Philosophy 2008

I know virtually nothing about philosophy – I have never studied it and what I do know about it, I have only heard from other people and seen in the movies! I was therefore quite interested in the philosophy workshop, but did not know what exactly to expect from it.
I was pleasantly surprised to discover just how much the workshop leader, Dr. Klaus Müller-Richter, knew about his subject. What was really fun about his lecturing style, however, was that he did not only give a presentation while our group listened, but got the whole class actively involved in discussions during which we could give our opinions on some of the statements that he made and even in some instances question these statements.
During the workshop Dr. Müller-Richter illustrated the huge part that German philosophers such as Immanuel Kant have played in terms of global thinking, something that I did not know before. Something that also fascinated me was that the ideas developed by Kant hundreds of years ago (already in the 18th Century) are still very much applicable to the world we live in today and fit seamlessly with the work of modern German philosophers such as Jürgen Habermas whose work was also discussed during this workshop.
A term which forms the crux of Immanuel Kant´s philosophy is enlightenment – thinking for oneself and not allowing others to corrupt or influence one´s thought-processes and personal growth. I feel that this is something that we can all learn from in the modern world we live in where it seems so easy to simply conform, follow the group and ´´go with the flow´´. What I thus learnt from this workshop is the importance of living one´s life the way that one wants to, independent of external influence.
Another idea that was touched on in this workshop is that of Faith versus Knowledge and how important the relation between these two terms is in philosophy. By considering this relation, Dr. Müller-Richter explained how many of the current happenings in the world can be explained, something that I had also never thought of before.

In closing I would like to say that this workshop was truly very enjoyable and mind-opening and definitely changed the way I think about philosophy. Thank you very much to everyone involved.

by: Christiaan Pretorius

 

Last Update (12/01/08)