Why philosophy?

Why Philosophy? Philosophy begins in wonder, it all starts with that little question "Why?" Why is there something rather than nothing? Why am I here? Why does anything matter? What is the ultimate nature of reality? What is knowledge and how do we acquire it? What is justice, and how do we achieve it? Why ask why?! Reality Truth The Good Life Wisdom philo (love) sophia lover of wisdom The Big Questions Getting "the big picture" Comprehensive thinking Thinking "outside the box" Radical: getting to the root not just a collection of facts not simply "know how" useless, but essential Question: But, what can I DO with it? Answer: Anything! Just better! Shona L. Brown Google Senior Vice President, Business Operations Patrick Pichette Google Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Paul Welty Founder & CEO, Synaxsis Jennifer Hyman Graduate student Terry Nous Entrepreneur James Muyskens President, Queens College Thinking about thinking Asking better questions Conceptual framing & understanding Friends & Enemies Key relationships War Objective of the "War on Terror" and its possible outcomes (political ontology) Morality What is moral reasoning? How and why did it evolve? What is the relation between morality and creativity? (ethics and aesthetics) How does the visualization of information affect learning and understanding? What kinds of relationships are involved in learning and understanding? What capabilities are needed for that? The role of conceptual blending Conceptual mapping (ontological engineering) (epistemology)