy.
In summary, that will make me wiser so to say. These lofty dreams, expectations and
hopes planted the enthusiasm in me. I cant help but be filled with so much energy, zeal
and passion to plunge myself deeply without reserve into philosophy with the view of
acquiring the above itemized values.

The plight of a beginner in philosophy

My first plight is that I had always believed and hoped that I have come to have some
logical or definitive answers to my questions only to realize in utter dismay that philosophy has
succeeded in raising new questions by dislodging the points I had for some of my beliefs. There
seem to be many diverse opinions to a particular question, while some are contrary to
themselves, others contradictory, of even themselves. How to now harmonize or synthesize
these opinions have added to the litany of my questions.
I have also discovered that my most dearly held and fundamental ideas are never without the
need for modification and improvement. This is really difficult to accept that my ideas will have
to undergo serious scrutiny to meet certain standards like conceptual clarity, experiential
confirmation and rational coherence to pass as being philosophical. These have led to careful
self-scrutiny and consciousness especially in speech to avoid ambiguities, fallacies and illogical
statements.
Another source of discomfort is language, the ideas of most Philosophers seem very deep
and some concepts take an entirely different meaning away from their semantic understanding.
Time constraints is not left out as there are lots of good books, articles, journals and papers worth
reading but not enough time to read them all.
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Conclusion
In this discourse, we have tried to look at both the enthusiasm and plight of a beginner in
philosophy. The discourse is limited to my experience which though may not have a universal
application but as discussed in the paper, It certainly will capture the experiences of a handful of
beginners, that beginning the study of philosophy, is one experience that is always characterized
with mixed feelings of both excitement and a seemingly corresponding predicament.