We tackled the subject of existence. A few profound questions came such as, "How do you know you're not asleep?" And, "If I'm dreaming how do I know the dream is not real?"
A French philosopher from the early 1600's named René Descartes challenged people to prove that they are not dreaming. He was famous for saying, "I think, therefore I am." Most people might think that this means: "I am capable of rational thought, therefore I am a human being." But what Descartes meant was if you think, you must exist.
We also talked about paradoxes. What is a paradox? A paradox is a situation which seems entirely normal, but after further investigation proves to be impossible or self-contradictory. Take a look at the image below.
A French philosopher from the early 1600's named René Descartes challenged people to prove that they are not dreaming. He was famous for saying, "I think, therefore I am." Most people might think that this means: "I am capable of rational thought, therefore I am a human being." But what Descartes meant was if you think, you must exist.
We also talked about paradoxes. What is a paradox? A paradox is a situation which seems entirely normal, but after further investigation proves to be impossible or self-contradictory. Take a look at the image below.
At first, when you look at this, you think it's just a bunch of weird-looking soldiers walking up a staircase and a second set of them walking down. But then you realize they are walking in a circle! You see, this drawing seems normal until you find the contradiction that makes it impossible.
Another example of a paradox is The Theory of Relativism. This theory says that there is no such thing as a single truth for everyone. It is easy to refute relativism, because it is self-refuting. A few examples of relativism would be:
"You should never tell anyone what to do."
"There are no absolute truths."
"No statement is universally true."
Obviously, these statements contradict themselves.
Most philosophers reject the concept of relativism because they believe that the truth is objective and a matter of fact. Basically, that truth is just...truth.
As part of the scholars' homework, we read a short story called A Letter to God. It was about a man named Lencho who lived on a farm in the middle of a valley. He had planted a field of corn, and was in need of a rainfall. When dark clouds finally came over the field, it turned out to be a hailstorm which destroyed all of his crops. He was very upset that all of his work had been for nothing. So he wrote a letter to God, asking for 100 pesos to resow the field. He then went into town and dropped the letter into the mailbox.
The postmaster saw this letter and, amazed at the faith of the man, was able to collect 70 pesos which he put into an envelope and addressed to Lencho.
The following Sunday Lencho came to ask if there was a letter for him. When the postman gave him the envelope he was not surprised to see the bills but became angry when he saw that it was not the full amount he asked for. He immediately wrote a new letter and dropped it into the mailbox. The postmaster instantly went to open it. It said:
"God: of the money that I asked for, only seventy pesos reached me. Send me the rest, since I need it very much. But don't send it to me through the mail, because the post-office employees are a bunch of crooks. Lencho"
We decided that the themes of the story were:
1) Prejudice
2) Gratitude
3) Faith
We said that faith seemed like the main theme. Also there was a variation in how we felt after reading the story. Some felt happy, sad, humoured, and confused. Finally, we asked the question, "Can you be blinded by faith?"
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