Telos

Greetings and salutations, fellow philosophers!

            Welcome to my new venture in bringing philosophy to the masses, “What’s Up, Soc?” In homage to the classic Bugs Bunny line, I thought it would be the perfect name for this new blog because: 1) I love Socrates and how he lived his life (at least as how Plato and Xenophon tell us he did); 2) it’s a question and that’s the whole point of philosophy—examining our so-called knowledge and beliefs through rigorous inquiry.

            Beyond the name, I also happen to be a high school philosophy teacher. It has always amazed me that many students who come into the class have never thought about basic philosophical questions, such as “Why I am I here?” “How am I to live?” “Where did life come from?” et cetera. As Paul Tillich called them, these are questions of “ultimate concern,” the big questions we are called to ponder but not necessarily answer. Being a philosophy teacher is interesting for a lot of reasons, but the one I enjoy the most is how young minds (16-18) are teeming questions, and good ones too. Each day (or every other day at the most) I hope to post a short blurb along with a few questions for consideration. Please feel free to comment on them, leave another question/answer for others. I will try my best to use the questions that I asked students that day while at school.

            So that’s it. That is the telos or aim/goal of this new blog. Come back tomorrow when the real fun begins!