Prompt 5

Corey Hostetler

AP English Language

Mrs. Wagener

September 15, 2013

Where Do I Reside on the Rabbit's Fur?

            Throughout the book Sophie's World, various philosophers had their thoughts and beliefs deeply analyzed.  Though the philosophers spoken of in this book were only a sliver of the entire metaphorical pie, my favorite philosopher was probably Socrates.  I liked that Socrates wouldn't tell people the philosophical idea straight off, but would instead guide them to the idea through asking miscellaneous questions.  I also admired that he was humble enough to admit that he didn't know everything that there was to know.  Lastly, I respected that he would stand behind his ideas even if it meant his death.

            Though there were many philosophers that I appreciated, there were also a few that I was dismayed with.  I was rather disturbed with Aristotle's ideas about women.  Aristotle thought that women were unfinished men and that women were not involved in the reproduction process.  No matter how blatantly incorrect these two things were, I can't seem to come to the conclusion that Aristotle was a "bad" person.  This is because Aristotle was present long ago when the mistreatment of women was common in society. 

            When I first started reading this book, I believe that I was probably in the middle of the rabbits fur.  I was in the middle because I would only ever ask questions about things that I was interested in and would never leave that comfort zone.  After reading the book, I can firmly say that I am slowly, but surely, moving up every day.  One day, because of being introduced to philosophical thinking in Sophie's World, I hope to be at the top of the rabbits fur.

Prompt 4

Corey Hostetler

AP English Language

Mrs. Wagener

September 15, 2013

Kant you See?

            People's perspectives are molded from birth by all the events experienced while growing up.  For example, someone raised in Chicago would be used to seeing twenty story buildings while someone raised in Evansville, Indiana might look at these same buildings with amazement.   A man named Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher who was very interested in the human mind, dedicated some of his work to the perspective field and eventually came up with a "red-tinted glasses" experiment that was discussed within Sophie's World.

            In the "Kant" chapter, Alberto attempts to better explain the idea of perspective by using a "red-tinted glasses" experiment. The experiment began with Sophie putting on a pair of glasses with red lenses.  After putting the glasses on, she noted that nothing was different but all of the colors that she was used to seeing were gone and instead replaced with different shades of red.  Metaphorically, the color of the tint is supposed to represent a person's way of seeing things based on their upbringing.

            There have been many times when varying perspectives have been prevalent throughout my life.  For example I believed, against my parents' perspectives, that I should be able to drive when hazardous weather conditions were present.  Until reading about Kant's experiment, I was stubborn and would not listen to any explanation as of why driving in hazardous conditions was bad for a beginning driver.  After reading about this experiment though, I thought about why my parents wouldn't want me driving and I then understood as of why my mom and dad didn't want me to drive.

            Everybody sees the world differently through their own tinted lenses colored by their own life experiences.  This is why two people can sometimes agree on one thing but have a different overall opinion. Other times, though, people will never be able to agree because they can't or refuse to see things from another's perspective.  I, in my previously stated example, was not able to see my parents reasoning for restricting me from driving in hazardous conditions but I eventually looked at the situation from their side and saw why they were saying that.  In conclusion, people will always have different opinions because everyone sees things differently.

Prompt 3

Corey Hostetler

AP English Language

Mrs. Wagener

September 15, 2013

Philosophy and the Medieval Ages

            Rome and Greece's golden age was characterized by not only peace and growth, but also by the philosophies of people like Aristotle and Plato.  Advancing into the Middle Ages saw an end to this glorious golden age and with it went the practice of logical thinking known as philosophy, due to the prevailing religion known as Christianity.  These Middle, or Dark, Ages were not so bad though.  For example, convent and cathedral schools were created and a cultural revolution took place which helped identify the Middle ages as a time of growth instead of just a time of downfall from the high of the golden age.  Eventually two fellows named Aquinas and St. Augustine, who were followers of Aristotle and Plato's ideas, related Christianity and philosophy.  The relation of these two things helped spread Christianity around Europe during the Medieval Ages.

            The single most prevalent result of these medieval thinkers applying the teachings of Christ to ancient philosophy was the spreading of Christianity.  This was accomplished by making the teachings of Christianity more accessible to all instead of just a select group of dedicated believers.  The teachings were made more accessible to the general public by the philosophers explaining to their students their version of the meaning of the Bible.  St. Augustine for example, even said that there were "ideas" within the Divine before the world was created which would appeal to the preferred Greek idea that the world had always existed.

            In conclusion, St. Augustine and Aquinas played a large role in the outcome of the Medieval Ages due to their combining and spreading of religion and philosophy.  By making the religious material easier to understand with the use of philosophy, the people of the Medieval Ages were able to understand Christianity better which led to a spread of this religion throughout Europe.  Overall, without these two great men, the development and spread of both Christianity and philosophy would have been hindered if not completely brought to a halt.

Prompt 2

Corey Hostetler

AP English Language

Mrs. Wagener

September 15, 2013

Philosophy and Gender Equality

            “A state that does not educate and train women is like a man who only trains his right arm.”  No matter how true this quote by Plato is, women were often disadvantaged throughout history.  People like Lucy Stone and Doris Stevens stepped up, against belittlement, in order to try to gain rights for women around the world.  Eventually, after fighting for these rights for so long, the nineteenth amendment was passed.  This amendment gave women the right to vote and was a large step in creating equality among the sexes.

            When reading about Aristotle's thoughts on women, I was disappointed to see that such a great mind had such questionable ideas.  Some of Aristotle's ideas were that women were incomplete men and that women really didn't help out in the reproduction process.  These statements made very little sense seeing as both women and men are equally important in keeping the human civilization alive.  Though these things that Aristotle said were awful, I felt that I could not judge Aristotle wrongly seeing as he was born in a time where men were seen as being superior to women.  Since most of the authority figures in this book were from about the same time as Aristotle, I was not surprised to see that most of the authority figures were men.  Plato, in my opinion, provided the most admirable answers to gender related questions.  Though he introduced private property and family ties, which barred some freedom from women, he did admit that women were just as fit as men to rule if they were given a proper education.

            When all is said and done, I do believe that the past views of women were wrong and I am glad that there are people to stand up to fight against these unfair views.  Without these people to stand up and speak their mind, one could ponder all of the various things throughout history that could have gone differently.  Just think, what if Martin Luther King Jr. hadn't fought for civil rights or if Plato hadn't gone against the popular belief of how women should be treated.  The world as we know it would be gone and, instead, replaced with something radically different.   

Prompt 1

Corey Hostetler

AP English Language

Mrs. Wagener

September 15, 2013

Captivating Questions

            Though the two questions "Who are you?" and "Where does the world comes from?"  seem very simple to many, philosophers see these inquiries as intricate analyzations of both humans and life on Earth.  Instead of wanting to know just a name when philosophers ask "Who are you?", they instead want to know what makes you unique or what distinguishes you from the millions of other people in the world.  Additionally when asked "Where the world comes from?", philosophers want to not only know how Earth and humans were created, but also want to know what everything is made of and why everything made that way.  Human curiosity like this has fueled advancement throughout the ages and will continue to fuel this advancement until the questions are answered.

            For starters, my name is Corey Hostetler. I am seventeen years old and have lived in Evansville, Indiana for my entire life. I have two siblings, a younger brother named Cody and an older sister named Courtney, and am the son of Leslie and Gregory Hostetler.  At North High School, upon entering my junior year, I am going to try to play baseball once again and will start getting involved in extracurricular volunteer work.  From a philosopher's standpoint, I would probably describe myself as athletic, intelligent, and kind of quiet.  Though my parents never almost named me something else, such as Sophie almost being named Lillemor, I have sometimes imagined myself with a different name and wondered if some part of me would be altered along with the name. 

            The question "Where does the world come from?" has been asked by the curious people of Earth since B.C.  There are many answers to this question, depending on one's culture and environment, but the two prevailing ideas are the Big Bang Theory and that God created everything.  The Big Bang Theory is a scientific outlook at how the world was created and entailed that the universe was created when the Universe started expanding from a very hot and compact state.  On the other side of the spectrum is the religious thought at how the universe was created, which was saying that God created the world within six days and then rested on the seventh day.  In my personal opinion, being a Christian, I believe that God did create the world.  Within the book Sophie's World, Sophie questions where God had come from.  After hearing this question, I really had to consider the possibility of something having always existed.  In the end though, I concluded that such questions are what make the world so interesting and continued to read on. 

            In my final opinion, I would have to conclude that questions like these and people like Alberto Knox are what make the world go round.  If there weren't people like Alberto, who would push boundaries and ask daring questions in order to figure out how everything works, I truly believe that civilization would be stuck in a stage of zero advancement.  Overall, I would have to say that these questions and many more like it will be detrimental in advancing society.