REACTION/ REFLECTION ABOUT HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE

First of all, what is philosophy? Philosophy means love of wisdom. Philosophy goes

beyond facts, measurement, and specific findings and it depends on judgment,

reflection and intuition. In the case of the direction of my professional career, philosophy

plays an important role in determining what I want to do as a career.

I have done a lot of reflecting using judgment of different courses I have taken to help

direct me towards as suitable career. Instead of focusing on how much money I would

make, how much power I would have, or objective feelings I have towards a career,

philosophy has taught me to use intuition as a guide to what is the right decision.

Philosophy helps me to view situations in a subjective manner where I don’t have to use

data to determine what is right or wrong; I instead use my feelings as a guide to my

judgment of that situation. For example, right now I am debating on whether I want to

continue on and get my master’s degree or if I will be satisfied with a bachelor’s degree.

What does philosophy mean to my life as a whole? Philosophy allows me to look past

all of the facts and data and lets me focus on what I feel. As a human being, there is

more to life than scientific measurements. How can science describe faith, spirit, or

soul? Faith is the belief in the unproven with complete trust. Philosophy allows me to

have faith in things that are otherwise unproven. Philosophy is important to my life

because it allows me to have subjective thoughts and feelings as well as the ability to

seek connection between mind, body, and spirit and feel the holism that relates.

As a physical educator, it’s important to be able to understand and know how to pursue

philosophical answers. It would be easy for me as a physical education teacher to

create lessons in which students have the most success in terms of result like how long

a student stayed in their target hear rate. Students may have great result because of

lessons, but the various parameters each student has will influence whether or not they

will find value in lessons and continue them throughout life.

As a teacher, I will constantly ask myself to take all of these parameters into account

when teacher so I can avoid linear causation. To answer philosophical questions

regarding linear causation, missing information, reductionism, and common sense I will

refer to the different types of philosophical reasoning such as inductive reasoning which

uses concrete examples to create abstract understanding, deductive reasoning which

uses several broad premises to create a few concrete conclusions and intuitive

reasoning which the ability to view something direct and be able to describe it faithfully.

In life I would pursue philosophical answers very much the same way. For example,

when faced with a problem, it wouldn’t be enough to form a conclusion based solely

from personal opinion. Instead, I would need to develop a thesis and focus on gathering

information so that I could clarify the problem. It is only then that I will be able to use

inductive or deductive reasoning to make a sound decision. Before making decisions I

will make sure that I am well informed on the subject and have viewed both sides of the

arguments with an open mind so don’t make a bias decision.

I learned the importance of lifelong learning and the impact that being surrounded by

great minds can have on success in life. Having a positive attitude can have a big

influence on whether I succeed or fail in anything I may do in life. Everything we have

talked about can be used in some way or another in our lives. I will leave you one final

quote that influences my life every day and drives me to always want to be better.

“There is nothing noble in being superior to fellow mankind. The true nobility is being

superior to your previous self.