Eveliina Salomaa
Heinolan lukio
Opettaja Antti
Romunen
1. The School of
Freedom
A little child
does what he's told to. He doesn't know other options or a better way, so
we might say that he is pretty much like a prisoner. When he grows up and
learns to do things in other ways, he finds more options and gains a bit
of freedom.
The ability to question answers that are given for
questions like "Is there some base for subjects which doesn't disappear
though the subject changes?" give us a chance to widen our knowledge, to
be independent from common beliefs. Philosophy gives us the tools to be
independent thinkers, to understand and analyze the world. There are no
stable rules nor boundaries, so one has to draw the lines by oneself.
Not knowing is therefore almost as bad as knowing if
the knowing is based on what one has read or being told to. If you cannot
justify your arguments by yourself but only by saying "I read about it",
you cannot therefore claim it at all.
When looking at "freedom" as a thing itself, one
notices that it is commonly considered as an option to choose another
answer, or no answer at all. This "freedom" is freedom within the
framework of laws or minor rules. It isn't the freedom, it is just a
freedom to choose. The "all mighty" Freedom gives all the power to the
thinker. Of course, in our world it is impossible to be a rabbit in case
you already are a human being, and we always are under some law, but
philosophy doesn't forbid you to consider the options, it urges you to do
it.
So philosophy teaches us to "use" our brains more
than we would normally do. It courages us to wonder and broaden our vision
of the world. It isn't easy nor full of joy at the first sight, but human
mind loves to figure things out. Puzzles and tricky questions make us to
seek new solutions, just like philosophy does. The difficult thing is that
because we all are taught to, for example, that we most certainly do exist
and that the sun always rises, it is hard not to trust there beliefs, not
to take them for granted. But philosophy gives us the tools. It teaches us
how to wonder like a newborn baby and gives so the skill to question
everything. It is the key, to be able to question, because therefore we
can find new solutions and to justify them by our own knowledge, not by
others'. Then, we are pretty free because we think by ourselves, not just
repeat what the others have said.
When we are given the key to the locked door, we are
given the chance to open it. We don't have to wait for somebody else to
open it for us. The same thing goes for philosophy. When we are given the
tools to consider, understand and justify, it is in our hands how we use
these tools. We don't have to wait to be given answers, we can learn to
use the tools, create the answers ourselves and thereby, we can learn how
to fly, to be free.
