Qualia

When people think of modern day Stoics, they think of some of the world’s greatest influencers such as Nelson Mandela. However, the first person that came in to my mind when I thought of a Stoic was my father. My father is a surgeon who works with cancer patients. Despite the fact that my parents are in a fairly stable relationship, I’ve probably lived with my father for slightly more than half of my life, and I’ve seen him far less than that. His occupation forces him to live within…read more

I was reading some of my earlier notes from the beginning of the course, and I came across some notes I wrote about the epic poems by Homer. In Homer’s Iliad, Achilles decides not to participate in the war with Trojans due to his grudge against Agamemnon’s hubris. However, when his dear friend Patroclus dies in battle, he decides participate in the battle and live a short but glorious life. According to the ancient Greek heroic code, Achilles did himself good by both resisting Agamemnon’s hubris and standing up to…read more

Plato’s theory of Forms sounded strangely familiar when I first heard it. It seemed like I had heard of it outside of Greek philosophy class, but I could not pinpoint when and where. Then it struck me today while I was reading this passage from Aristotle’s Metaphysics I. “For to each set of substances there answers a Form which has the same name and exists apart from the substances…” The fantasy trilogy Eragon, by Christopher Paolini. That is where I saw it. The three novels take place in a fictional…read more

When I learned about Parmenides in class for the first time, I did not understand what good his theory provided. After all, his conclusion that all we can state about the existence of anything is that “it is” is not practical in any sense. Unlike Plato’s Theory of Forms or Aristotle’s Four Causes, “it is” led me nowhere. Until today. It struck to me that applying Parmenides’ theory to our struggles in life could possibly help us emotionally overcome those difficulties. One of the emotional struggles I am having now…read more

According to the ancient Greek philosophy, logos, thumos, and epithumia are the three components that make up a human mind. I felt like the sun had shined upon me when I learned about this concept, because it helped me understand one of my greatest weakness: procrastination. I have a serious problem with epithumia. Whenever I know I should study for that midterm exam or finish that assignment, I suddenly get an irresistible urge to grab a snack, play iPhone games, go jogging, or just go to sleep. I understand the…read more

I was on my way to UBC today on the #84 bus when I saw two conflicting and controversial acts by a woman and my bus driver. As you know, the #84 bus around 8:30am is usually packed with people who do not want to be late to class. Naturally, there is a long line at the bus stops because some busses are just too full to take them on, and leave the passengers for later busses to come. The lady that I saw was at the very end of…read more