The field of philosophy involves thinking about the world through questions similar to the one asked for this paper. What do you know? A philosopher might argue that, to answer this question, one has to analyze everything about the way we think as humans, how we learn, and how to decipher what’s true and what’s not. So far, what I know about philosophy is limited to the basics of philosophical reasoning which provides a structure for navigating philosophical thought. When I began this project all I knew was that philosophy was a way for me to evaluate the world with questions, something I know I do subconsciously every day. Asking questions about the unordinary is how I have always come to conclusions. This was the motivation for this inquiry; a simple love for knowledge. 

The project will require me to dig deep into both language and history, as both play a huge role in philosophy. It’s crucial to think critically, or, to be more accurate in a philosophical sense, skeptically about everything in philosophy. This includes asking extensive questions about what you think you already know, or what you, as an individual, validates as true knowledge. It seems complicated but in my first week of inquiry I have already had a massively enjoyable time asking these questions about life. These questions serve almost as a guide to discovering secrets of life and the universe, which also introduces science into the field of philosophy. While science may have challenged me considerably in the past because of its close ties to math, the art of scientific inquiry is one that I value and trust. Science offers true answers to many questions about the material world. These are the main components of my study that require me to expand my thinking and knowledge. 

Before I began my project there was not much that I knew about philosophy except what I’ve heard from my mother and friends who’ve taken classes on the subject. My mother and I share the passion for questions and answers that I highlighted above; No doubt she passed it on to me. We’ve always enjoyed conversing about various topics, dissecting what we’ve learned about various political topics from various news sources, comparing information, and deducting the truth of given situations. I can’t remember when I first learned what philosophy was, but I believe it was with the help of my mother that I discovered it. Other than that, I likely picked up things about philosophy from previous studies, school, or random informational youtube videos that I watch often. 

The biggest question I have yet to answer has to do with the creative aspect of this project. I haven’t yet learned about the intersections of philosophy and art so I’m left wondering how others have approached the topic in the past. This understanding will come later in my project, after I’m done learning about the fundamentals of philosophy and the history of philosophy. (Understanding the history of philosophical thought is super important to me because I have a much harder time drawing conclusions when I don’t understand the timeline of events – plus, it’s incredibly interesting). After I do this I will be faced with the task of reflecting on what I’ve learned to produce creative pieces, in my case, photos. Though I don’t believe this will be incredibly difficult for me. From a scientific standpoint, photography can be considered almost as a form of light or time travel. The ability to capture a moment in time using light is something I find both fascinating and wonderfully confusing. But my confusion leaves me with curiosity rather than frustration. It seems almost magical to be able to capture these moments. Because of this curiosity, I’ve found so much inspiration for photography in my inquiry already. For example, I considered, from a philosophical perspective, the question of seeing. Empiricism is the branch of philosophy that deals with ways of thinking that tell us about the material world using sense experience. Empiricism operates under the assumption or belief that sense-experience is the most reliable source of information. Using this thinking, I asked myself if I can really see. I have worn glasses since 4th grade and my vision has decreased consistently and considerably since then. I asked myself this: If by the choice of nature I cannot see without the help of my scientifically designed glasses, can I truly ever perceive anything in its true form? From this perspective, I think the answer is no, I cannot truly see. I find this to be a humorous conclusion. The question inspired me to take blurry pictures, not for the aesthetic, but for research purposes. Photography offers me the opportunity to see the way nature designed me to see, which is, in my case, actually not seeing. This was the first idea that popped into my head and while it may not be my strongest, it’s certainly a starting point.