Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Quote of the Week - G.K. Chesterton

"Philosophy is merely thought that has been thought out. It is often a great bore. But man has no alternative, except between being influenced by thought that has been thought out and being influenced by thought that has not been thought out." -- G.K. Chesterton

2 comments:

George Patsourakos said...

Philosophy is derived from the Greek word "philosophia," which means love of knowledge or wisdom. It encourages people to think about situations -- situations where there are usually no definitive answers to questions.

I can still remember the first course I studied in philosophy when I was a sophomore at Northeastern University -- more than 50 years ago.The instructor -- apparently in an effort to make his students think in-depth -- asked one question in the final exam: "What is right and what is wrong?"

Now that is really a thought-provoking question.

Alice C. Linsley said...

Hard break for the students with that final exam!

My college level final exam has 20 questions and, though we review all the material, students still have trouble thinking through the issues. Philosophy should be required in the public high schools to help students learn to think critically.