If you took Philosophy in college can you pleas help me understand how exams work. Now I realize that ever teacher will be different ,but how would they test you on your Philosophy knowledge?
We were learning about, "The Meaning of Life".
Example.
Children as Meaning
Many people would say that the meaning of life lies in their children and their children's children. But this answer has an odd consequence , as soon as you start to think about it. If the meaning of life lies not in their own lives ,but in someone else's life, what is it that makes their lives meaningful? Their Children. But what makes their children's lives meaningful in turn? Their children, and so on. In this way people have always tended to project abstractly into the future , to a place of total piece and happiness -what philosophers call a utopia And this is how they would like their children, or their children's children, or their children's children's children , to live. But how does this make their own lives meaningful? And what is the meaning of life for this distant relatives happily living in Utopia? The question remains for them. Successful couples often look back to their years of struggle together and agree that those were the best years of life. And is simple happiness itself so obviously the meaning of life?
** So what I am supposed to learn from that for an exam? I asked the professor through an email and they replied ,"Students only need to see how different images of what life means call forth different actions, ways of responding to circumstance and suggest different interpretations of where value lies in human life. It is not a matter of memorizing what the text says in these examples, so much as being able to discuss how different interpretations people place on the meaning of existence result in various different ethical outlooks."
We were learning about, "The Meaning of Life".
Example.
Children as Meaning
Many people would say that the meaning of life lies in their children and their children's children. But this answer has an odd consequence , as soon as you start to think about it. If the meaning of life lies not in their own lives ,but in someone else's life, what is it that makes their lives meaningful? Their Children. But what makes their children's lives meaningful in turn? Their children, and so on. In this way people have always tended to project abstractly into the future , to a place of total piece and happiness -what philosophers call a utopia And this is how they would like their children, or their children's children, or their children's children's children , to live. But how does this make their own lives meaningful? And what is the meaning of life for this distant relatives happily living in Utopia? The question remains for them. Successful couples often look back to their years of struggle together and agree that those were the best years of life. And is simple happiness itself so obviously the meaning of life?
** So what I am supposed to learn from that for an exam? I asked the professor through an email and they replied ,"Students only need to see how different images of what life means call forth different actions, ways of responding to circumstance and suggest different interpretations of where value lies in human life. It is not a matter of memorizing what the text says in these examples, so much as being able to discuss how different interpretations people place on the meaning of existence result in various different ethical outlooks."
