វិធីដើម្បីក្លាយជាទស្សនវិទូ ​ How to Become a Philosopher

By admin on June 2nd, 2008

 

Tip from one of the original great philosophers:“By all means marry; if you get a good wife, you’ll be happy.

If you get a bad one, you’ll become a philosopher.”

- Socrates (469 BC - 399 BC)

Have you ever thought you could be just like Socrates or Aristotle - if you just had the right push? Well, here it is. These are instructions on how to become the philosopher you have always wanted to be. (1) Understand that there is no exact way to become a philosopher, you either have the ideas or you don’t. You must free yourself of all limitations such as prejudice, religion, and point of view. Philosophers are often people that see the world from a child’s eyes. It is important to listen to people, and travel a lot, to get a sense of the world and the people in it. Asking people in your town about what they think of the war in Iraq isn’t really going to help, as a lot of these will give stereotypical answers, and will not be well-informed.

(2) Understand that there is also no exact way in which you can investigate, and this is part of philosophy. Some philosophers, like Descartes, only trusted their mind and logic, and not the senses. Some say that the best way to start off, is to research about philosophy. When you study philosophy in college or university, you study about all the different philosophers and their opinions. Think about it, and disagree, or agree with what they think.

(3) Think about the world, what it means to live, to die, to exist, and what the point of it is. Be the source of your own investigation. Since you’re always available to yourself, any line of investigation about yourself (and there can be many) allows you to always make some progress. Consider the basis for what you believe. Why do you believe what you believe? Start from scratch and identify your reasoning.

(4) Write down what you think about these subjects, including ideas you think you shouldn’t write down (possibly because you think others may think they are stupid). While you may not be arriving at any striking conclusions, you will be exposing your own assumptions to yourself. You will probably marvel at how silly some of your assumptions can be, and in the process you will mature.

(5) Re-write your ideas more formally and let others read your work, so you can get others to hear your ideas. You can ask friends, relatives, teachers, or classmates if they could offer some thoughts on your work, or you can post your writings online (through a website, a blog, or a message board) and look for responses there.

(6) Engage in any debate possible. This will increase your ability to think freely. Keep in mind however, that you are not engaging in intellectual Olympics. There will always be someone who knows something better than you, and arrogance will stop you dead. You will need a healthy measure of humility.

(7) Read philosophy copiously, learning new questions and problems to think about and past solutions, and their criticisms. Pursuing a bachelor’s or master’s degree in philosophy is a good way to structure these studies, but many great philosophers were also self-taught.

(8) Pursue philosophy as a career by acquiring a doctorate in philosophy and getting a professorship at a university. This can be highly competitive, expensive, and challenging, but getting paid to think can be extremely rewarding.As George Bernard Shaw said: “If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea as well, and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas.” Don’t be scared of having your ideas stolen by others when you share it with them. Having people hear your ideas will spark criticism and contribution within them, only strengthening your own thoughts and counter-argumentation.Assumptions are the bane of philosophy and of fresh, intelligent thought. Never stop asking “why?”

• Don’t hesitate to argue positions that are the opposite of what you believe. Being able to see as many sides of an issue as possible is an excellent way to express yourself and opinions. A supreme philosopher can (and probably will) challenge even the most basic beliefs and ideals the human race stands for without fear of criticism.
• Always remember that wisdom is applied knowledge
• Look for meaning behind everything around you. WHENEVER you encounter something that your intuition tells you don’t make sense or seems “fishy” then look into why. Often when we think “I’m not sure that’s entirely true” it’s our deep philosophical assumptions contradicting each other. Nietzsche said that philosophy is more than reading philosophical works. True philosophy comes from daily thought and analysis of everything around us.

Warnings

• Don’t be afraid to voice a radical opinion. But letting its novelty and originality turn into arrogance will only blind you from seeing the validity of more conservative ideas, thus destroying philosophy, which is centered around questioning and finding the truth, not around satisfying your desires.
• You need to be able to accept criticism, and work with it. As a philosopher, you will have a lot of criticism. This is because you are one of those radical thinkers who make the ideas rather than just agree with them.
• By philosophizing, your ideas will mature, so much so that you may outgrow friends. You may find that your friends are not interested, or they are unwilling to compromise their ideas. This is normal, though it can be isolating. Remember to stay humble. Philosophy can tear friendships apart if you are do not practice caution.
• source: wikihow

The XXII World Congress of Philosophy

By admin on December 16th, 2007

Information about the XXII World Congress of Philosophy (WCP 2008) is now available.

A Philosophy of King Jayavarman VII the Great- ទស្សនវិជ្ជារបស់ព្រះចៅអធិរាជជ័យវរ្ម័នទី៧

By admin on September 25th, 2007

“ទុក្ខរបស់ប្រជារាស្ត្រ គឺជាទុក្ខរបស់ព្រះមហាក្សត្រ។”

” The suffering of the people is the suffering of the king (leader).”

 

ទសពិធរាជធម៌​ Ten Virtues of Ethical Leader

1. ទាន​ Charity

2. សីល Morality

3. ចាគៈ Sacrifice

4. អាជ្ជៈ Honesty

5. មទ្ទវៈ Softness

6. ​តបៈ Austerity

7. អក្កោធនៈ Calmness

8. អវិហឹង្សា Peacefulness

9. អវិរោធនៈ Respect of the law

10. ខន្តី Patience

Jayavarman VII is one of the greatest and most productive kings of the Khmer (Cambodian) Empire of Angkor (reigning 1181–c. 1220). He expanded the empire to its greatest territorial extent and engaged in a building program that yielded numerous temples (including Angkor Thom), highways, rest houses, and hospitals.

He remains a potent symbol of national pride for present day Cambodians. As a Buddhist King in a now Buddhist country he is regarded with great respect. He built and repaired many ‘firehouses’ across the Empire, which are thought of as places for travellers to rest and many buildings which are now called hospitals in translation. This has contributed to a legend of the Buddharaja, the King-Buddha, who privileged compassion in ruling.

Doing and Teaching Philosophy in the Cambodian Context- ការធ្វើនិងការបង្រៀនទស្សនវិជ្ជា នៅក្នុងបរិបទប្រទេសកម្ពុជា

By admin on August 27th, 2007

By

Chanroeun PA, MA Ph.

Email: chanroeunkh@gmail.com

A Paper presented in the World Philosophy Day

15-18 November 2006, Rabat, Morocco

 

(Draft Only)

 

I. An Overview

Cambodia is one of the oldest nations in Asia. It is the land of cultural heritage and civilization. During the Angkor Period (802-1431 A.D), it was the Golden Age of Cambodia. The temples in that era represent the great civilization and thoughts. Yet after that period, the country faced civil wars and suffered a lot from wars with her neighbors for long time. From 1431 to 1863, the education in Cambodia survived through Buddhist temple and community supported school, even in the French colonization period (1863-1953). From 1960-1975, philosophy was taught in the university, Royal Khmer University, as a course, but not as a major subject. Philosophy was also taught in the final year of high school. It covered the brief history of both Easter and Western Philosophy and some major concepts.

Yet, schools, university were closed during the Pol Pot regime (1975-1979). After the fall of Pol Pot regime in 1979, the university was reopened. Since the new government followed the communist ideology, the priority of teaching philosophy in that time was Marxist and Leninist Philosophy. Some courses such as Philosophy of dialectic materialism, Political Economy and Scientific Communism were included in the curriculum at that time. In 1993 after the Cambodia changed from Communist government to Constitutional Monarchy, the Philosophy Department opened its window to the West. With the financial and technical support from an NGO called “New Humanity” from Italy, in 1994 the curriculum was updated by including both Western and Eastern Philosophy and lecturers also received further training and education.

Later, the curriculum has been updated every four years. There in only one Philosophy Department, Royal University of Phnom Penh, in Cambodia. Yet, from 2005 the Accreditation Committee of Cambodia (ACC), Ministry of Education, required all first year university students (non-philosophy major) to take at least one course in Philosophy.

II. Teaching Philosophy in Cambodian

Teaching and doing philosophy are two different things. The outcome from philosophical research or philosophizing can enrich the teaching. Yet, many teachers of philosophy pay more attention on teaching rather than doing philosophy outside of the classroom. The point is poverty. Teachers are poorly compensated in Cambodia; therefore, many teachers need do get another job outside of the campus for survival.

III. The Challenges of Teaching Philosophy in Cambodia

There are two obstacles for Philosophy Education in Cambodia

(1) Difficulties in teaching philosophy

- Lack of teaching materials in Khmer

- The obstacle of language

- The obstacle to raise some issues relevant to politics, culture, and history

- The obstacle for those who teach philosophy but don’t do philosophy. This results in many students of philosophy who getting the preparation for philosophizing without having the ground in dealing with philosophical problems in a creative manner.

(2) Obstacles to the practices of philosophy

- The nature of philosophy is controversial and abstract

- Majoring in Philosophy does not guarantee a good job after college

- Some people disvalue and prejudice philosophy because they don’t really understand clearly philosophy what philosophy is especially it is also the result of the long civil war that communist ideology was used as crucial philosophy at that time.

To solve this problems philosophy should be taught in a very simple way and need to include both theories and practices. In short, how philosophy is being taught in Cambodia? The answer is depending on the teachers. One can teach philosophy as a subject matter to be memorized. Or one can also teach it to encourage reflection and critical thinking. It is critical thinking that helps students to have a better self understanding and the crucial tasks to make them capable to be and to do what they values in life.

IV. Doing Philosophy in the Cambodia Context

Etymologically, philosophy means the search for or loves of wisdom.

+ Is there Cambodian (Khmer) Philosophy?

+ What is Khmer Philosophy?

There are attempts to answer these questions among the philosophy scholars in Cambodia and the discussion is still going on. To me, the answer to the above questions is “yes” and “no” because there has never been in our academic tradition a “Khmer Philosophy” in the same one speaks of “Chinese Philosophy” or “Japanese Philosophy” or “Indian Philosophy”. And there nobody does philosophy by intently specifying it to be a philosophy of his or her own country.

As one of the oldest nations in Asia, Cambodia has originally rich heritage of her own culture. And that culture has been transformed from generation to generation. Base on this reality, there are four sources in searching for Khmer Philosophy:

 

 

(1). The first source is the folklore, the myths, epics, proverb, and many forms of versed debate in Khmer culture that have survived to this day.

(2) The second sources is language: Khmer language is a root of the cultural value. The language determines the moral conduct, social order and the way of thinking

(3) The third source is the religious experiences of Cambodians: the teaching of the Buddha and the practice of Buddhism in Cambodia (the combination of Khmer Traditional religion “the belief in Nak Ta”, the Theravada Buddhism, Mahayana Buddhism, and Brahmanism)

(4) The fourth source is the social ethics, norms and the way of life. This open one’s consciousness to many ethical issues in the country: oppression, democratization, rights and responsibility, civil society, poverty and so on.

V. Conclusion

Philosophy plays very important role in human resources development in Cambodia. It helps to challenge people to shape their world and make people to be and to do what they values in their lives. The challenge of teaching Philosophy is to provide the academic capability to form a generations of leaders and citizens who can adjust their lives in the changing world. Recently poverty is a big challenge to many of our philosophy professors in Cambodia. Yet, it is our task to overcome this obstacle for a better future; therefore we need to:

(1) Promote learning and teaching philosophy in all level in order to train the next generation to become critical and ethical people;

(2) Put our resources together in order to train the next generation of philosophy professors;

(3) Popularize the philosophical insights by translating, teaching and writing in Cambodian language (Khmer);

(4) Search for our authentic ways of life and thoughts (Khmer Philosophy) which can be served as the bacon of light for the national reconstruction process;

(5) Learn and offer different courses: Khmer Philosophy, Eastern Philosophy, and Western Philosophy in order to assist students to comprehend different dimension of thoughts;

(6) Interact more often with international seminars, conferences and scholars in order to learn and share the information for the sake of cooperation, peace and development.

Our task as philosophers is to play the roles as an educator in encouraging the liberal education to direct the mind and the heart of young citizens and future leaders towards greater concerns and compassion for society.

_________________

 

The Roles of Philosophy in War and Peace.​ទួនាទីទស្សនវិជ្ជានៅក្នុងសង្រ្គាម និងសន្តិភាព

By admin on August 24th, 2007

By

Chanroeun PA, MA Ph.

A Paper presented in the World Philosophy Day, 17-18 November 2006, Rabat, Morocco

(Draft)

“If we are to teach real peace in this world, and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with the children.”

​- Mahatma Gandhi

1. Introduction

People all over the world desire peace, law and order, and security form of life, but things are happening the other ways round. There is restlessness and nameless unquiet flows at the heart and hands of humanity. In the age of modernization and globalization, science and technology have played a very important role in producing unlimited wealth, so that with a judicious management, there would be enough good things of life for all humans. More

Pencil Life​.​ ជីវិតខ្មៅដៃ

By admin on August 21st, 2007

The Pencil Maker took the pencil aside, just before putting him into the box.

 

“There are 5 things you need to know,” he told the pencil, “Before I send you out into the world. Always remember them and never forget, and you will become the best pencil you can be.”

 

“One: You will be able to do many great things, but only if you allow yourself to be held in Someone’s hand.”

 

“Two: You will experience a painful sharpening from time to time, but you’ll need it to become a better pencil.”

 

“Three: You will be able to correct any mistakes you might make.”

 

“Four: The most important part of you will always be what’s inside.” More