Who am I? I'm an Irish Italian woman I'm a Wife I'm a Daughter I'm an Aunt I'm a Grand Daughter I'm a Niece I'm a Cousin I'm a friend I'm a music teacher I'm an art teacher I'm a musician I'm an Ohioan I'm a New Yorker I'm a fashion nut I'm a glasses wearer I'm a student I'm an exerciser I'm a democrat I'm a doer I'm a leader I am Alison. Who are you?

Due to the 8 millionth winter snowstorm this season, I got bored and decided to puruse my husband's book collection. He owns a vast number of books, most of them dealing with philosophy and classical literature. Just for fun, I thought I'd take a stab at reading a book by a philosopher I never heard of. I picked out the book The Sickness Unto Death by Soren Kierkegaard. Talk about some deep mumbo jumbo. It took me 40 minutes to read the first paragraph. The question is posed: What i...

I recieved a 123/100 on my journal!! yeah!!! Now I will graduate Magna Cum Laude in December!! MAybe I'll write a blog about my adventures being a student teacher this fall...That could be fun....

What I've Learned from Philosophy Class 1) Question Everything--This goes back to the statement "If everyone jumped off a bridge, would you?" Just because one person makes a statement (i.e. Plato saying art possesses the soul) doesn't always mean it's solid fact. So just take a step back and think for yourself. 2) Observe as much as possible--This is a great idea that started with Aristotle and continued on through Philosophers such as Descartes and Hume. If you observe, then you...

Okay, so how many people watch(ed) Sesame Street? When I was younger, every day circa 4:30, I found myself waiting in anticipation to find out what the Count's secret number of the day was. He would sit down in front of that silly organ and go up the scale until he reached that magical number. Some days he wouldn't have to go up very far, and others it seemed like he would go up each and every key. When the magic number would be played, confetti filled the tv screen, and it seemed lik...

Let me share a story with you: About four years ago my cousin had this great idea to set me up on a date with one of his friends. I had a bad feeling about this from the start, because I tend to be on the shy side in general, but I decided to go along with the whole charade just to humor all parties involved. Anyways, to get to know a little bit about this person, he (my cousin) gave me this guy’s e mail address. I figured, what’s the harm in exchanging e mails, I guess it’s better to do t...

According to Twentieth Century Philosopher Suzanne Langer, Music is considered to be the "Purest of symbolic media". She goes on by questioning if music can be the universal language for everyday life. Being a musician, I wish it was true, but music is definitely NOT the universal language. One might argue who in the world does not know the first four chords of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony? While everyone in the world might know this particular melody, it doesn’t hold the same cognitive...

The Meno is one of Plato's mid to early Socratic dialogues. The conversation between Meno and Socrates throughout the dialogue primarily focuses on the concept of "virtue" and whether or not it can be taught. I believe that Meno's primary definitions of virtue are rather vague and very worthy of Socrates' unclear answers. At one point, Meno states that one cannot learn about what one does not know. To balance out this argument, Socrates argues that the inner soul is eternal and that learning...

In philosophy class, my teacher shared a very interesting story. His son is just learning how to ride a bike where the breaks are located on the handle bars, instead of pushing back on the pedals. Because he is not comfortable using the hand breaks, he keeps stopping by putting his foot down on the ground, and has been rather successful at doing so. One day he decided to go down the driveway and pedaled at speeds faster than he's ever been before. He stood up and began to put his foot...

Dictionary.com (the greatest site ever!) defines fate as, "The supposed force, principle, or power that predetermines events." In other words, inevitable daily tasks are predestined by this uncontrollable force. So according to this so-called principle of fate, the bowl of frosted flakes that you ate this morning might either make or break your whole entire day. For example, say you wake up, shower, go through the rest of your morning routine and on a whim decide to pour yourself a hea...

David Hume believes that all human values and experiences derive from two different types of beliefs: Matters of fact and relations of ideas. Matters of fact beliefs claim to report the nature of existing things. Relations of mind can be defined as mind associations. Let’s think about some “matter of fact” examples; in fact, let’s take Hume’s favorite example. The sun will rise tomorrow morning. This is a matter of fact because the sunrise is a direct effect caused by the rotation of ...

Let’s talk about what is in our heads….here’s my running list I am at work and typing There’s a reflection of the computer screen I hear the clicking of the keys as I type words on the screen I also hear the buzzing of the air conditioner I feel excited because I am thinking about my busy weekend ahead Sunday is my Birthday I should not have had pizza yesterday My face itches 7 ½ more hours to go until work is over Coffee coffee coffee Descartes rationalized that to unders...

In my opinion, the comments in Plato’s essays pertaining to Greek culture in reference to the arts are absolutely sacrilegious. According to Plato, art is insidious because it has the power to bewitch the soul and compel strong and decadent emotions from those whom it affects. The thought of that is absolutely disgusting. Art, poetry, and music are all examples of emotional outlets used to express oneself through creativity. Not only do the arts build upon one's psychological and cognitiv...

The other night in Philosophy Class we were discussing Plato’s Apology and my professor asked if an education could hurt anyone. According to all of the propaganda on television pushing the No Child Left Act, an education for every child would be a terrible thing to waste. Has anyone ever taken a moment to stop and think that instead of feeding the minds of children with knowledge that the education system is actually duping students on the process of learning? Teachers everywhere are brai...

According to dictionary.com a “thing” is described as an idea, entity, or quality perceived, known, or thought to have its own existence. While this definition is very accurate, the term “thing” seems quite generic. Many objects and ideas can be described as things, but once one is consciously aware and educated about the actual object; wouldn’t one want to use its label to avoid confusion? After our discussion about the term “thing” in Philosophy Class, just for fun (and out of sheer bore...