What changes, human nature or society?

Human nature is written into ourselves as people. When it is referred to, I see it as linked with human instincts meaning that for example, a person robs a store because they are homeless and in desperate need of money. You will hear people say "they did that because it is human nature to want to do anything possible to fulfill your basic needs." If you take out human nature and put in instinct, the sentence means the same thing. With that being said, I don't think human nature will ever change, what will change is how much or how little people tap into it. Society is what has changed over time, not our true nature as human beings. We still feel the same emotions and crave the same basic needs. We are still human, that has not changed so why would human nature change. Our way of life has been altered thousands of time during history but, we are still the same creature. 


Question: What time period in history did humans embrace their true nature the most?

In response to "What is the point to philosophy? What does it accomplish?"-Shannon

Philosophy is way for humans to study and evaluate the life they live, the world where they are, and the actions they take. Everyone wants to know why certain things happen. That is a part of being human, we are always asking questions. Philosophy gives us a change to dive deeper into studying these giant questions that usually have been brought up again and again through out time. So the "point" to philosophy is to expand our knowledge of the world we live in and all the facets of its existence. 


People who are interested in studying philosophy are viewed in many ways, positive and negative. Those looking to make a career out of it can take it on in college and fully engage themselves in what it meant to be a philosopher. Others can take it more lightly, calling upon philosophical questions here and there when they want to sit down and think or talk about certain topics. As far as what it accomplishes, it can give people answers or at least get them thinking and headed in the right direction. If it does nothing else but make people examine their life, that is enough of a accomplishment. "An unexamined life if not worth living" -Socrates


Question: Is a career in philosophy easy to obtain? Does it take more/less work than other career paths?

Philosophy is:

I found a definition that I connected with. It states that philosophy is "the study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. This is quite broad, but I liked it. There is really no way to place philosophy into one tiny space with a lot of specifics. When you consider everything that can be said philosophically and studied that way as well, it's hard to get too pinpointed. This way of thinking lets many viewpoints be heard and it causes conflicts to arise and it introduces new ideas which all breed discussion. Studying questions people have concerning these broad topics, help us to better understand our own lives and can give us some answers. Even if conclusions are not made, there was still a dialog and that is always a step toward resolution. Although such questions as  "why are we here?" and "what is the meaning of life" my never be answered. It seems highly unlikely that such an answer could be chosen and agreed on by all humans in our world. Each individual might have their own answers to these questions already, be it from a spiritual or scientific source. Others may like the fact that they will never know the answer. This is the beauty of philosophy, questions that arise do not always have to be answered.


Question: What is one philosophical question that you think can be answered and what is one that can never be?

The self-less act: myth?

People all around the world donate their time and or money to charity everyday. Some just place a few coins in the salvation army bin around Christmas time and some travel to countries vastly different from their own to work with those who are far less fortunate then they are. No matter what the act is, people say they are self-less. That feeling inside of you that says you should give back. There is the key word, should. We should help those less fortunate than we are, but do we? We have to always wonder as well, if we do is it often enough and why do we do it in the first place? 

When we decide to engage in acts of helping others why do we? We want to think that we do it because we feel it is right and everyone should help each other. We do it because it makes us feel better, we made an impact on something that did not have to do with our own lives. Stop and think about that, think about why you give money to the man dressed as Santa or why you participate in community service. Why you picked up that ten dollar bill and gave it to the person whose pocket you saw it drop out of. Is it because you knew it was right, or because it made you feel like a better person for doing something good? What ever the reason, you are a factor of it. How you feel after doing it is always there, in your mind, often before you even take action. Rarely is there no thought of what you will get out of something during your decision process.

Question: Can we truly do something without thinking of what we will get in return or how it will make us feel after completing it?