Powell 1

Damian Powell
Mrs. Harrell
English IV CP
20 November 2014
Philosophy and Consequences
Through my research in philosophy a very vibrant thing that I found was that philosophy
tends to be hurtful in many cases rather than helpful. This is largely due to the fact that no one
wants to admit they are wrong. This causes confrontation amongst groups. Such groups as the
religion of Christianity have done this a lot. It is not just Christianity anymore, there are
countless different variants within the religion of Christianity. All of these separations are
because this religion does not want to interpret the Bible the same way, so they just say bye and
create another new category of Christianity. This single example is a perfect picture boy for what
philosophy does to those that are not mentally inclined or open minded. Philosophy is like
communism in that it looks good in theory but fails pretty hard in practice. Philosophy is
fantastic in theory but fails in practice.
Throughout my research it taught me the 5 principles that make philosophy. These
principles are epistemology, how we learn, ethics, the branch of study dealing with what is the
proper course of action for man, politics, ethics applied to a group of people, esthetics, the study
of art and meta-physics, the recognition of the reality around us. These are the ideas that make up
philosophy and while they should be used to advance a society as a whole they are not. They are
only used for the betterment of a certain group of people or oneself. This is the wrongdoing of
our ancestors. There have been many philosophers throughout time and most of them that were

Powell 2

around when the Catholic Church was in power were exiled from the church and were tried in
court for going against the church. How is anything supposed to get done when things are not
being done for the people but for said rulers affiliations? It does not and that is why the past
hundred or so years has been extremely unproductive in a philosophical way. As far as
convenience is concerned though it has advanced leaps and bounds. This is due to the
philosophies of people now-a-days. Everyone has this sense of entitlement and it is wrong.
Even when people say something nine times out of ten their actions say otherwise. This says that
they know what is right and wrong but do not care enough to take to the actions that they say.
Through my research I have solidified a lot more of my beliefs than I had before. I used
to believe certain things but without a solid foundation. My research has laid the foundation for
these beliefs. Some of the things in the foundation are the 5 branches of philosophy and
understanding that there are different types of philosophy, such as objectivism, made most
popular by Ayn Rand. Having a solid foundation for ones beliefs is almost more important than
the belief itself. Without supporting details for ones argument is like trying to fire a gun without
bullets, useless. It has also showed me that one needs to know the other half of an argument to
truly get ones point across. Supporting ones argument only tries to prove it right, but the other
side could do the same thing. One needs to understand what the other argument is saying and
then give proven facts to show that their argument is invalid.
My research has opened my eyes to light of the world and has showed me the genesis of
war, in my opinion at least. When two people, religions, or groups in general do not see eye to
eye they do not bother to find a common ground they just duke it out and flex their muscles at
each other. Someday maybe the world will put aside their beliefs and work to better society and
protect the earth we live on but that will never happen so it is pretty hopeless to sit back and

Powell 3

watch. While on this earth I sit back and watch, mostly disappointed. All the kids now-a-days
cannot just take what is given to them and work for the rest, they complain that they are not
getting enough and ask for more. Although the school system is not done properly it is still an
amazing thing that everyone should be thankful. Philosophy is this amazing thing that can solve
all of the worlds problems but gets its name trashed by all of the worlds governments and
religions and this is very disappointing. Then in American schools the kids are becoming more
and more of a liability than anything. Philosophy is a very good and beautiful thing, but until the
aforementioned things take priority over it and thus the worlds problems will stay and we will
scorch the earth and end its life early.