By: Joan DiPiero
As a resident of Los Angeles prepared to evacuate during the recent fires, she asked herself, “What are the things that will ground me as a human?”
Something about philosophy intrigues people even in its complexity, according to Les Wolf, professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies at College of DuPage. In a time when most of the population randomly sifts through social media posts or gets lost in the chaos of daily life, it takes effort to think about what makes people “human,” to philosophize about the ability to reason, to feel emotions and to build relationships.
The study of philosophy allows students to explore reason, emotion and relationships while nurturing critical thinking, even if they find it to be personally challenging, Wolf said.
“For some students, taking the class might be for self-discovery or personal curiosity, but a lot of students register for the class because they need a humanities credit,” he said. “Whatever the reason, I hope they leave class asking questions about themselves and the world around them.”
Since most high schools do not offer classes in philosophy, students often don’t have a point of reference when they begin their first class, he said. Instead, students may feel intimidated by the prospect of subjecting one’s beliefs and values to critical scrutiny, noting that current social interactions, whether online or in texts, tend to feed our worst tendencies.
You can wipe out a generation of people. You can burn their homes to the ground, and somehow they’ll still come back. But if you destroy their achievements, their history and mankind’s way of recording history, then it’s like they never existed.
From “The Monuments Men”
“The internet has changed the way people engage with ideas, and many struggle to distinguish misinformation and disinformation from reliable information," Wolf said. "People have been taught there needs to be a ‘winner’ in discussions, so some students can be aggressive and defensive because they assume not only that there needs to be one truth, one right or wrong answer, something that may well be the case depending on the issue, but that this answer also should be obvious to everyone, and that anyone who does not immediately grasp the right answer has committed a grave error. Needless to say, such attitudes completely undermine learning and growth.”
To the contrary, Wolf encourages students to ask questions, be open to new ideas, and find logic and beauty in everything around them. His own foray into philosophy began with an avid interest in Chinese history. The more he read of Chinese history, the more he saw how much it had been influenced by philosophy. This eventually led to the decision to pursue a career in philosophy.
Wolf invites students to see how philosophy arises in all walks of life, from religion and politics to mathematics and science, and to engage with these questions in ways that are informed by history and psychology as well as logic and critical thinking. While 16 weeks can provide a limited glimpse of philosophy, he hopes to plant seeds and provide discussion models so students will take their knowledge and discover what grounds them as humans.
“It can be challenging to give space to others in a discussion,” Wolf said. “It may cause us to reevaluate our beliefs, but that is all part of our growth as humans.”
Learn More About the Philosophy and Religious Studies Program at College of DuPage