This is the day of the expanding man
From the Times:
Philosophy is being embraced by a new generation of college students as they try to make sense of a world full of moral dilemmas, such as the Iraq war or the latest political scandal.
As a philosophy concentrator, I contend that Philosophy is the most essential subjects of them all (even Debbie Allen's continuous quest for sweat can't top that.) From ancient times on, many human inquiries into not only the meaning of life, but also the structure of life (i.e. natural sciences) were examined from the philosophical view. At some point in the 19th/20th century, philosophical inquiry into the human mind became the discipline of psychology.
As for me, I grew intellectually and personally from studying philosophy. My constantly questioning mind found grounding in Plato, Hegel, and Wittgenstein. I was akin to the restless child who joins a soccer team. I also encountered, for the first time, teachers who took my intellect seriously. I had coasted through high school with teachers simply excited that I did the assigned reading and could think critically (or what passed for it in the context of adolescent development). But in college, that was where my teacher's expected more of me. I could do the assigned reading, write the paper, and even then, I was urged to re-read, re-write, re-examine.
I think studying philosophy allowed me to gain intellectual confidence that allowed me to move forth in life with the conviction that "I think." And this is not a shallow homage to Descartes. No what I really mean is that I believe that my ideas, observations, and opinions have weight. What I know and understand matters. I don't think I had that as much before college.
