Just by embracing one philosophical teaching it could change and better your life. In the second half of the book, Philosophy For Life And Other Dangerous Situations by Jules Evans, Heraclitus, the Skeptics, Diogenes, Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates are all discussed. Each one of them provides a different philosophical teaching. Heraclitus taught us about the cosmic perspective, the Skeptics taught us to have our own opinion, Diogenes taught us to live simply, Plato taught us justice, Aristotle taught us about the different cardinal virtues, and lastly Socrates taught us that death is a part of life.
Heraclitus
Heraclitus was born into a wealthy aristocratic family in Ephesus. He personally, believed that the aristocratic people only cared about “sex and food, took no notice in philosophy.” (Evans 102) Heraclitus had a “mystical” attitude towards nature, saying “nature loves to hide” (Evans 103) In life things are constantly changing, especially in nature. He says “the universe is a dance of opposites, each thing turning into something else.” (Evans 103) Day by day the weather changes and we have the seasonal changes. We are quick to notice the big changes in nature, such as those but the simple water consistently flowing and “one cannot step twice into the same river, for other waters are ever flowing onto you” are not noticed. (Evans 103) Nature amazes us with its beauty and we cherish the sunsets but take a second and cherish the water flowing on your feet and think about the changes nature hides. Self help The self- help technique we can use in our lives is that of attaining cosmic consciousness. “Cosmic consciousness means overcoming egotistic attachments and aversions, which divide nature into good and bad experiences.” (Evans 104) Skeptics Skepticism has been around for several hundreds of years. It is believed that “Socrates was the first skeptics because he was honest about how little people knew about philosophy.” (Evans 132) The skeptics believe we can never know if something is true or not, hence being skeptical. An example is, “that honey may taste sweet to one person but …show more content…
We need to be skeptical of what others are telling us. I think two of the biggest things that people are skeptic about are the government and vaccinations. People want to question what the government is doing and if it is in our best interest. With vaccinations, people often wonder if it is worth the risks associated with it. On other things, in our society I do not believe people follow through with their opinion. Do not listen to everyone else’s opinion because “suffering is caused not by the event but our opinion of the event.” (Evans 135) The event may have been good, but we may have seen one thing wrong and perceived the entire event as bad.
Diogenese
Diogenes was from Sinope and was one of the first Cynics. He was thrown out of the city for being accused of “defacing the currency.” (Evans 153) His goal was then to deface the currency of civilized conventions. “We as a society feel we need to win the approval of strangers to live among them.” (Evans 154) Rather we should live simply. Diogenes did not live his life with nice things, rather he slept in a barrel in Athens, dressed in rags and ate leftover scraps. Society feels we need the name brand things or in a sense we are not good enough.
Self
Heraclitus
Heraclitus was born into a wealthy aristocratic family in Ephesus. He personally, believed that the aristocratic people only cared about “sex and food, took no notice in philosophy.” (Evans 102) Heraclitus had a “mystical” attitude towards nature, saying “nature loves to hide” (Evans 103) In life things are constantly changing, especially in nature. He says “the universe is a dance of opposites, each thing turning into something else.” (Evans 103) Day by day the weather changes and we have the seasonal changes. We are quick to notice the big changes in nature, such as those but the simple water consistently flowing and “one cannot step twice into the same river, for other waters are ever flowing onto you” are not noticed. (Evans 103) Nature amazes us with its beauty and we cherish the sunsets but take a second and cherish the water flowing on your feet and think about the changes nature hides. Self help The self- help technique we can use in our lives is that of attaining cosmic consciousness. “Cosmic consciousness means overcoming egotistic attachments and aversions, which divide nature into good and bad experiences.” (Evans 104) Skeptics Skepticism has been around for several hundreds of years. It is believed that “Socrates was the first skeptics because he was honest about how little people knew about philosophy.” (Evans 132) The skeptics believe we can never know if something is true or not, hence being skeptical. An example is, “that honey may taste sweet to one person but …show more content…
We need to be skeptical of what others are telling us. I think two of the biggest things that people are skeptic about are the government and vaccinations. People want to question what the government is doing and if it is in our best interest. With vaccinations, people often wonder if it is worth the risks associated with it. On other things, in our society I do not believe people follow through with their opinion. Do not listen to everyone else’s opinion because “suffering is caused not by the event but our opinion of the event.” (Evans 135) The event may have been good, but we may have seen one thing wrong and perceived the entire event as bad.
Diogenese
Diogenes was from Sinope and was one of the first Cynics. He was thrown out of the city for being accused of “defacing the currency.” (Evans 153) His goal was then to deface the currency of civilized conventions. “We as a society feel we need to win the approval of strangers to live among them.” (Evans 154) Rather we should live simply. Diogenes did not live his life with nice things, rather he slept in a barrel in Athens, dressed in rags and ate leftover scraps. Society feels we need the name brand things or in a sense we are not good enough.
Self