Sahar Kanishka

May 22, 2015

B4 Humanities

Philosophy Final

1. My philosophy of reality is that reality is what we believe or want to think is real, reality

seems to not be subjective, yet it is, when we are “alive,” or believe that we are alive, we

believe that, we are living our life, it is our reality, and our life should revolve around us,

even if people do not want to think of it that way, and believe that that is a selfish way of

approaching life, it is true, you are living life for yourself. Whether you are like Lord

Mahavira of Jainism, who did not speak for twelve years, and when he believed that he

had learned the ‘Keval Jnena,” or the eternal truth, he wanted to spend his life dedicated

to teaching people about this eternal truth that he had found. Although it may seem as if

Lord Mahavir was doing this for others, out of selflessness, to teach others the way to

gain their “eternal truth,” he was indeed doing it for himself, he wanted to find the eternal

truth for himself, and be able to bring peace to himself, and along with that came

exposing it to other people, to show them what he had uncovered. What reality is made

up of, is what it seems to be made of, we interpret the grass to look green, and believe

that the sky is blue, that is what we see, but we do not have the capability to view it any

different perspective or view point. But in fact, reality can be made of whatever we want

it to be, but since this earth has been inhabited by over seven billion humans and other

organisms as well, we have made the decision to make a reality that people must work

for, that if they want their millionaire reality to come true, they cannot wish upon a star
that it comes true, but they have to work, if someone wants to become an ice cream truck

driver, they have to work. Some realities are easier to create and maintain then others,

and in that we can have the comparison of the ice cream driver or the software creator.

Whether reality is objective or subjective, it seems today that people want reality to

become objective, or unbiased, that everyone lives in this world together, and no reality is

personal, that we all share this world that we live in. Yet realities can be subjective as

well, people are trying to make reality seem objective, that there is no personal reality

that is made just for you, but philosophy competes against this theory, subjective realities

can be real, we interpret ourselves as living, alive, and breathing, we are living our own

life, and we believe that we can make anything out of it, that our lives revolve solely

around us. Subjective reality is when that reality is you own personal, individual reality,

objective reality on the other hand is a reality that is neutral, no bias for anyone. But we

can bias for ourselves, we can favor ourselves over others, and live the reality we want,

but society does not allow that, your reality does not come to terms with societies reality,

that you cannot start your own multi-millionaire business without working for it, or

without putting the effort, or even if it is inherited, as I head mentioned before, you

cannot wish upon a star and hope that your dream comes true, that reality is not

compatible with the reality that society has made, which is if you want something, you

have to work for it, pay for it, or even inherit it, you can’t expect it to find its way to you.

If we know reality or not, is the question everyone wants to know, if there even is a

reality! Reality cannot be known, we have no evidence that a rock is grey, or the sky is

blue, we have no evidence that our earth is even real, or if it is just a holographic image,

and if this is all a dream. There is nothing to prove, that we are real, that our earth, solar
 system, galaxy is real! No matter what we do, there is no evidential proof that reality is

real, what we believe to be proof to us, may be something that has been drilled into our

heads is real, when it could be a dream, our imagination, a dream; we don’t know.

2. My best approach to ethics would be address all the aspects of morality, and create a

combination of all the philosophers ideas, into one, except for Relativism and

Absolutism, because both of those would cause a whirlpool of chaos in society. Yet that

is something I am about to contradict right now, Absolutism states that independents

should individually create their own morals, or what they believe is right. Relativism

states that there should be no moral values at all. When I view this from a relativists

perspective or opinion, I see the reasoning behind it, that the moral values that have been

put into our heads, drilled into our brains not to do, creates a kind of rebellion, that kids,

teens, adults have the desire to go against and challenge the creator of these rules,

basically tell them that they can’t force upon something upon them. For example: When

you tell a kid not to steal the cookie from a cookie jar, they may get the automatic angst

to get that cookie, and eat it, if you hadn’t told them there was a cookie, then they

wouldn’t have known there was a cookie, therefore resulting in them not stealing it. Yet

this is where Immanuel Kant’s theory opposes the theory of Relativism, Kant states that

we should all “Follow the golden rule,” or the rule that we have all been taught since a

very young age, he has also stated that happiness<morality; that we should prepare for

what might happen, so telling the child in advance not to steal the cookie is better than

child getting curious looking in the jar finding a cookie, and eating it, because no one told

them not to eat it, and the blame is laid on you. When the rule is taught, and the child has
been told not to take the cookie, you have done your job, and if the child takes the cookie,

it is their wrong-doing because you told them specifically not to take the cookie. As well

as there is Jeremy Bentham’s step by step guide in how to make a moral decision, which

is a factor of Utilitarianism: 1) Consider all possible course 2) Take into consideration of

all the parties 3) Calculate the pleasure and pain involved 4) Choose the course of action

that will result the greater balance of pleasure over pain. Pleasure>Pain, Good> Evil,

Happiness for most people, how this ties in with the previous theories is that if morality

was based upon this theory, there would be more happiness then pain, but with some

sacrifices as well, for example: If the child eats the cookie think of the best action to do,

punish them or teach them not to do it again, reward them for listening next time, maybe

even with a cookie! I believe that this is the best approach to Ethics and Morality, mainly

because it has more happiness then sadness, and less pain, it does make sacrifices, but

only for the better, and for the majority of the people that are being affected by the issue.

I would also like to tie in John Stuart Mill’s theory with this and create a sort of mash up,

John Stuart Mill believed that some forms of happiness are more worthwhile then others,

and that a person can act with freedom until the hurt/ harm someone else. I agree with

John Stuart Mill with this because the happiness that may be beneficial for the majority

of the people may not have been as worthwhile. I also agree with this theory because it

states that a person should have the freedom to live the life they want to, unless it impacts

another person badly. This seems like the best approach because it combines two of the

most advantageous and safe theories, and creates a theory that has the step by step guide

of Jeremy Bentham, and the more ‘heartfelt,’ theory of John Stuart Mill.
3. Humans can be rational, but at the same time they can be extremely irrational, and seem

to lose all capability to decipher what is wrong and what is right. It seems to be the case

that humans let emotions get in the way of all rationality, such as the way to decide if the

person who broke into someone’s house, and stole their belongings, to help their family

survive, was not with bad intention, but solely to help themselves. But the person who

broke into the house lost all rationality, because even when they are in times of distress,

they should not harm or hurt others, and instead try to bring themselves up. So in my

opinion, I would say that humans are not rational, even when we seem to find a way to

hold the world in our hand with a tiny mobile device, we still cannot ration properly.

Meaning that even though we have evolved over time, we are only human, and with the

complex emotions that we have, it is difficult to rationalize properly, you cannot avoid

human nature, and sometimes it can take a toll on your opinion. Rational opinions would

use reasoning and logic to back itself up, and when there are debates or educational

arguments you should always rationalize what you’re going to say, use reasoning to

prove your point, yet that does not always happen, with the amount of emotions that

humans have, we tend to side with what we believe is right, instead of using logic of what

is actually right, and base it upon our opinion, which is why I believe that humans are not

rational, we have too many emotions to actually only base all of our arguments with logic

and reasoning, and tend to get emotional, and instead of using any rationality, you begin

to focus more on what YOU think is right. It’s not humans fault that they cannot ration

properly, we were just have too many emotions!

4. Art, is something that can convey a message to people, everywhere. It is like a book, or a

film, it expresses a certain emotion, what the artist feels, why the made that piece. Art is
something that can be used to show how you feel, what you desire, what you love, it is

like telling a story through a picture. “A picture is worth a thousand words.” -Fred

Barnard. So whether art is subjective or objective is a simple question, it is subjective,

you make art for yourself, and then for others, not others first, art is personal, something

that you can express yourself through, a way to show how you feel, how your day went,

etc. Anyone who views art as a way to make a profit, and gain easy money is wrong, art

is not about money or fame, it is about the way you feel, and how you make others feel

with your art, and is something to be valued, something that is important to you, and you

want to make it important to others as well. In Humanities we watched a film “Exit

Through The Gift Shop,” I found this film to actually be extremely interesting, as I got to

see more and more how street art is an excellent example of conveying messages to

people. Street Artists like Banksy, and Shepard Fairey used street art as a way to show

how they felt to the world, to start something, a sort of revolution, they did street art

because it made them happy, and over time privileges eventually found their way to

them, but that was AFTER, it wasn’t their mindset to become rich and famous, they did

art because, they wanted to, it was their passion. On the other hand Mr. Brainwash

seemed disliked in among my peers, as well as myself, didn’t exactly view what he had

made as “art,” he had even said in the film: “We just add a couple zeroes to that, and

there $10,000.” This is exactly the opposite of what art is, art is not about making a profit

from the very start, that is something that comes afterwards, sort of the ‘treat,’ yet it

seemed to be the MBW had a fixed mindset on making money, and making it fast, and it

seemed to be that his friends did not appreciate that either, MBW knew how much they

loved what they did, and how much work they put into their art, MBW on the other hand
seemed to splatter a little paint on another person’s artwork and “add a couple zeroes”

and there you go, art! With all the hype that Mr. Brainwash had made about his gallery

and art pieces, he had made a quick profit, and called what he made art. This is not art, art

is about MAKING IT YOURSELF, and DOING IT AS A PASSION, NOT FOR

MONEY… Art is about all the work you put into it yourself, and how much that piece

means to you. MBW, had people make his art for him, totally taking away the complete

reason in why art is so important to us, today, it allows us to express ourselves, and

MBW was taking that away, he was showing a new path to, quick fame, and quick cash,

and that is extremely agitating to all the people who actually know that art isn’t about the

money, it is about the emotion. Which leads me to role of art in our world today, art

everywhere, and without it, this world would be corrupt, you don’t even have to be

“good,” at art to know how important it is. It allows people to do something that books

and movies can’t, it displays a message in a different way, whether you are using color or

black and white, circles or squares, 3D or 2D, art is about creating something that has

feeling involved, and with all the art that there is in the world, it gives the world more

personality, without it, the world would not be the same, it wouldn’t have any

personality, people would not know how to be creative, the world would be, bland. Art

can give us mixed emotions, from happy to sad, to quizzical, it allows us to think out of

the box, and broaden our horizons, letting us grow more and more everyday, without art

we wouldn’t be able to grow as people, the world wouldn’t be able to evolve, we

wouldn’t have the technology we have today. The artfulness of even technology, from the

slim Iphone’s, to the new smart watches, the design, the art, the way it makes people feel,
 excited, happy, even coffee tables are pieces of art, nature is art, our world is made up of

art, so thinking of the world without it, would be almost impossible.

5. What it means to be human is, quite a tough question, it is difficult to view yourself as

what you are, when all you really think that you are is a series of organs, tissues,

muscles… But what does it mean to be human… What it means to be human is,

emotions, pain, excitement, anxiety, happiness, sadness, love, anger. To be human is

something you can’t describe, you actually have to be human to know what it means,

from everything that you are, your complexion, the color of your eyes, the color of your

skin, the texture of your hair, your height, your weight, all the characteristics, that you

are, a human. What it means to be human is being able to feel emotion, to know what you

are, who you are, to feel all the great, amazing things in life, and also face the harder,

things as well. Being human is something that you feel, I believe that the emotions you

feel, make you human, from falling and scraping your knee and knowing what pain feels

like, to eating a cake and feeling happy! That is what it is like to be human, to feel what

“life,” is like, and to live it with all your emotions. Being human is complex, we are

confusing mammals who feel different things, who believe in different things and have

different emotions, which is what makes us up, besides the skin and bone, and fat, we are

merely emotions, that is what it means to be human, to me.