Lecture 1 - Philosophy?

For the first Journalism lecture of my three years at Winchester an Introduction to Philosophy was the last thing I expected. Philosophy is a subject I have never previously studied, therefore creating a sense of confusion mixed with intrigue. The lecture and the reading of “History of Philosophy by Betrand Russell” that followed I found slightly difficult to comprehend. At the same time, I found it weirdly interesting.

After the initial shock of being in a philosophy lecture I asked myself “What the hell has this got to do with Journalism?” But after a lot of consideration the answer became pretty apparent. . . A LOT!

As future journalists we are expected to write fluently and with consistency, perhaps even asking the unsolvable. This we can learn from this brilliantly interesting period that is the Renaissance.

One thing that became clear to me was that there are two types of Philosopher, idealists, those who base their opinions on what they believe and empiricists, who base their opinions on facts. Journalists investigate and show the facts using knowledge and existence therefore making them empiricists. This may be why the theory Empiricism really stood out to me. It seemed the only theory that I could truly believe. The concept of using experiences and evidence to find new knowledge.

A key Philosopher that is frequently mentioned in philosophy is 'Plato'. He was a key philosopher of the time and even now. His unusual way of thinking led to disagreement from other philosophers, even his own student ‘Aristotle’. Plato believed that the world we live in is actually heavily flawed and is full of 'appearances', meaning everything is just a mere imitation of the perfect version of itself. However brilliant Plato is, the one philosopher that really stuck in my mind was Rene Decartes. This French philosopher, similarly to Plato, believed that there is a perfect version of everything; he did however believe God was ultimate perfection. 

The reason Decartes really inspired me, is the way he questioned every little detail. For example, my mother is my mum. But how do I know she is? Well, because she told me. But what if she was lying? Then there is a possibility that she isn’t my mother.  This got me thinking “oh my gosh, you know what, he’s right!” Decartes always believed in putting the individual at the centre.

If you think, then you exist.