In studying the "The Spirit of Chinese Philosophy" of Fung Yu-Lan's book, I caught myself stucked in the discussion of the reflective kind of thinking. It was said that: "This [the] kind of thinking is called reflective because it takes life as it's object". In other words, when one is to think in a reflective manner, his/her life, and all that constitutes it, is the main basis of his/her thinking.
It's like a person's life (all that are life-related matters of him/her) is the "mirror" that "reflects" his/her way of thinking. If you are to think reflectively, you are the only one who can do that, for you alone are the one who lives that kind of life you have. Mine as well, I am the only who one who can think reflectively on my way, because I am also the only one who lives the life I have. It's like what Ferriols said: "If you want to see something, you must see it for yourself". Why? Because, again, it is only you who can look at it that way; your way. If I am to see it, and I am to tell you what I saw, I am not telling you what you see, but of course, of what I see; you may disagree or maybe agree but not totally. That's why to think reflectively, one must use his/her OWN life as the object, not any other else's.
I would like to end this with a quote from Bertrand Russell's Value of Philosophy, and I quote: "If the study of philosophy has any value at all for others than
students of Philosophy, it must be only
indirectly, through its effects upon the lives of those who study it. It
is in these effects, therefore, if anywhere, that the value of Philosophy must be primarily sought".
Your date and time stamp may reflect November 12, 2014, 8:41 AM, but this is because the time zone you have used is GMT, not GMT +8:00, which is the Philippine time. Your actual time of publication is November 13, 2014, 12:02 AM as revealed in your Google+ page, which is set at Philippine time. Therefore, this post will be credited for November 13, and no post will be credited for November 12.
ReplyDeleteYou have not been faithful in reading Fung Yu Lan. He said "reflective because it takes LIFE as its object": he did not say one's OWN LIFE only, but LIFE IN GENERAL. Reflection is not a purely personal, private affair in which one is doing one's own thinking about one's own life only. Otherwise, one can never really reflect on the lives of others and learn from them. As such, philosophy, which relies a lot on reflection, becomes merely a matter of opinion and not a matter of truth.
ReplyDeleteI thought I passed it on time. I'm sorry sir. I am also confused with the time, my past posts were also like this case, I thought it was normal, 'cause it was still of the same day. How can I then adjust this to GMT +8:00? I thought it will reflect on my desktop's time and date. I don't know. Well, its ok sir, I understand, it was my fault for making it late at that day which ended up with me cramming things up. That's maybe the reason why I was not able to grasp what Fung Yu Lan has been talking about. Thank you again sir.
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