Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Chapter Five: Democritus


Chapter four was all about the natural philosophers.   It was mostly just note-type stuff, and nothing really jumped out at me and made me want to write about it...so I skipped ahead to Democritus!
This chapter is mostly talking about Democritus and all the things he believed.  I think my favorite part about reading about this last great natural philosopher is that his ideas connected so well to other examples.  I love when I can make connections between what I’m studying and my life, because it makes it that much easier to understand, and philosophy is full of connections!  The prime example used in this chapter was the comparison between Democritus’ atom theory and legos.  Both atoms and legos are unbreakable.  Both have a variety of shapes and sizes, but they all fit together.  How cool is it that something as sciencey as atoms could be connected to what is thought to be a simple childhood toy? I love that!

The other thing I’m beginning to realize and love about studying philosophy is that philosophy is really just a combination of a bunch of other subjects.  I’m learning science, such as the atom being the building block of the universe.  I’m learning history about who believed what and whose names should be remembered.  I’ve learned some Nordic mythology.  There’s also a little psychology/sociology thrown in there.  Philosophy is like the king of learning, because it takes all these subjects and connects them.  Honestly, I believe philosophers are some of the greatest minds out there, because they aren’t just concerning themselves with a small window of study.  Even if they are focusing on one idea, that idea still combines multiple subjects! In most cases, anyway.

Philosophy hasn’t found a way to bore me yet, and the more I get into it, the more connections I make, and I feel like the more connections I make, the more my brain is working for itself and I’m growing.  It’s kind of great.

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