One of my hobbies is studying philosophy. Since I was a child, I was always interested in the world around me. Philosophy was something that could help me find the answers I needed. Reading works by David Hume and Plato helped me understand how people think. However, my personal favorites are Aristotle, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Albert Camus.
Eastern philosophy is much different. When you read works of Confucius, Sen no Rikyu (although he isn’t a “philosopher” in the actual sense, I consider a lot of his theory and works to have a philosophical base) and others, you can get a glimpse at how society functions. Buddhism and Shintoism also give us a glimpse at society.
Depending on who you talk to, there are quite a lot of people in America that like philosophy. Oftentimes, you have people talk about what is the “meaning of life” and how it applies to our actions today. It is an interesting set of topics to discover and talking about it can be quite fun.
Questions:
1) What kind of philosophy do you like? Who are some of your favorite philosophers?
2) Have you ever read any Western philosophy? What about Eastern philosophy?
3) In general conversation, how often do you speak about topics of philosophy?
4) If you wanted to learn more about philosophy, what would you do?
5) In your opinion, is philosophy important? Why or why not?
Key Words and Phrases:
philosophy
actual sense
theory
get a glimpse
functions
applies to
