TASK 1: READING IS GAINING TASK 2: PERSONAL VS PHILOSOPHICAL

Read the story about Arielle below. List down his questions in order. Identify which among the questions are philosophical:

Arielle looks at the reflection in the mirror for the fourth time this 1. What is the square root of 64?
morning. She was running late for school, but she could not quite decide on what 2. What days of the week does the garbage collector go to the village?
to wear for the day. She finally decides on this plain white shirt and jeans, looks at 3. What happens after death?
it on her with a sigh of resignation, then runs off downstairs where her mother 4. Is it right to impose a dress code to students in Senior High School?
has been yelling about the time. 5. What makes an action moral?
6. What is matter?
In the car on the way to school, she starts muttering to herself. “All this
7. What is the lifecycle of a butterfly?
trouble of having to choose what to wear to school every day. Why does it have
8. What is the meaning of life?
to be so difficult? Why can’t I just wear anything I grab from my closet?”
9. Are you lying?
After she calms down, she moves into a more pensive mode. She begins 10. What is truth?
to ask, “Why should my clothes or the way I look matter to others anyway? If I
think about what others would say, does that mean I am not free to choose
whatever I want? Does this mean that I am not really free?”

Arielle’s dad pulls over in front of her school. She says goodbye and walks
to her classroom. She continues with her questions. “So if living in society means
that I am not really free, does this mean that I will only be free when I live alone?
Like live in a desert or in mars? But what good would that do? If I live alone, I may
be free to do what I want, but would that be a happy life? Is having the freedom
to do what one pleases the opposite of having a happy life. What is freedom,
really? What is a happy life?

She enters her classroom, sets down her bag and shrugs off the question.
She goes to her “barkada” who were squatting in a corner of the room, aimlessly
chatting about their weekend.

Analysis

Go over your list of Arielle’s questions then as a group, answer the following:

1. What would you consider as personal questions?

2. What would be examples of philosophical questions?
3. How do personal questions differ from philosophical questions?