What Makes

a Question
Philosophical?
 If anyone can be as wise as Socrates, then
anyone can philosophize. The truth is you do not
have to be weird-looking or out-of-this-world in
order to think philosophically.
Once in a while, we find ourselves asking
questions that are not so common. These are
moments when we begin to ask further beyond
our everyday questions.
1.What shall I wear?
2.Why should what I wear matter anyway?
3.Am I really free if I think of what others
say?
4.If I don’t think of what they say, will I
really be happy?
5.What is freedom? What is happiness?
 Philosophical questions move
beyond specific concerns. One
begins with a problem that can not
seem to be readily answered. It
begins with unease.
 The French philosopher Gabriel
Marcel (1889-1973) shares that
philosophical questioning begins
with a metaphysical unease.
 Form of unease is described as
metaphysical because the scope of the
questions we ask cover something
broader and deeper than what is
immediately before us, beyond what
we physically see.
 The questions of philosophy have
no ready answers for us, we
commonly view the act of
philosophizing as useless. It appears
to be useless because it does not give
us anything, at least immediately.
 Bertrand Russell points out as
the “arrogant dogmatism” that
most of us have as a general
disposition.
 A dogmatic person can be likened to
someone sheltered in a hard
unbreakable shell. Within that shell, the
person is convinced that only the things
he believes are true. All other dissenting
opinions are false, no matter how
convincing they may be.