PHILOSOPHICAL BELIEF SYSTEMS

Since Socrates, a main job of philosophy has been to encourage individuals to consider the Belief System of their thinking. Sometimes people express their Weltanschauung (what I call a "Philosophical Belief System") by stating,"My philosophy is...." Often this declaration is followed by an aphorism or a brief expression of ideas. Even from such little clues, it is possible to start an investigation into the individual's Belief System.

All you really need to undertake this investigation is honesty, patience, and courage (three virtues that are, unfortunately, in short supply these days). It may help to know that changing your values and challenging your beliefs is not the main intention of this investigation. Changes and challenges are probably inevitable, but it is more informative to study the case for your view, at least initially. Of course, one can effectively stop change and avoid challenge by not thinking. This is Dogmatism, and many social movements have relied on the willingness of their followers to not think. The intention here is to foster an environment where it is OK to think. Hopefully you will find such thinking interesting enough to pursue seriously. If you find your own thinking boring, what in the world ever could hold your interest?

Supplied here are passages, each of which expresses a philosophical Belief System in very general terms. Probably none of these fit anyone's beliefs and values exactly. They are more like caricatures of ways of thinking. Never the less, I'll bet that you can relate to and agree with some of them more than others. It is hard to imagine how anyone could believe ALL of them at once! Even if you feel you can agree with more than one, each of them projects a different emphasis as to what is important.

Your challenge is to pick the one that comes closest to your personal philosophy. You probably won't agree with everything it says and it may leave some important ideas out. You will have the opportunity to improve upon it. Read each passage and consider whether you agree with

the view a lot, kind of agree, don't think much of it, disagree a lot, or absolutely hate it. Make notes for yourself (using your hardcopy notebook) on the aspects of these views that strike you as important, relevant, obvious, interesting, etc. In the end, settle on the one passage that seems closest to your thinking.