MODULE 1: Activity

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. It is a subject that I can’t fully grasp because I
perceived the philosophy as something deep. It was actually a fascinating subject since
it was like a quest where it seeks after the wisdom which needed to scoop deeper in
pursuit of the fundamental truths about themselves.
The more I learn, the more I question everything since each person has a different
view and opinion. It was like I’m being skeptical about everything. However, I’ve realized
that these queries inside my head or these curiosities is the Philosophy itself. I’ve come
to such a conclusion since philosophy is an activity of thought. It means thinking deeply
or rationally about the perplexing questions and using logic to give answers about it, in
order to articulate valid and strong evidence or arguments which won’t lead to fallacies.
It is necessary for us to study Philosophy because it improves our consciousness
and awareness of our surroundings. It imparts skills that will be useful not only in any
career but also in our personal life. The study of philosophy will enable us to reach new
heights since it enhances our ability to generate sensible concepts, theories, or models
about the philosophical questions to better understand the world. Furthermore, it guides
us to be more open-minded as we accumulate substantial information in the external
world. We critically think, scrutinize questions, and use our logical reasoning to make the
best choices throughout our lives. Thus, Philosophy shuns ignorance, provides wisdom
and it teaches us to seek God in all things.
Living in this world means being interdependent to nature, people and society. As
we grow, we recognize that we need to satisfy our needs and desires in order to survive
and so as our environment. I believe, the concerns of practical men in living an ordinary
life are based on realistic, effective, and valuable decisions and it’s either subjective or
objective choices. Being practical is concerned with the value of certain things over other
things. To simply put, the practical man is one who only sees material needs. It asks about
why we value things or what are the things that we need to value in order to gain high
benefit from it. Thus, practical men are utilitarian because a specific action is determined
as moral or right based on the greatest good for most of the people.
For others, Philosophy is intimidating because it questions their beliefs, values,
principles, knowledge and existence that’s why they feel inferior. It needs in depth
analysis, critical thinking and accurate arguments to prove that something is factual. To
us humans, being logical is not innate to us. We become logical as we continue to learn
and expand our horizon through experiences and for searching for the truth. Shame is
caused by an idea that differs on our knowledge or principles. It is somehow related to
ethics because it affects the morals and behavior of a person. Philosophy makes people
feel embarrassed to themselves because their knowledge is not as sufficient as they think
it is.

Module 2: Activity
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
analysed and understood these ethical theories.

The concept of stoicism is different from apathy. In stoic philosophy, it says to

accept things that cannot be changed, resigning oneself to existence and enduring in a
rational fashion. It means we learn to accept what is not within our control and focus on
what is. We have no influence on the things in life that are outside the reach of our control,
as a result, focusing our time and energy here will likely cause unnecessary suffering and
the loss of time. Time that could have been spent tackling what is within our control. While
apatheia is a state of mind in Stoic philosophy in which one is free from emotional
disturbance, the freedom from all passions. Apatheia is the root for the word “apathy”
which describes lack of interest or indifference. If I were to compare the stoic to apathy, I
would say that it was described as being embraced and ignored. Stoic embraces the
situation. For example, we should not fear since people do not lose their life, but instead
return, for they are returning to God. In this situation, it can be seen that they make an
excuse to accept the things. Although it’s a bit confusing to differentiate the two since they
are similar in a way such as both of them teach a passive reaction in some events.
Both Hedonism and Epicureanism are connected to the word pleasure. They both
pursue pleasure. The epicurean ethics is a hedonist form of virtue ethics. So, to say, they
somehow related but entirely different. Hedonism displays the strength in maximizing
pleasure and minimizing pain. Although it indicates that it minimizes the pain, but the very
thought of this concept is to neglect dissatisfaction and instead to focus on constant
pleasure-seeking while experiencing it. There are several schools of Hedonist thought
ranging from those advocating the indulgence of even momentary desires to those
teaching a pursuit of spiritual bliss. It has the conception of a state of reckless pleasure
seeking, with little regard given for consequences, while in the sense of philosophy, it
refers the pleasure as the chief or sole good in life. As for the Epicurus, they do hold that
pleasure is the chief good however in a minimum way. Epicureans are encouraged not to
be excessive beyond simple pleasure fulfillment because it cannot be considered as a
pleasure if you don’t have the limits of it. They say that an excess is a mistaken approach
to pleasure which is entirely different or contrast with the typical hedonism. For example,
eating one food too often will cause a person to lose taste for it. Eating too much food at
once will lead to discomfort and ill-health. Pain and fear were to be avoided. The pleasure
or happiness was simply the absence of pain in the form of mental suffering or physical
suffering.
 In conclusion, hedonists will do anything whether it’s morally right or wrong in order
to attain pleasure, while epicureans will not. Epicureanism teaches that we should seek
pleasure, but that we should not over-indulge in our pleasures such as to the foods,
drinks, sex, etc.