As the first area of study, philosophy is the forerunner to most everything scholastic. All social sciences can trace their beginning back to this discipline, especially psych, religion, and democracy. Unfortunately, this initial relationship has become forgotten and very few find themselves well-versed in this age-old practice. Sometimes when you specialize, you lose something.

From a historical perspective, Socrates and friends lived well before the time of Jesus, and probably without any influence from the Jews. So they basically thought without Christian prejudice. Once Catholicism was established, most known philosophy came by way of the Church. Then in the 1700s, during the Age of Reason, writers started to question the teachings of Rome. This new age reinstated the treatment of philosophy as a science, where proponents put forth theories and contemporaries rip them apart.

The difference between science and philosophy is that hard science uses empirical (or measurable) data determinable by our senses — that’s the Aristotle method. Plato talks about the mystical pieces more airy-fairy in nature. Both are worth contemplating.

Let’s make some general points about what you’ve just read:

• Ethics is the mother of all philosophy. It’s at the heart of everything. How one lives a meaningful life is nothing new. Most old-time philosophers believed it required the belief in a god. As a matter of fact, original Greek thinkers felt as strongly about their religion as people do today. Anyway, this article looks at the options Billy has in front of him while deciding whether to sell hard drugs.


• The Taoist symbol is a fascinating tool that helps interpret the many two-sided dimensions (also called dynamics) which surround us.


• Plato said we’re comprised of mind, body, and soul. Your mind interfaces with both. Outer personalities are really just part of body. Inner personalities — the parts that think — nourish outer selves by creating better habits. They also feed the soul. Souls are then a major element to being alive and every person should have one.


• There are two common views for what happens to us when we die. You either believe the soul moves on, or we simply fall asleep forever. Plato said the soul moves on and those who agree are called dualists. In further describing the soul, Plato says we bring certain knowledge with us into this lifetime. In other words, something comes loaded on the motherboard. That’s how we recognize aspects like beauty, truth, and justice. (Your mother didn’t run around teaching you all this stuff.)


• The meaning of soul then requires further definition. What exactly is it? This article posits that soul is every non-physical part you own that isn’t personality. As a result, we need further details on personality but conclude that soul is what observes, experiences, and absorbs.


• Nietzsche said God is Dead — what did he mean? In Friedrich’s day, society’s ethics were formed and instructed by religion. The masses simply went along with what was decided. So if the Pope, or his equivalent, said genome therapy was immoral, that was that. Nietzsche saw the Church’s influence over such matters to be waning. He believed society, through freedom of thought brought forward by new-day philosophies, would increasingly question the Church’s authority over ethics. This left both a positive and negative. On the positive, he was excited about people devising their own moral code. On the negative, he saw an ever-increasing association with political ideology because people still needed something to believe in. He then forecast this situation would lead to the death of millions, as strongly felt new ideologies could compete for power (for many, there isn’t much difference between a bible and a manifesto). Enter the 20th century.


• Buddy Jordan is a free psychologist available on the web. Due to his profession, he really belongs in a previous section but we put him here because of his best work. This guy is trying to save belief in the boss above. (So bully for him.)


• Aphorisms are cool. Those short sayings are great for passing along information through generations. But their simplicity also makes them imperfect.