Post by Amina Dawood on Aug 1, 2015 6:17:54 GMT
1. Why are Faqir Chand’s experiences important in understanding the projective nature of religious visions and miracles?
Faqir Chand represents a kind of “guru” to the people of India and he had a lot of influence over people’s beliefs and their actions in his area. Understanding his experiences help us understand how and why people take religion so seriously. He was actually a lot more practical than what would seem to the naked-eye. He wasn’t completely blind to the ideas of science and asked people to be self-aware. In an interview he said, “I, for one, do not initiate people. I simply explain the Truth. Those who believe in my words are benefitted.” (The Unknowing Sage 4) Faqir goes on to talk about how some people believe in Allah and some people believe in Krishna, but in the end everyone is living according to what they are aware of. Chand was not a sole believer in religious miracles and said that people would falsely believe in religious stories and dogmas to limit themselves. For him, awareness was more important than religion.
2. What is meant by the phrase, "philosophy done well is science; philosophy done poorly remains philosophy."
This phrase means that philosophy and science are important for each other, which relates to one of the earlier questions we answered about how physics is important for doing philosophy. When we use date and information to back up our ideas and hypotheses, we are more credible. This is when our ideas are given a back bone and philosophy becomes more than a mere thought. So when we philosophize correctly, using pertinent information given to us by physicists and mathematicians, we are doing science. Science is concrete and undeniable facts and that is wat philosophy should be as well. If we come up with ideas and expect people to believe them and live by them without providing any proof for our argument, we are basically just stating an opinion. That would be simple philosophy. This simple philosophy is not credible and cannot be distinguished from the rest of the ideas of the world because it cannot be backed up with studied information. In order to be more reliable, it is necessary to do research while coming up with our philosophical ideas.
Faqir Chand represents a kind of “guru” to the people of India and he had a lot of influence over people’s beliefs and their actions in his area. Understanding his experiences help us understand how and why people take religion so seriously. He was actually a lot more practical than what would seem to the naked-eye. He wasn’t completely blind to the ideas of science and asked people to be self-aware. In an interview he said, “I, for one, do not initiate people. I simply explain the Truth. Those who believe in my words are benefitted.” (The Unknowing Sage 4) Faqir goes on to talk about how some people believe in Allah and some people believe in Krishna, but in the end everyone is living according to what they are aware of. Chand was not a sole believer in religious miracles and said that people would falsely believe in religious stories and dogmas to limit themselves. For him, awareness was more important than religion.
2. What is meant by the phrase, "philosophy done well is science; philosophy done poorly remains philosophy."
This phrase means that philosophy and science are important for each other, which relates to one of the earlier questions we answered about how physics is important for doing philosophy. When we use date and information to back up our ideas and hypotheses, we are more credible. This is when our ideas are given a back bone and philosophy becomes more than a mere thought. So when we philosophize correctly, using pertinent information given to us by physicists and mathematicians, we are doing science. Science is concrete and undeniable facts and that is wat philosophy should be as well. If we come up with ideas and expect people to believe them and live by them without providing any proof for our argument, we are basically just stating an opinion. That would be simple philosophy. This simple philosophy is not credible and cannot be distinguished from the rest of the ideas of the world because it cannot be backed up with studied information. In order to be more reliable, it is necessary to do research while coming up with our philosophical ideas.