To prepare for this week I read "The Problems of Philosophy" by Bernard Russel analyzed it and answered some questions in my blog.
This was my first meeting with philosophy. I have always thought that it was nothing for me because I have always been a man of science but this week I have learned that they are not that far apart after all. After reading the text I have been starting to look at things differently. Before I liked to think that most of the things I read and hear is "the truth about it". But now I am not even sure what the truth is except that it is very complex statement. I have not gone so far that I start to question if the table exists or not but my sense data is not always to be trusted and even less is knowledge by description. I think that I sometimes is too confident in myself and always believes that my version of everything is closest to the truth. Also I have earned a better understanding of what science is and why I have to take this course. Because science has, in my mind, always been something very simple but it is not when you really start to think about it.
I wrote about how we cannot be certain of that things we read or hear is the truth in my previous blog post. A funny example is how everyone read the exact same text and came up with very different answers. The text is the same for everyone but still the interpreting it so diverse. The diversity of the reflections are even greater. People seem to have gained completely different experiences from reading the same text. This must mean that the world as we see it is our own and unique world and no one else sees it exactly the same. Somewhere in the text I read that we cannot understand each other but we can have a clue of what others are thinking.
Especially today when we consume huge amounts of media everyday, we should not accept everything as the truth. An article in a newspaper exists to attract readers or send out a message, not to spread the truth about anything. That is what probably what we will learn in this course, how to get as close to the truth as possible and be critical towards information and how to collect and analyse data in a scientific way. This will be well at hand when we write our master theses.
I completely agree with your point about how interesting it has been reading this weeks reflections on how we have all experienced and learned from the text is so varied. Partly maybe because the reflections of this week are more personal than the answers from the week before. Really interesting.
SvaraRaderaIt will be interesting to see what happens after the lecture and seminar next week.
Hej!
SvaraRaderaYour reflection and argument on the truth and on different interpretations by different people is really interesting!
I liked how you discussed that media are trying to attract readers, not to spread the truth. So, you concluded that it is up to us, the readers and scientists to critically evaluate and reflect on things! Even though I didn't relate this to media, I also discussed the importance of doubting and the necessity of critical thinking in my reflection. I think that it is good that you did!