My Week’s lesson in Philosophy 106PY

As I muse over last week class discussions and reading of Emerson’s essays, I can’t help but to look even further to when I first started the semester. I remember how we, as an entire class, stood up in the center of the room, rotated in a circle, stopped, and had very quick conversations with each other.  That was supposed to be an example of philosophy. At the time, I didn’t understand the meaning of the exercise. I walked out of class that day discounting it as being purely Romper Room child’s play. However, every week, I’m finding that exercise, to be a vivid illustration of what philosophy really is.

                British philosopher, Bertrand Russell wrote, “It follows to that if several people are looking at the table at the same moment, no two of them will see exactly the same distribution of colours, because no two can see it from exactly the same point of view, and any change in the point of view makes some change in the way the light is reflected.” Every week, I see Russell’s ideas and thoughts being validated from hearing my classmates give their feedback from our weekly readings.  Every new voice that shares a perspective in class becomes that new dawn that rises at mid-noon that Emerson so eloquently wrote about. The circle finds itself a new parameter. I’m listening, yet learning at the same time to other perspectives that aren’t my own.  As I listen, the imaginary voice that I’ve created of Socrates rings in my ear, “You know nothing.” His voice reminds me of the arrogance displayed by Euthyphro.  I find myself surrendering the keys on a perspective of life that I never really owned. My art isn’t the only art hanging on the wall now. My music isn’t the only music being played. I now listen and watch in admiration the different descriptions of life’s distributions of colors.