Philosophy Ideas From Pictures:
On this page:
How much like a tree are you?
When is an apple not an apple?
How much like a tree are you?
This tree is alive. It exists in the world at the same time as you do.
Imagine you are the tree. (Try standing up and closing your eyes.)
How are you, the tree, the same as you, the human? And how are you different?
Discuss this if you are in a group.
You could think about these things….
Getting food
If you are an animal then you are in a food chain. You may eat other animals, or they eat you. If you are a predator then you need to hunt when you get hungry. If you are a prey animal, then you constantly look out for predators.
Think of some prey/predator pairs like worm and blackbird, rabbit and fox, fly and spider.
Are all animals either prey or predator? Can some animals be both? Think of fly-spider-bird.
Is the tree a prey or a predator?
How does the tree make its food?
Moving
You grow and move.
A tree grows. Does it move?
Why do you think that?
Breathing
You can stand and imagine you are a tree, but you still have to breathe …in, out, in, out…forever as long as you are alive.
How does a tree breathe?
Food
What is your favourite food? We have lots to choose from don’t we?
How do trees make their food?
Humans starve without food. Can trees starve?
Life-span
Some trees can live for hundreds of years. How long do humans usually live?
Being conscious
You know that you are a human.
Does a tree know that it is a tree?
You can feel happy or sad, angry or calm.
You can feel the sun and the wind. Can a tree have feelings or sensations? Can we really know?
Explain your thinking.
Being useful to the planet
How is the tree useful to the well-being of life on the planet?
How are you (a human) useful?
IF YOU COULD CHOOSE
If you were given the choice, would you be a tree or a human?
Give your reasons.
MORE: Go for a walk in a wood. Look at the differences between each individual tree.
Note: Aristotle was an Ancient Greek philosopher who thought of listing living things and placing them in groups or categories. That’s great for language and science but it’s good to see the differences between every individual too – whatever its group or species.
A little knowledge of science will help you think about some of these questions – but philosophy widens them out and opens your mind to new ways of seeing things and thinking of more, deeper questions. And that’s a great feeling!
When is an apple not an apple?
Is this an apple?
Is this an apple?
Now the apple has a bite taken out. Is it still an apple?
Is this an apple?
Is this an apple?
Picture 1 is definitely not an apple. Picture 2 definitely is an apple. They are easy. But does the apple lose its appleness as it gets less and less? Or does it stay an apple even when only the core is left?
Don’t think of right or wrong answers here, just more questions…
Aristotle, an Ancient Greek philosopher, said that something either is, or is not that thing, that there is no in between. It either is an apple or it isn’t. We call it ‘black and white’ thinking.
Buddha, an ancient Indian philosopher, had different ideas, which ‘fuzzy’ thinking comes from. Fuzzy thinking lets us say something like, ‘it is an apple and it is not an apple’.
Think of apple as white. Think of not-apple as black. This is black and white thinking. There is no in-between.
Now think of nearly-all apple as light grey, partly-apple as grey, and only-a-bit apple as dark grey. This is fuzzy thinking.
(click on any of these image for a printable page of larger versions)
Some philosophers and scientists don’t like fuzzy thinking, especially in cultures that have been influenced by Aristotle. They don’t think it makes sense. They call it creeping fuzziness.
But lots of others do like it, especially in cultures that have been influenced by Buddha. Japanese engineers use fuzzy logic to improve washing machines, cameras, computers and lots more. China does a lot of fuzzy maths.
WHAT ABOUT YOU?
Is the apple still an apple when only the core is left? Or has it lost most of its appleness?
Explain your choices.
MORE:
Aristotle: ‘Everything must either be or not be, whether in the present or the future’.
(De Interpretatione)
Buddha: ‘I have not explained that the world is eternal or not eternal. I have not explained that the world is finite or infinite’.
(Majjhima-Nikaya)
An Oxford 20th century philosopher called A J Ayer wrote a book called, ‘Language, Truth and Logic’. In the fuzzy debate these three – language, and truth, and logic – all link together. Think of one, and the chain rattles!