ACTIVITY 1:

1. State your own opinion or view why there is a need to study philosophy?

2. What are the concerns of practical men based on your own observation of how
an ordinary life is lived by everyone? In relation to it, why philosophy is a shame
for others?

Philosophy means love of wisdom. Wisdom means knowledge. Knowledge refers

to facts, information, and skills gained by an individual from its experiences, and
education. Certainly, everyone has the ability to access information, to learn, and to
attain knowledge. However, not everyone knew how to use and apply it well. Applying
one’s knowledge is not just all about knowing something that it is that thing. It is all
about applying with theory-and-evidence-based facts, and with a critical understanding
of the whole context. More so, the whole point here is that studying philosophy will
develop one’s intellectual skills in applying knowledge.

Philosophy is the foundation of critical thinking in a certain context. Upon

studying, critical analysis is being developed and it helps one’s intellectual to think,
analyze, and understand contexts elaborately. It also enhances one’s problem-solving
ability, interpretation, and evaluation skills that will develop effective addressing of the
issues. Aside from that, studying philosophy can also improve one’s communication
skills, writing skills, persuasive skills, and the understanding of other principles.
Therefore, it is important to study philosophy to enhance the critical understanding of
one’s self into different perspectives of a context. Take for example the concerns of
practical men. The practical man is basically concerned only in attaining material needs
and is not focused on finding its mental needs for a better life. It is also the same for
everyone. People dedicate their daily basis with practical reasons like working to have
money for necessities, studying to get a job and merely living day-by-day without doing
something that will provide wisdom for the mind. They tend to do the same thing and the
same reason every single day which hinders people from learning more. If living a life is
only about doing constant things, then nothing would change and things will become
unworthy before we realize it. In simple words, everyone must live a life with a sense of
balance. People should feed their practical needs and at the same time, their inner self
needs. Those needs such as knowledge, good mentality, critical thinking, and better
emotion handling must be attained as it reflects the outer self. Certainly, one can
acquire and master these needs if it puts an effort in studying philosophy, and practice it
every day in their life as this field of study helps us to realize the things we should learn
within us. As mentioned, it widens one’s perspective to understand contexts better.
However, some people who are not used to appreciating the needs of the mind felt a
shame when they started to learn the broader perspective of a certain context. They are
ashamed by the reflective view of the philosophy that makes them realize their lack of
virtue. The feeling of regret over mistakes and wrongdoings one has made is highly
recognizable and this is seen through reflections. That is the reason why an individual
strive to make things right with endeavour. More so, shame is complex in definition but
in philosophy, this emotion is what makes an individual to learn, reflect, and change
their way of living. Facing one’s self with courage and truth, even if it is shameful, would
make an individual a better person.

Therefore, studying philosophy is not a waste of time, and it is actually a worth of

time. As this life is full of greater things and lessons people have not yet known, and
abundant knowledge were scattered everywhere that awaits to be used for a better
purpose, people might as well find them, learn, and apply them. In that case, everyone
can live their life meaningful with a more peaceful mind, and a good character as an
individual.

ACTIVITY 2:

A. Is Stoic sense of apathy ethical? Why or why not? Explain your view further.

B. Discuss the strengths and limits of Hedonism and Epicureanism based on how
you analyzed and understood these ethical theories?

Are one’s desires must be indulged or not? In this world full of individual’s
pleasures and desires, it is difficult to identify whether one must indulge in it or avoid it.
Some said “you only live once, so enjoy all sorts of things while you are alive and
breathing”, this is a good motivation for everyone to try, and enjoy everything they want.
However indulging over it would cause and lead them into two results. First, it would
make that individual happy and content without any regrets for doing all sorts of things
they desired; and second, it would destroy someone and become miserable because of
its excessive indulgence. With these two opposing outcomes, it is complicated to
answer the mentioned question, but the ethical theories of Stoicism, Hedonism, and
Epicureanism which posited different perspectives provided comprehensive answers
over this matter.

Stoic does not have a sense of apathy ethical. Indeed, it has a sense of ethical. It
is because having self-control and self-mastery is the center of Stoicism. This ethical
theory taught an individual to control and avoid their indulgence of pleasures and
desires. Its primary teaching is to have less attachment over possessions and to master
letting go of them anytime. For instance is one’s favorite necklace. When an individual
has favorite possessions, they treasure it a lot and sometimes, are over protective with
it. That is why when they suddenly lost it, they would feel bad, joyless, and mournful in a
day or two. Certainly, letting go is hard for someone who treasures it the most. However,
Stoicism does not posit this kind of control. It posits the thought of “people don’t own
things permanently in this world, all of them are borrowed including one’s life and shall
return in the future”. Therefore people should not be too attached over things and even
to people. They should learn to prepare themselves in letting go of something or
someone because for as long as people extremely treasure things, it would not cause
serenity and contentment to an individual. In addition to that, this theory also teaches
individuals to control their emotions because it is important to master one’s emotion in
order for them to have a peace of mind or Apatheia. Always remember that not all
emotions cause something good out of it. If an individual let himself be controlled by his
extreme emotion, then it would probably cause him harm. That is why people should
learn how to efficiently handle their own emotions because if they let their emotions take
over them, then they wouldn’t have freedom at all in their own selves. Moreover,
handling one’s emotions is connected in indulging in desires and pleasures. If a person
already mastered controlling its emotion, then he would be able to control its indulgence
over its desires effectively and efficiently.

Furthermore, the ethical theories of Hedonism and Epicureanism also

concentrate in pleasure indulgence but both have different perspectives on it. In
Hedonism, a hedonist person loves to indulge in pleasures because its ethical theory is
to maximize pleasure and minimize pain. In simple words, it focuses on experiencing
various things in life which makes a hedonist person explorative and free-spirit. Yes,
indulgence in pleasure is good if it does not harm people. In fact, it actually enhances
one’s undiscovered skills and abilities, develops creative thinking, improves social
connectedness, motivates someone to achieve more goals, and improve one’s physical
health because of one’s enjoyment in doing and exploring things they wanted. In short,
a hedonist person simply enjoys its life at its fullest. However, it only limits an individual
on enjoying without considering the pain and expense it may cause to them and to other
individuals. For instance is the aim of one’s individual to lose belly fat. A hedonist
person is motivated enough to achieve this goal because he can already feel the
pleasure of achievement when it is done. So no matter how tough and tiring it would be,
that person will keep on exercising until he achieves it. Another example is when an
individual does all sorts of things he wants. As a hedonist person who loves indulging in
pleasures, it would obviously live its life to the fullest in order to avoid regrets for not
doing it. So throughout its life, expect that person to indulge pleasures more often to be
content and happy.

On the other side, Epicureanism posits perspective differently but also a hedonist
form itself. It theorized that indiscriminate indulgence would sometimes cause negative
consequences. Thus, excessive indulgence can be destructive if it is not controlled. So
therefore, moderation and caution is a must in choosing what pleasures to indulge and
not. Everyone must probably know that it is only natural for a person to feel pleasures
but the decision is up to them if they would indulge it or ignore it. In simple words, not all
pleasures must be indulged because excessive exploration of things sometimes
resulted in pain and fear. Fear as it probably caused someone a trauma of never doing
it again and pain as it caused someone to suffer from the damage. Therefore on the
bright side of this theory, it teaches an individual to refrain itself from unnecessary
desires and to achieve inner tranquility by being content with simple things and by
discriminating pleasures to indulge. With this kind of control, one can live without
experiencing excessive pain and fear from the indulgence. However, concentrated life
with simple things hinders an individual to learn more things in life. With the fact that this
ethical theory actually posits that the pain and fear must be avoided, but as life is
always full of ups and downs, and sometimes, some choices of pleasures resulted in
negative consequences no matter how cautious a person is, these negative emotions
cannot be avoided. Yes, pain and fear are indeed destructive emotions. It depresses
people but when taken as an opportunity to learn from these negative feelings, they can
make good things out of its reflection. For instance is when eating too much that leads
to attaining belly fat which ruins one’s physical figure. The pleasure of eating delicious
foods would cause someone to eat more and then regrets afterwards as it resulted in
attaining belly fat. In result, fear of criticism would probably be felt, however if an
individual took it as a lesson to not eat excessively anymore, then it would start
controlling what it eats and how much it will consume. With that being said, indulgence
in pleasure was controlled and fear was avoided, thus good living was attained.

Moreover, the distinction between the perspectives of three ethical theories are
shown and understood. From all it mentioned, Stoicism theorized indulgence in desires
with self-control while Hedonism talks about maximizing the indulgence in pleasure to
minimize pains and regrets, and Epicureanism talks about indulgence with cautions to
avoid pain and fears. These three may be distinctive in perspectives but have the same
message to convey. It is to realize that an individual must be ethical with one’s decision
and that the choice of indulgence is up to everyone. To sum up, people can live their
lives at its fullest but sometimes, self-control and cautious selective decisions is also
significant to avoid getting hurt and to attain serenity and apatheia of one’s self.