My Stance

Kerby Beliles

Mrs. Wilhelmus

AP English Literature

12 August 2013

Sophie’s World

The belief I agree with most would have to be Christianity. Not the Roman Catholic kind, where you’d pay for indulgences to be forgiven from your sins. But the kind where you have a personal relationship with God. That being said, the philosophical view I agree most would have to natural theology. This philosophy reaches truth through your reason, and your senses. When your reason and senses can no longer be used, your Christian faith comes into play to explain the rest.

Since natural theology is kind of the trifecta for reaching philosophical answers to me, I disagree with basically every other philosophy/belief. Not to say that they don’t have good processes for determining the answers that they reach, I just don’t think they have all the points that I take into consideration. Some are partly right, and some are partly wrong (Kant has had some influence on me, if you couldn’t already tell.) Rationalism for instance, human reason is a very good aide when reaching conclusions, but it only goes so far because our knowledge isn’t infinite. Empiricism as well, it’s very important to use our senses when it comes to measurements because those types of things are universal. But, when it comes to color or taste, that’s a matter of opinion. Not to mention that our senses can deceive, as the red tinted glasses experiment proved. And Fatalism, the thought that everything is predestined to happen. If this were true, it would go against the concept that God gave us free will. So some philosophies are correct in their own way, but ultimately wrong to me. It’s all or nothing in my opinion.

My stance on the rabbit’s fur would probably be pretty close the rabbit’s skin. I’m content with my beliefs and am a firm believer in the concept that “ignorance is bliss.” I don’t see the point in solving all the mysteries of the universe. Nothing is going to change if we ever find them out and we won’t ever be certain if the conclusions we come to are right. After all, man has been struggling with these mysteries since the beginning of time.

Perspective

Kerby Beliles

Mrs. Wilhelmus

AP English Literature

05 August 2013

My Tint of Glasses

Kant didn’t favor the rationalists or the empiricists when it came to establishing where we obtain our knowledge from, or how we perceive the world. He believed it was a work of  using both our senses and reason for obtaining our knowledge and perceptions. Kant also said that there are ‘certain conditions governing the mind’s operation’ which influences the way we experience the world.

Alberto had Sophie wear a pair of red tinted glasses to understand better of Kant’s views. The glasses limited the way she perceived reality. “Everything you see is part of the world around you, but how you see it is determined by the glasses you are wearing” Alberto had told young Sophie. This proved that you cannot simply say that everything in world is red just because your senses perceive as so, or because you get that impression.

In the first prompt I described how my interests and life situations affects who I am. In that prompt I said that my parents were divorced. So the tint on my glasses would be: victim of split up parents. This tint causes a few issues. It causes me to be jealous of whole families, whose parents’ marriages last. It causes me to be weary of my parents dating. It causes me to be skeptical of a future marriage I could have. The tint of my glasses causes me to have a pity party in my school work. That’s how the perspective to that specific tint of glasses apply in my life.

When Two Worlds Collide

Kerby Beliles

Mrs. Wilhelmus

AP English Literature

02 August 2013

Christianizing Philosophers and Its Effects

Before the times of St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas  there was a bit of an obstruction between the link of  philosophy and Christianity. Luckily, their vast knowledge and teachings diminished such obstruction. They used the theories of Plato and Aristotle and applied them to bible to make sense of God’s word, and in a way, back it up. They’re used to be, a kind of dispute (or that’s how I see it to be), that you either picked philosophical reason or relied on faith in God as your way of justification on how things came to be and why they are. St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas broke this barrier through Plato and Aristotle by “Christianizing them.”  They made it to where you had the best of both worlds, with undeniable reason and explanations.

St. Augustine believed that there was no true difference between Christianity and the philosophy of Plato. Although, Plato’s theories and ideas could only take St. Augustine so far, he used the bible to compensate the rest. Thus, the faith making up for what reason sometimes lacks. He could relate Plato’s philosophy to the bible (Augustine had thought Plato had knowledge of the Old Testament, so you could see how the views correlate) and prove that Christianity and philosophy do go together. Since St. Aquinas in much of the same way that St. Augustine had Plato, I find a little tedious to go into detail about him.

The result of their Christianizing philosophy is that they disarmed the threat that philosophy may have held on Christianity, had it not been linked so well. By doing so, I feel as though they strengthened people’s faith and ability to believe. I think it also would have given those who relied solely on philosophical reason a new outlook on life. That new outlook being: turning to faith, converting to Christianity, and perhaps relying on “the god factor” when they’re human logic runs out.

Aristotle and Company

Kerby Beliles

Mrs. Wilhelmus

AP English Literature

01 August 2013

Oh, The Times!

Well, I suppose I’ll start off with how I feel about Aristotle. I really wish I could pull out my inner feminist and trash Aristotle’s views, but I’m really not too tore up, or surprised by his opinion of women. I think it was just how the world worked back in his time. Men took care of decisions and government and war business while women took care of the children and the housekeeping. Women were just widely considered the lesser of men’s counterparts. That’s just how it was. Who can blame Aristotle for taking a widespread belief and diluting it to something even more degrading. Although, I believe he was a brilliant philosopher, I’m not too impressed with his science/biology skills. To say that all the child’s characteristics lay in the male sperm is beyond a little silly, considering anybody who’s taken a biology course knows all traits are a 50/50 chance between both “contributors.” The “contributors”   both take equal share in the making of a child so saying that women are just the soil and man the sower with his seed is again, more than silly. Yet, his other point on “women being an unfinished man” scientifically isn’t too far off since we all start off as females and later grow the other parts if they’re meant to be males. Aristotle was an incredibly intelligent man and I respect him and his theories greatly, I just find it a little ironic about his views on women. Afterall, he wouldn’t have been able to think all his ideas had his “substance” not been around.

Moving on to The Most Admirable, at least on the views of women, I’d have to go with Plato. It was a pleasant surprise to read that he believed women and men could be equals. He claimed that women had the same reasoning capability and could govern just as effectively as men. Well, as long as they’re equipped with the same training and exempt from child rearing, that is. Plato had a bit of a revolutionary view, too bad it just wasn’t the time for it.

Now to address how I feel about the collection of Gaarder’s philosophers as a whole. Again, I’m not too surprised in the fact that most mentioned were mean. As I stated time and time before, it was just the way it was back then. Men could have their ideas and compose their theories because I believe they had the time to. Women were too busy with the kids and the house to start thinking of theories and pondering about life. Not many women were philosophically thinking back then because they didn’t have the time to. And even if they did, what man back then would’ve taken them seriously?

Garden of Eden

Kerby Beliles
Mrs. Wilhelmus
AP English Literature
30 July 2013


Who am I?

Perhaps I should start off with some background information, then tell a little more details about me and then some characteristics that I possess.  My name is Kerby Beliles. I’m the daughter of Joel Beliles and Ellen Thompson-Spear, which happens to make me the youngest of four. I live with my grandma, Nana, on the north side of Evansville. I’m 16 years old and my birthday is November 12th.  I attend North High School: where I am part of the girls tennis team, where I perform in fall plays, and occasionally go to chess club. Jared Applegate is my terrific boyfriend, and Rileigh Britt is my wonderful best friend. My favorite movies are superhero movies and my favorite books are thrillers. My favorite activities are playing board games/card, playing tennis, hanging with my friends, and going to youth group.

If you examined what I said above, then it might have given you a little better view as to who am I.

If not, let me clear things up a bit.

First off, my dad and mom don’t share the same last name, meaning I am a victim of divorced parents. I have three older siblings; Joshua, Jacob, and Katie and I live with my Nana, indicating that I have a broken home life. One of the characteristics I’ve gotten through the rougher parts of my childhood is a strong spirit.  My birthday is in November, that tells you that I’m a Scorpio zodiac sign, which should tell you enough all on it’s own. I play tennis, which says that I’m athletic. I perform in plays, which says that I’m outgoing. I enjoy a game of chess which says that I’m an intellectual. I have a boyfriend, so perhaps I am romantic, maybe even lovable. I have a bestfriend, that could mean I’m loyal, trustworthy, and fun to be around. I like superheroes because I enjoy the hope they give people, which shows that I’m an optimistic. I like thrillers because I like to solve the mysteries, that means I’m curious and somewhat of a critical thinker. My favorite activities all involve other people so you could say I’m a social person. And the last thing I addressed was youth group, which suggests that I’m a Christian. Some more characteristics I’ve come to realize about myself that could be supported with what I’ve said above are: passionate, resourceful, forgiving, clever, and a true friend. So who am I? I am Kerby Beliles and after all that I’ve told you, I still can’t entirely pinpoint who that is.

Where does the earth come from?

As a Christian, I am supposed to believe that God created earth, and I do. I believe that He made light on the first day, and separated it from dark to differentiate and create day and night. On the second day, He made an expanse to the separate the waters, known as the sky. On the third day, He made the land, some vegetation, and the water was now known as “seas.” On the fourth day, He made the sun, the moon and stars to give light and keep track of days, seasons, and years. On the fifth day, He made all the sea creatures and birds. On the sixth day, He made all the land animals, as well as, Adam and Eve (the first man and woman.) And finally on the seventh day, He didn’t make anything because He was done and wanted some rest. So, that should answer where I believe the world comes from - God’s miraculous hands.