W-C Rep - MoS - MoA - Keeper - M'Hael - Amyrlin Seat - MoT - MoN - GC Intro to Philosophy Written by Kalitina Sedai (former member). [Board Intro/Signup Message] [Lesson One] [Lesson Two] [Lesson Three] [Lesson Four] [Lesson Five] [Lesson Six] [Final] Intro/Sign Up Here! Welcome to Introduction to Philosophy. The class is open to all and will cover three branches of Philosophy. Philosophy is the love of wisdom, so if you love wisdom then you should join, or if you just want to learn some stuff about philosophy then you should. You do not have to wait on a 'Pass' before going to the next lesson. Please make all posts 200 words or longer. The class is being taught by Kalitina Sedai of the White Ajah. If you have any questions about the class then you may contact her via e-mail. Welcome to the class and have fun. Sign Up Here! All you need to do to sign up is post your name, rank, and e-mail address. If you have an ajah/ajah of aspiration please also include it. If you have any questions you may direct them to me via an e-mail. Enjoy the class. Lesson 1: Cosmology - Part I Kalitina sat behind a white desk as people of all ranks began to enter the room. She had light music playing to try to create a calm atmosphere. It was her first time teaching anything and wanted to do a good job without boring everyone something awful. The desks were arranged in a semi-circle facing the front of the class. She pushed a loose strand of brown hair behind her left ear and stood as the last person entered the room. Walking to the back of the room she gently closed the door. “Welcome to Introduction to Philosophy,” she began as she headed back towards the front of the classroom. “Today we will touch on what Philosophy is and will begin part one of two segments of Cosmology. Since it is the first class I will keep it rather simple.” Kalitina took out a peace of chalk from the desk and wrote the word ‘Philosophy’ on the board. “Philosophy is literally, the love of wisdom. It is the way we in which we judge, evaluate, and act, with the goal of making ourselves wiser, and more self-reflective.” Turning around she looked over the class and noticed some taking notes. “In the following classes to come we will exercise our way of thinking. Instead of asking how, we will be asking why. She turned back to the board and wrote ‘love of wisdom’ under philosophy. “That is just a general understanding of Philosophy and what it is. There are various many branches that delve further into it. We will only be touching lightly on three of the branches. The first of the three being Cosmology.” Kalitina turned around to look at the class to wait for the ones that were taking notes to catch up. She eyed of each of them in turn to make sure that they were paying attention and understood everything so far. Nodding to herself she wrote the word ‘Cosmology’ on the board. She looked over the class once more before she began talking. “Cosmology is the study of the order of the world. It involves both the study of the physical world, as well as its origins. Have you ever wondered where the world came from? How the wheel came to be? The light and the dark?” She saw a few nods and decided to pause there to let it sink in. As she waited she wrote ‘study of the world, dealing with the Wheel, One Power, and Pattern’ below cosmology on the board. “We will go further into cosmology tomorrow, but for now, your assignment,” Kalitina began as she rummaged through the desk for another piece of chalk. Finding one she wrote three questions on the board. 1) What do you know about Philosophy? 2) What do you believe to be the love of wisdom? 3) Why are you taking this class and what do you hope to gain from it? “Answer these three questions in two to five sentences or more for each one. After I have read over your answers and approved them you may go. Also, before you get started, one last note. We will be meeting tomorrow in the Gardens a few minutes after dusk. Kalitina noticed a few puzzled looks when she mentioned meeting in the Gardens, but she only smiled to herself. “You may now begin your assignment,” she said as she sat down behind the white desk and started making notes for tomorrow’s class as she waited for people to finish their assignments. Lesson 2: Cosmology - Part II Kalitina was sitting on a bench in the Garden waiting for everyone to arrive. She had put up a sign on the door in case anyone forgot to meet in the Garden. Earlier in the day she had noticed a few people go to class and then leave. Smiling to herself she went over today’s lesson in her head. She noticed a few people starting to appear. “Please have a seat somewhere close by until class begins. We will start after everyone gets here,” Kalitina said as she stood up to provide the bench to someone else. Once everyone was there she began. “Today we will begin part two of Cosmology. As discussed yesterday Cosmology is the study of the world. You may be wondering to yourself why we met in the garden today. To answer that question for anyone who is thinking it I decided to hold the class here today to use it as an example.” Pausing slightly to look around the class she took a small breath and decided to walk around a little bit. “To make your mind start thinking I will be asking you some questions. Now keep in mind that some of these questions are partially opinionated. None of them will have certain answers, but still plays an important part of Cosmology, as well as Philosophy.” Kalitina walked back to the front of the class and faced everyone. “How did the Wheel come to be?” she asked. “And why did it come to be?” She knew that many would most likely have various answers to how it came to be, but was curious as to what people would say to why it came to be. She saw a young Novice towards the back raise her hand. “Just think about it, we will answer them later as part of your assignment.” The Novice lowered her hand and Kalitina continued. “When did time begin and what was there before time?” Kalitina said after she allowed enough time for the previous question to sink in. “How did the One Power and the Pattern come to be?” Kalitina went over to a nearby rose bush and picked rose. “How did this rose come to be born on that bush? Many of you may be able to answer the last questions fairly easily, but what about the others?” She handed the rose to a Soldier that was sitting towards the front of the class. “To some there are no certainties in their answers and they are plagued with doubt. While to others they have theories on the answers that may or may not be correct.” Kalitina walked to the other side of where everyone was sitting. “Everything around you was created in one way or another. There is a Cosmological Argument that states this: the attempt to prove the existence of a creator with the existence of the universe, takes in the assumption that a creator has to create ‘something’ out of ‘nothing.’” Realizing that probably began to confuse them somewhat she decided to explain it somewhat. “It means that the Creator had to create everything around us out of nothing. How it was done not even I know. There are of course theories, but nothing is for certain. Philosophy is based upon a belief system and a lot of the matters are self-opinionated answers.” Realizing that it was getting late and she knew that Novices had a curfew to uphold to she tried to hurry up. “The last thing in Cosmology that will be covered is the end of time. All good things must come to an end, as does the Wheel. As it was created, as will it end. Now I’m not a scholar and I will admit to not knowing how everything around us will end. And when I say end, I don’t mean just the good dying and the bad ruling. I mean everything coming to an end, both good and bad. Where the world as you know it no longer is here. The Wheel gone, the One Power gone, and the Pattern gone. Nothing will be here. Some speculate that it will be forever, while others think that when it’s gone a new world will come to be.” Kalitina looked around her and saw a few faces somewhat in shock. She knew that she had ended it rather strong without giving anyone time to take it in. She walked back towards the front and stopped to look around. “During the entire length of the class I asked many various questions. Your assignment will be to come up to me one at a time and answer them. I will place both you and me in a Circle of Silence so that only I will be able to hear your answers and no one else will be able to form their answers from what is in your own mind. After you have answered all the questions reasonably I will lift the ward and then you may go. Also, we will be meeting back in the classroom at the normal time tomorrow” Kalitina chose the Soldier she had given the rose to, to go first and then randomly chose them to go from there. Lesson 3: Epistemology - Part I Arriving early to class, Kalitina sat down behind the white desk and rummaged through her notes quickly. She was impressed with the turnout of people taking the class and was slightly intimidated by it. She knew that she wasn’t the best, but she did try her best. She looked around the class and noticed the seats in a semi circle. She shook her head at nothing in particular and got up to rearrange them. She started turning the seats and desks to face the front on the class. About halfway through it a Drin’far’ji came into the room and helped Kalitina finished rearranging the seats. “Thank you for your help,” she said as he sat in a seat towards the front of the class. While she waited for the rest of the class she went and wrote the word Epistemology on the board. Whoever had used the class before her had erased what she had on there from the first day of class. She sat done behind the white desk and waited for everyone to arrive. After everyone was there and seated Kalitina stood up and scanned the room. “Today we will begin the first part of Epistemology,” she said as she went around the desk and stood in front of it facing the class. “Epistemology is the most important branch of Philosophy. Now, I presume that everyone brought something to write with, and on. If not there is some on the table in the back of the class,” Kalitina said as a few people got up and walked towards the back of the class and then returned to their seats. “I want everyone to write down what thy think Epistemology is. If you do not know that is okay. I will tell you after everyone has wrote something down. However, please do not change your answer after I tell you. I do not expect everyone to know. You may begin writing,” Kalitina said as she went back around the desk and picked up a piece of chalk and wrote ‘Study of’ under the word Epistemology. She then waited for everyone to stop writing what they thought Epistemology was. “Epistemology is the study of knowledge,” Kalitina said as she finished writing the definition on the board. “Tomorrow I will go into what knowledge is. For now however we will go just slightly deeper into the study of knowledge. Epistemology studies how we come to know things, what the limits are of our knowledge, and what sort of certainty or uncertainty attaches to our knowledge.” Kalitina paused a moment waiting for people to take it in before she continued. Her mouth was getting slightly dry from talking and she noticed a few people beginning to get restless. She doubted that they had been in class long, but she sometimes was able to lose track of time. “Epistemology also deals with the nature, origin and range of knowledge. It studies how people learn and even if they do learn,” Kalitina said. “Now I would like everyone to turn in their papers with what they thought Epistemology. I trust that no one changed their answers after I explained what it was,” she said as she eyes a pair of Novices in the back that was giggling. They hushed when they realized they were being watched. “Now, for your homework, I want you to find someone that knows what knowledge is and ask them to explain it to you. If you know what it is you may use yourself. I want you to write a paragraph on what knowledge is. It will be due first thing tomorrow when class begins. You may go,” Kalitina said as she sat down behind her desk looking over what people thought Epistemology had meant. She chuckled at a few as the classroom emptied. Lesson 4: Epistemology - Part II After a restless night of recurring dreams, Kalitina walked to class a bit late. She had very rarely ever been late for anything in her life be she craved sleep. Arriving to class she noticed everyone was there. “Excuse my lateness. I’m sure you all went over yesterday’s lesson while I was not here,” Kalitina said and noticed a few people blush and others look away from her. She did not actually expect any of them to review yesterday’s lesson without actually being told to do so. She walked on up to the front of the class and stood in front of the desk. “I presume that yesterday’s assignment has been turned in. If not you may bring them up to me now so that we can get started.” Kalitina waited for the few who had not already placed their assignment on the desk to turn them in. Once everyone had handed in their assignments she began. “We will continue on with the branch of Philosophy called Epistemology. As you should recall, Epistemology is the study of knowledge. But what is knowledge?” Kalitina asked rhetorically. “Knowledge is the awareness and understanding of facts, truths, or information gained in the form of experience or learning,” Kalitina said. “By taking this class you are gaining knowledge. We all gain knowledge in our own ways. Some my gain knowledge by deciding to play a prank on an Aes Sedai and learning that maybe it was not their brightest idea, no matter how fun it may have been. Others may learn by studying and gaining knowledge though research. No matter what way you gain knowledge you learn and become a better person. Hence… Philosophy.” Kalitina started walking around the class as she talked to try to keep people from drifting. For some it some reason it seemed they paid attention better that way. “Epistemology is more concerned with the possibility of defending, proving, and justifying what we think we know,” she said stopping in the middle of the classroom. “Now I will ask a few simple questions that will be your assignment,” she said as she walked back up to the front of the class and took a piece of chalk from the desk. “I want all the questions answered in one or more paragraphs that are somewhat to fully developed,” she said as she began writing the questions on the board. “There are five questions. Can you make decisions? Are there limits to knowledge? Do you have a free will? What do you interpret knowledge as? How do you know, you know what you know? I am not looking for write or wrong answers here. Only what you think you know. Also, please do not try to second guess yourself either. Sometimes what you think you know to be wrong can sometimes be right. With that being said, aft you finish bring them up to me and I’ll read over them, then you may go. You may begin,” Kalitina said as she took a seat behind the desk and pushed her brown hair behind her ears and started making notes of the little that she remembered of the dream that she had been having the last few nights as she waited for people to finish. Lesson 5: Aesthetics - Part I Hoping to keep the next class short, Kalitina looked down at her notes. She had four pages worth of notes on Aesthetics. If she wished to keep the next class somewhat shorter she would have to cram a lot of information into today’s lesson. She shook her head at the thought. She could not cram the majority of the information into one lesson. It would be too much. She looked up from her notes and noticed that there were already people in the class. When they had arrived was beyond her. She looked back down glancing over her notes one last time as the remainder of the class flooded in. Once everyone was seated Kalitina stood up. “He who tries to reason about love only loses his reason,” she said. “Today we will begin learning about Aesthetics. It is slightly more complicated than Cosmology and Epistemology. It is one of those concepts which are not easily broken down into simpler ideas, which makes it rather hard to explain it effectively. So I will try to go slow. To put it simple, Aesthetics is the study of beauty.” Kalitina scanned the classroom quickly before continuing. “I began the class of with a sort of parable. There are two parts to Aesthetics, the Philosophy of beauty, and the Philosophy of Art. I used the parable to show like fashion for two other parables. One concerning beauty, and the other concerning art. The one for beauty is ‘He who attempts to explain beauty explains nothing.’ The one for art is ‘He who tries to analyze art only kills art.’” Kalitina walked behind the desk and picked up an elegant rug thought could probably be found in a royal palace and held it in front of the class. “Those that study aesthetics seek to understand why some things arouse positive reactions, whereas others arouse more negative feelings. For myself, I feel at peace when I see this rug. Others may feel anger or they may not feel anything at all. In fact, they may thing it’s ugly and does not have any beauty. However, even the ugliest of a thing has beauty. It’s all in the eye of the beholder. Some may see this rug and wonder how much coin they could get for it. When one sees this rug, or anything, as something to gain coin it then loses its aesthetic value. It is no longer a thing of art or beauty, but rather a good to be sold,” she said and then laid the rug down on the desk. “There is much more to what aesthetics, art, and beauty are. However, I will try to save that tomorrow. In mention of tomorrow I want everyone to bring their most prized possession with them to class tomorrow,” Kalitina said and noticed a few odd looks come her direction. She smiled and continued. “As most of you are probably getting use to the routine of answering questions, I would not want to disrupt it. I will write several questions on the board for you to answer. Once you finish, turn them in as always and I will go over them and then you may go on with your daily duties.” Kalitina walked up to the board and grabbed a piece of chalk off the board and wrote the following questions on it: 1 – What is beautiful? 2 – Why do we find certain things beautiful? 3 – Why are we drawn to certain objects and repelled by others? 4 – What can life be like? 5 – What makes something beautiful? 6 – Is beauty only a visual thing? “Answer these six questions. There is no right or wrong answers; it is more of a matter of your own views and opinions. You may now begin. If you did not bring anything to write with or on there is some stuff on the back table if you need to use them,” Kalitina said as she sat down and watched the some people begin to write while others looked around the class as if they had no clue what to write. Lesson 6: Aesthetics - Part II Lesson Title Kalitina arrived to class about an hour early with an armful of papers. She laid the papers and arranged the seats in a semi-circle. Today would be slightly different from the other days and she only hoped that everyone remembered to bring their most valued possession with them to class. After the seats were arranged she went and sat down and sorted out all the papers so that they were grouped with whoever they belonged to. After Kalitina had finished sorting she stood up and decided to clean off the board behind her since no one had arrived yet. Slowly people started to arrive after she had sat back down. “I trust that everyone has brought something that the treasure? If not then I advise that you go get something. You have a few more minutes before class starts so make it quick,” Kalitina said and then started handing out everyone’s papers. Once everyone was there and with their items Kalitina began. “Yesterday we touched the somewhat basics and a little further of Aesthetics. Today we will learn what art is and what beauty is and each of you will give a little presentation of your own,” she said as she smiled when she heard a few groans. “We will begin with ‘What is art?’ Simply stated, art is a human effort to imitate, supplement, alter, or counteract the work of nature. It is also the conscious creation or arrangement of sounds, colors, forms, movements, or other elements in a manner that affects the sense of beauty,” Kalitina said trying to make it sound interesting. Pushing a lose strand of hair out of her face Kalitina continued. “Now that you know what art is, ‘What is beauty?’ Beauty is the value that gives pleasure to the mind or senses and the qualities that is most effective, gratifying, or telling.” “Even though both art and beauty have meanings, there is no precise meaning; much less any correct answer of what art and beauty is when you are dealing with Aesthetics. It can sometimes become confusing, but that is when you are trying to think too hard. Sometimes you don’t need to over analyze everything. The answer lies right in front of you,” Kalitina said as she took a seat in an empty seat that was directly in the middle of the semi circle. “For today’s assignment each of you will stand in front of the desk and present to the class what you value most. Tell us why you treasure it and what it means to you. Also be sure to include what beauty lies in or around it. Also, there is to be no bad talk about another’s item. That is just unacceptable. You would not want someone to say something bad about something that you care greatly about. We will begin with the end of the half circle to my left and we work our way around skipping over me. One you have presented be seated and be respectful of the other presenters. Once everyone is done you may go. Also, do not forget to study for tomorrow’s exam. After tomorrow you will be rid of me and this class,” Kalitina said smiling. She nodded at the person sitting in the first seat to the left of her to start. Final Exam Lesson Title Kalitina walked into the brightly lighted classroom and laid a stack of exams on the desk. The seats where still in a semi circle from the day before so she went and scattered them throughout the classroom so it would be slightly harder for anyone to try to cheat off of another. She then went and laid an exam of each desk upside down and waited by the door for students to begin to arrive. “Please have a seat and do not turn over the exam until instructed to do so,” She said as she pointed the person where to sit. She wanted to try to break up little groups of people who always seemed to want to cause trouble. Once everyone was in the room and seated she made her way through a maze of seats to the front of the classroom. “I trust that no one snuck a peak at the exam,” Kalitina said looking at a young girl towards the front of the room who looked a bit guilty. “There are a total of fifteen questions. Some of them are more opinionated questions and the others are questions that we have discussed in class. In order to pass the exam, and the class, you must answer at least eleven or more questions correctly. If you do not answer eleven or more correctly I will allow you one chance to correct the ones that you missed.” Kalitina glanced around the classroom one last time. She was going to miss it slightly once it was over. It had been a learning experience as much for as it was for them. She had never taught anyone anything before this and she rather enjoyed it. “Once you are done please bring the exam up to be so that I may check your answers and let you know how you did. If you answer eleven or more correct you may go, if not I will let you try again. I think you get the idea from there. You may now begin,” Kalitina said as she took a seat behind the desk and watched everyone turn their exams over. The exams reads: Directions: Please answer each question to the best of your ability in a full sentence. 1 – What is Philosophy? 2 – What is Cosmology? 3 – If the Creator created time, then how did the Creator come to be? 4 – What is knowledge? 5 – What do you find to be beautiful, and why? 6 – What is Aesthetics? 7 – Why do we exist? (Not how, but rather why.) 8 – What is beauty? 9 – What is Epistemology? 10 – Explain the following parable in either terms or art, or beauty. “He who tries to reason about love only loses his reason.” 11 – What is art? 12 – Why do you think that you are able to think? 13 – Do you find yourself beautiful? Why or why not? 14 - What do you believe is to be gained the most from the world around you? 15 – What is the most important branch of Philosophy?