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| # Code: Understanding | |
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| ## Source: SPRING 2015/Socratic Dialogue reflection paper - Marion Sathicq.docx | |
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| -How did this class help me better UNDERSTAND what I want for myself as a future manager? How did it shape my thinking into a stronger and more self-assured idea of the person I want to become and the path I want to choose, however hard it might be? This paper will focus on three main subjects that are the most important to me, because they are the ones for which I do not have answers at all, and also because I feel that they are the ones that will be part of my future happiness | |
| -If I fail at building a vision of who I want to become and hence never take my responsibilities, if I fail at fighting my fear to choose this risky and difficult path and using them as a tool to design my own way, if I fail at forging solid relationships with others in order to share my inner wealth and mostly in order to grow it, I am convinced that I will not be able to UNDERSTAND the meaning of my life | |
| -) but it turned out to be harder than I THOUGHT | |
| -There was a time in history where managers were convinced of that idea of “responsibility” towards other people: as we can SEE with paternalist systems in France, the big boss of the company acted like a father with his employees, employing them until retirement and even building whole villages for them | |
| -“What am I doing?” This difficult QUESTION seems simple, but it is in fact very reflective of the power of your responsibility: you do things, so you have some power, so you have a responsibility | |
| -Asking this QUESTION forces you to step back and rationalize the stakes of your actions: you might take a “wrong” decision knowing it is wrong, but trying to forget that it is your responsibility to make the right one, even if it seems impossible or too tiring | |
| -I am convinced that the issue today is that not enough people ask themselves this QUESTION, and try as hard as they can to forget that they have a responsibility | |
| -The two main Hellenistic schools of THOUGHT taught us that fear is irrational thus useless | |
| -So how can I face fear as a manager? As fear is irrational, I have to implement a RATIONAL way of thinking to face the difficulty | |
| -The most important step is to define what is the root of the fear (I am even tempted to say that there are “good” fears and “wrong fears” and that you have to dismiss the wrong ones – like “I want to be perfect all the time” or “I do not want to ask for help to anyone” – and work with a RATIONAL approach with the good ones): understanding the roots will help me erase a big part of the fear and therefore better function as a manager | |
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| ## Source: SPRING 2015/Final Essay + Journal Carlos Manubens.pdf | |
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| -As I disclosed in the final symposium dinner, I tend since many years ago to do self-reflection and try to UNDERSTAND my deepest emotions, thoughts, ideas and beliefs to get to live a more meaningful life | |
| -What I learned in class came mostly from the discussions we had arising from the theories of philosophers but I tend to SEE classical philosophers as too far apart from how society is structured nowadays | |
| -It is only when asking the big questions in life that one can really take the initiative to become self aware and UNDERSTAND the path that will guide him/her towards becoming a 1 I decided to blend the essay and journal together | |
| -Thanks to these I have developed a framework which is going to be very helpful I BELIEVE for me and which consists of three axis that are on the one hand personal relationships with family and friends, the second one is self care understood as eating well, sleeping well, sporting and other activities devoted to please the self and then the third one is professional activities | |
| -Therefore, the more time you spend working, probably the professional life is going to be better but then your relationships and the self are going to suffer since probably you will sleep less, eat worse and SEE your family and friends less | |
| -Nevertheless, you do not have to continuously expect to receive back from them but rather I SEE it as a balance | |
| -Linked to this, communication is key: you have to tell others what you feel, what you think, what you BELIEVE, what pleases you, what it does not and then the relationships flow in a much proper way according to several contemporary philosophers | |
| -I BELIEVE it is very difficult to judge anyone’s actions before having walked 40 days in his shoes, as a proverb says | |
| -It is very true, since circumstances can turn around things very easily and it is difficult to UNDERSTAND these and other drivers from outside the others life | |
| -However this moral rules are adaptive to the geography where you live or work or travel since actually I do BELIEVE what is good in Indonesia is not the same as what is good in Spain or in Mexico | |
| -And to live in peace you have to be able to UNDERSTAND that not everyone has had the best background to grow in and he might have been dragged to violence, crime and drugs for instance but that maybe if you were born in the same position you would do the same | |
| -However I BELIEVE that Justice should not just be the institution itself but rather a broader concept | |
| -Again, when looking at the newspapers it is more common to SEE the N corporate that has evaded taxes, faked the emissions tests, poured waste into a river or just misused tons of resources damaging several ecosystems of the nature | |
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| ## Source: SPRING 2015/Reflection Paper Juliette ten Brink.docx | |
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| -After having our session and talking about Aristotle I find that happiness is related to virtue more than I instinctively or intuitively THOUGHT | |
| -However I also BELIEVE that happiness is something active you work towards happiness and I'm not sure if you can be as happy as you could be if you're not conscious about it | |
| -One QUESTION that I struggled with is whether you could still be happy about things that you have had no active part in, because sometimes I feel a sense of satisfaction when something good happens to me or I get lucky | |
| -I am then forced to ask myself the QUESTION if I am happy | |
| -For instance I BELIEVE that every human should be living a dignified life, however I have not taken the time to substantially help for example homeless people more than giving them money | |
| -However, if you decide to SEE happiness as something related to the satisfaction of needs or desires, then I don't think you can ever be happy because there will always be new desires | |
| -Facebook is a social experiment to SEE how people look to conform to the mass | |
| -Until today I am still on Facebook so that raises the QUESTION whether I am more a slave than I am free? It's good to put these questions into your own world and your own perspective because you REALIZE how difficult it is to act on rationality and to act on your virtues | |
| -Knowing what I know now, that I have this consciousness of what happiness is to me, means that I will have to start acting on it, because I truly BELIEVE that ignorance is the worst evil and that giving in to my desires knowing rationally that this is wrong, would be just that: evil | |
| -Say you're afraid of heights and you SEE someone bungee jumping, then you could portray your fears on to that person and consider him/her to be courageous, because they faced your fear | |
| -I think if you rationalize fear and especially the consequences of what you fear you can put it into perspective and LEARN how to live with it | |
| -So were I courageous, my THOUGHT process would be as follows | |
| -It just means that some days are better than others, and that I need to LEARN how to be by myself without feeling lonely | |
| -Criteria less related to compensating my insecurities and more related to building on my strengths and the things that I BELIEVE in | |
| -Take for instance Malala, Yousafzai, a young aged, highly morally developed girl that decided to fight for what she THOUGHT was right | |
| -Applying this QUESTION to the business environment, I can’t help but include some of Gilligan’s thoughts on male and female ‘voices’, because the role that I will take on within an organization will be inextricably linked to what defines me as a person, and the ‘voices’ that I hear | |
| -This QUESTION ties into responsibility because I feel like we have a responsibility to act on our ethics when we work in organization but also to act upon who we are as a person; 'become our true selves' as Aristotle would put it | |
| -More importantly, the discussion is hard because the underlying fundamental QUESTION is a complex one | |
| -To UNDERSTAND what men & women should behave like, we need to find out what the essence is of what makes a man and a woman and which of their values we want to SEE portrayed in a company | |
| -I think right now women are trying to be men out of lack of the answer to that QUESTION | |
| -This may be very female of me to say, but I honestly think that compassion would be a very good starting point, I don’t SEE many disadvantages to it and if we take the responsibility to show compassion I think a lot of our decisions could become more inclusive and lead to a more promising future | |
| -I genuinely BELIEVE that is the case and for that reason I am taking the responsibility to choose carefully what that platform will be and how it will function in my goal to make the world a better place | |
| -On the meaning of life ‘Life has meaning when you share what you have with others’ What does life mean? Being able to act, think, feel and dream, what is the purpose of that? I find this QUESTION so interesting, because no matter how long you think about it, people can come up with widely different answers | |
| -So how then do we find the essence of what life means? One way to start thinking about this QUESTION is through Frankl’s famous work covering his experience in a concentration camp | |
| -On justice ‘Equal starting points should govern our behaviour’ A topic that I have given quite a lot of THOUGHT to is justice, as it was indirectly the topic for my own Socratic Dialogue | |
| -The QUESTION that I had to answer was ’what is fairness?’ and for me fairness is justice | |
| -Reading Michael Sandel’s book on Justice helped me further UNDERSTAND different ways of looking at justice and I’ve realized that utilitarianism for me does not work | |
| -On me ‘I know that I don’t know many things’ I would like to end this reflection paper with the QUESTION I found hardest to answer, namely ‘who am I’? As Socrates rightly puts it, knowledge is good, ignorance is evil, and to know that you know nothing is to have knowledge | |
| -So I’ll start the answer to the QUESTION with what I don’t know, because I cannot talk about knowing what I cannot possibly know that I know | |
| -I don’t UNDERSTAND why I can’t just go for the generous option, when rationally I am so convinced that this is the right way to go | |
| -The biggest fear I have is that I might one day REALIZE that I don’t care enough to fight for morals that I have decided so strongly to want to fight for, that I come to the conclusion that I am more selfish then I would ever want to admit | |
| -Amongst this ‘not knowing’, I am constantly struggling to not debate, but LEARN, to not argue, but explain, to not compete, but listen; the ‘Socratic’ approach basically | |
| -You need to force yourself to put your thoughts out there as ‘a THOUGHT’, not ‘your THOUGHT’, so that when people disagree or help you SEE other sides to it, you don’t feel personally attacked, insulted or hurt | |
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| ## Source: SPRING 2015/SD_FinalEssay_ViktorPenzinger.pdf | |
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| -Before I will try to answer this first QUESTION, I consider it to be of great value to review my initial expectations of this course | |
| -One the other hand though, I (maybe already affected from the striving for efficiency and hard skills at business schools) could not SEE a clear benefit of this class for my future career as manager – especially when I compared it to the other classes offered with a strong focus on strategic or management topics | |
| -Herein, I SEE two different areas of personal learning outcomes | |
| -In a nutshell, reading these type of texts made me on the one hand REALIZE that I find it hard to focus, but at the same time also helped me to find the “flow” again by actually forcing me to do so | |
| -I BELIEVE that this class is highly comparable to Law School classes, in which students have to defend their point by developing reasoned statements | |
| -How can I incorporate the philosophical theories into my job as a manager? To begin with, this QUESTION strongly links back to Session 2 in my opinion, which consisted of the discussions around the topic of “Identity” | |
| -Yet, it is not only a QUESTION of what kind of manager I want to be | |
| -Is my identity as a manager different from what my identity is as a whole? Do I play a role, which means some kind of narrative I tell myself to be (Paul Ricœur) or am I even faking 4 Socratic Dialogue, Final Essay Viktor Penzinger ESADE, Spring 2016 it to know myself better (SEE: Fernando Pessoa)? And, last but not least, who should be the one to judge about my identity as a manager? Who really knows my identity better – me as the “owner” holding the strings of my identity, or my social environment, i | |
| -I truly BELIEVE that many negative outcomes that stem from mismanagement have their roots in some form of hubris, i | |
| -The Stoic school of THOUGHT has taught us that happiness can also be described as the absence of pain | |
| -I rather SEE his statement as a personal guide for my private actions and as something to think about in a situation that constitutes a moral or ethical conflict | |
| -trying to obtain a state of “mental hygiene” is in fact nothing desirable and clearly not the sign of weakness as I might have THOUGHT before | |
| -In fact, now I am happy that I still possess a high level of curiosity and an ambition to QUESTION some aspects of my live, and I would even consider this to be some of my biggest and most positive character treats | |
| -Here, I can lend some aspects of the Stoics’ attitude and LEARN from their iron patience when dealing with personal issues | |
| -8 Socratic Dialogue, Final Essay Viktor Penzinger ESADE, Spring 2016 What I personally was able to derive from this documentary was that I also SEE myself holding some prejudices sometimes and that these prejudices (such as seeing inmates as truly evil persons or as evaluating their participation in the movie as solely opportunistic actions) do not have to be there forever | |
| -Nevertheless, I BELIEVE that every action that brings together people that rarely can get in touch (such as inmates and students) and that tries to eliminate the initial anxiety can be considered an action that works towards the acceptance in society as a whole and therefore also towards future reintegration | |
| -It was inspiring to SEE how the topics evolved as the dialogues went on | |
| -Lastly, both the person playing Socrates as well as the citizen can find new questions and maybe also new answer they have never THOUGHT about before through having a Socratic Dialogue, even in the most remote areas like robots as in our case | |
| -In addition, I BELIEVE this can be a good way of leading a virtuous life and a quest for knowledge, as Aristotle would have described it | |
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| ## Source: SPRING 2015/SOCRATIC DIALOGUES JOURNAL.pdf | |
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| -Most of the class agreed that at some point you sacrifice the things you BELIEVE in for reputation | |
| -Happiness “If one has character, one has also one’s typical experience that recurs again and again” (Nietzsche) Is character influenced by the experiences that we have or is it the other way round and the experiences will affect us differently depending on our character? There seems to be no clear answer to this QUESTION as we were discussing it for long, but the only conclusion we reached was that people had different character | |
| -There is a RATIONAL way to be happy, and to REALIZE that if you can not change a situation that you don’t like, then you can be happy | |
| -On top of that, Epicureans BELIEVE that you can be happy despite the environment, which means that you can only rely on thyself | |
| -However, the QUESTION is, is it necessary that we have a meaning in life? Victor Frankl THOUGHT is very stoic in the sense of believing that there are things that we are not able to change, however we all have the freedom to cope with these situations in different ways | |
| -Being able to respond to the circumstances requires the willingness to stop and QUESTION/challenge the situation | |
| -As a RATIONAL human being you can not use any person as a mean to an end but rather as an end by itself, humans can not be used or quantified | |
| -We discussed two different schools of THOUGHT, on one hand there is the deontological line of THOUGHT (e | |
| -Are prisons for rehabilitation or they are a punishment? In the case of punishment, maybe it is not the best in order to help people get on the right track? The documentary was very interesting to UNDERSTAND the prejudices that exist about inmates, and how they feel inside the prison | |
| -But for me it was also very interesting to SEE how law students changed their opinions about inmates and also about the justice system in general after this experience | |
| -It was incredible to SEE how after having this Socratic dialogues there was a significant trust that was build between the students and the inmates, and that was nearly broken at the point were an inmate shared that they are all the time pretending when they are inside the prison just to be able to get out of it | |
| -The Hiroshima event triggers another school of THOUGHT, of which Hans Jonas is part of | |
| -As the course was moving on, I felt more comfortable with these reflections and I gave more and more importance to the concept of Socrates of know thyself, as it is the way to UNDERSTAND better the environment, others and also to better face the different situations I encounter thorough life | |
| -Moreover, it was very interesting to SEE how my opinions would change as the Socratic dialogue with my colleges developed in class | |
| -The final Socratic dialogue that I did with Dasha was very useful in order to REALIZE the main take always of the course | |
| -After the course this seems something “normal” for me, but I have to admit that I would have never THOUGHT I would be able to have this kind of discussions and around this topic | |
| -Secondly, it was interesting to REALIZE how even if you are the one playing Socrates, you reflect a lot about the topic you are discussing | |
| -CEMS Spring 2016 Elisenda Sumarroca I BELIEVE that there are three main takeaways from this course that I will be able to apply in my job as a manager | |
| -The second is to UNDERSTAND more the different opinions and different approaches people can have to the same topic, as this was something constant in our class | |
| -Gathering people from different countries and cultures helped to enrich significantly the discussion and also to LEARN to UNDERSTAND and listen completely different points of views and opinions | |
| -In order to conclude, more in terms of my personal life, this course helped me REALIZE the importance of being able to stop and reflect on some issues and think about aspects we take for granted on our daily life | |
| -I BELIEVE that this is the way to get to know myself more deeply and therefore be able to cope with the different circumstances I find along the way | |
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| ## Source: SPRING 2015/Final Essay.docx | |
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| -Reflections on the course topics that affected me the most All the topic of the course and the discussions we had in class were really interested and I made lot of reflections about each topic inside and outside the class, but for some of them I maturated some ideas that I am sure are going to influence the way I will UNDERSTAND the world in the future and the person I will be | |
| -I was so surprised that in my life I reflected a lot about a lot of topics but I have never seriously THOUGHT about how to be happy, that I guess should be the most important thing people should reflect on, given the fact that every breath we take, every action we take in our daily life, is implicitly directed to this higher scope of happiness, even if people can be not aware of this | |
| -It is important to UNDERSTAND that this does not mean that you don’t have to make decisions and do efforts to be happy | |
| -The next step was to UNDERSTAND what being proud of yourself means | |
| -I am still working on understanding why some people tends to BELIEVE and ACCEPT behavioral rules from outside and others cannot avoid questioning external rules and need to find their own, and if this two different levels of “behavioral rules”, extrinsic or intrinsic, can influence the final outcome, that is the “level” or the “intensity” of happiness you can reach | |
| -My idea was to write a book where the narrator is a pedophile, not with the intent of excuse them, I know that they are likely to ruin life of innocent people[1], and I can UNDERSTAND the natural and instinctive protection that we all have for the kids of our species | |
| -What I really cannot get is why no one try, not even for one minute, to put themselves in their shoes, to UNDERSTAND the frustration and the sufferance of a person that cannot be sexually satisfied if not by harming someone else and behave like a “monster”, as people call them | |
| -I did both my internship in NGOs, I spent the last summer working for three months as a volunteer in the rural areas around Kolkata, in India, I am part of a student consulting association working for social businesses, I am responsible for the CSR events of the Cems club in Milan, I am organizing every year many fundraising events… I truly BELIEVE there is a positive way of doing business, I truly BELIEVE it is possible to “make money” not just without harming anyone but actively improving the lives of many people | |
| -At some point, I don’t know how, I started to BELIEVE in that too | |
| -I am looking for jobs in CSR or in social business here in Spain or in Europe but apparently none of them is “entry level”, and so on and so forth, all the other possibilities I am in love with seems hard to REALIZE | |
| -Thanks to it, I was able to UNDERSTAND that I had lost myself, and start the process of finding myself again | |
| -I was able to UNDERSTAND that for me the meaning of my life is happiness, and happiness is to know myself and my values and behave accordingly | |
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| ## Source: SPRING 2015/Final.pdf | |
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| -However, I BELIEVE that there is such thing as a personal, individual identity and that this is what will determine to what extent we are ready to sacrifice ourselves for anything else, because this will be a reflection of our own values and priorities in life, as well as of our concept of happiness, which I BELIEVE to be quite unique to each individual | |
| -I still have some trouble to deal with this precept as an absolute guideline, because even though I agree that the ability to think rationally is a quality intrinsic to the human being, I also BELIEVE that the ability to feel is intrinsic to the human being | |
| -Therefore, although I do agree with the dictum promoted by the Hellenistic school of THOUGHT that the virtuous life -and the rationalisation of instincts- could be equated to the “good life”, I am afraid that it may promote the excessive rationalisation of the human being, which can also deprive human beings of their humane component | |
| -But the reason why I felt most uncomfortable with this is because I THOUGHT under certain circumstances it could be very dangerous: it seemed to encourage some sort of interventionism that I believed could be very good if guided by “right” principles, but that transmitted a message of intolerance towards other people’s way of life, and that could be particularly dangerous if that interventionism are “bad” or “wrong” –for example, such as those that led to the Holocaust | |
| -principles guide that the I ended up realising, around Session 6, discussing about the “right path” and the “good life” that what I had difficulties with was adhering to transcendentalist theories, which stated or assumed that there is one single truth and one single reality and that if people engaged into RATIONAL thinking, they would all arrive to that single truth | |
| -This was problematic to me because the Hellenistic school of THOUGHT and other transcendentalists, such as Kant, believed that virtuousness could not be reached without acting on our ideals | |
| -Due to the fact that I BELIEVE reality is very complex and there is no single truth, I find it very hard to justify acting on a categorical imperative | |
| -Although I do agree to this distinction and granting of different levels of morality to different levels of “moral engagement” with society, I still cannot fully agree with Kohlberg’s theory that universal principles are the highest form I BELIEVE moral of moral development | |
| -I had also misinterpreted his theory by thinking that he was condescending, as what Socrates actually promotes through dialogue is not only questioning other people’s thoughts, but most importantly, questioning our own and never becoming complacent with and entrenched in our own THOUGHT | |
| -I BELIEVE that if human beings were able to put this view into practice, a lot of frustration and pain would be alleviated, as we often underestimate the impact that external, factors can have on the uncontrollable achievement of any goal | |
| -While discussing about happiness in our third session, it was interesting to SEE how in particular, the the Hellenistic and Aristotelic definition of happiness is radically opposed to the concept of happiness much of society in wealthy countries today holds: stoicism and asceticism have been replaced by pleasure and instant gratification | |
| -However, the reason why I find Aristotle’s definition problematic is because it makes two very important assumptions that I BELIEVE are flawed | |
| -First, Aristotle’s concept of happiness assumes that human beings are perfectly RATIONAL and that rationality can control emotion at all times | |
| -Many scientific studies –such as those that earned Daniel Kahneman a Nobel Prize – have demonstrated that human beings are way less RATIONAL than we think, even when put in situations that typically appeal to rationality | |
| -This would put into QUESTION the capability of a human being to reflect on a lifetime of experiences and happenings in a RATIONAL way to determine whether they have had a happy life | |
| -Second, I BELIEVE Aristotle’s view of happiness is based on a very static perception of the human being, ignoring that as people’s lives progress, they evolve and their priorities in life change, which would complicate the “final balance” of deciding whether one has been happy at life | |
| -I BELIEVE that people can and should reflect about happiness at several points in time and that this is the only way we can ensure a balance of feeling plenitude both in the present and in the future | |
| -I also BELIEVE that human beings unconsciously always think back when that we reflecting about happiness and consider of our whole personal journeys up to the moment when we are making that evaluation | |
| -I truly BELIEVE that if we do not feel plenitude when we reflect about our lives, even if we might think that this will lead us to happiness in the future, we should not keep following the path of dissatisfaction infinitely | |
| -critique However, I do find the Hellenistic stoicism very meaningful to LEARN to overcome painful moments in life that can lead to misery, especially its emphasis on differentiating between elements with external and internal locus of control as a key to happiness | |
| -However, I BELIEVE fear is very important in our lives for an additional reason: fear makes us appreciate what we already have | |
| -I BELIEVE it was a brilliant illustration of how these topics that are so fundamental to human existence but that seem so detached from human day- to-day life when discussed in class, really affect people’s lives | |
| -We could SEE that fear was not a detracting element inmates that impeded them to commit crimes | |
| -However, the QUESTION arises if the current judiciary and penitentiary system actually live up to this purpose and are capable of providing rehabilitation | |
| -However, I still BELIEVE this precept, which is generally well-intended can also be misinterpreted and lead to a sense of entitlement to take decisions for others | |
| -And I BELIEVE this is extremely important because it is probably more representative of real life that what we have been taught so far | |
| -And I also BELIEVE it is particularly relevant to us, because we will probably end up in managerial positions, where we will have to face uncertainty and dilemmas and we will have to provide answers and take decisions | |
| -However, in line with the premise that with knowledge comes power and to remain truthful to FINAL REFLECTIO N MARÍA IZQUIERDO PARDO Socrates’ advocacy, we must UNDERSTAND Socratic dialogue as a form of empowerment and this empowerment as our duty as future managers | |
| -Going over my notes to write this reflection, I grow more convinced of what I said in the final symposium: I truly BELIEVE that I have at least started the transition from being a happy pig to becoming an unhappy man | |
| -§ In contrast with the difficult realisation that we will never be knowledgeable about anything, Socrates has provided a very revealing learning for me, which is that if we truly have the motivation to LEARN, we can LEARN from anyone at any moment just by engaging in an unbiased, open dialogue | |
| -§ Although it is still a work in process, I think the course and the dialectic technique have helped me become a better listener, in particular, realising the importance of making sure that we UNDERSTAND what our counterpart really means; trying to identify the assumptions underlying their statements, and the importance of un- biasing ourselves and put our own opinions to the side while listening to other people in order to truly keep an open mind | |
| -it can coexist, leaders, because I think § Recognising that reality is complex and that elements or situations that are apparently contradicting and acknowledging and taking into account our limitations as human beings to UNDERSTAND reality in all its complexity | |
| -I BELIEVE this is important for us as future particularly business is particularly relevant when making decisions, which I now BELIEVE even more strongly, should not be taken unilaterally | |
| -the is about reaching § Related to learning to embrace complexity, I learned that it is essential to LEARN to be able to cope with uncertainty and acknowledge that life is just as much about the journey milestones | |
| -I BELIEVE that promoting a heavier line with what the in process orientation, Hellenistic school seemed to implicitly advocate, would have an immense impact on the way business is done, in two aspects | |
| -First, I BELIEVE this greater process orientation would likely stimulate both a more failure-tolerant and a more collaborative business environment, which could incredibly contribute to foster innovation | |
| -Second, I BELIEVE it would encourage CSR much more, as not only the what but also the how would now matter | |
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| ## Source: SPRING 2015/Final Essay - Dasha.pdf | |
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| -By dialoguing, we were able to REALIZE and even unveil the underlying issues that we might not have noticed otherwise | |
| -I used to think that I had enough understanding of myself, and there was no point for me to constantly QUESTION myself in order to get to the bottom of the reasoning behind my every decision, because it was simply not the most efficient thinking process | |
| -With the iterating questions surrounding the topic of identity and personality, I saw my idea of myself being gradually shaped in front of me, in a clearer and more CRITICAL way ever | |
| -As the saying goes: “The eye sees not itself but by reflection, by some other things”, Socrates believed that by repeatedly asking each other questions, we can eliminate the LOGICAL mistakes in each other, and thereby we will collectively achieve the “one single truth” in the end | |
| -While acquiring more understanding about ourselves, we can then start helping others to know themselves better and further LEARN about them as well | |
| -The other school of THOUGHT being discussed was the Stoic approach, stating that we can only control the things we have control over, and we should not let the rest affect us | |
| -However, his other idea also coincided with the latter school of THOUGHT, that is, he wished to become less dependent on external factors that affect his general state of mind | |
| -Marek’s point of view perfectly exemplified this line of THOUGHT as well | |
| -To me, personally, I have not yet decided which theory best describe what I BELIEVE | |
| -I rather SEE them as not mutually exclusive options | |
| -Aristotle, most Hellenistic schools of THOUGHT, Taoism, Buddhism and Epictetus encouraged to fight against desire | |
| -Contrast to what most people BELIEVE that satisfaction can be maximized with lowered expectation, I am convinced that oftentimes higher expectations can generate greater sense of satisfaction as well | |
| -Fear can be one of the main drivers of our acts, which is why it is important that we LEARN to control or eradicate our fear, not letting it constrain or imprison us | |
| -Then the QUESTION remained: What if we never have to go through such suffering? Does that mean there is no meaning in our Ying Tung (Dasha) Lin CEMS Spring 2016 lives? Or if I went through less suffering, does that mean that my life is less meaningful? Then we extended the discussion on whether it is necessary for everyone to have a meaning of life | |
| -Others THOUGHT that knowing the meaning of life is not achievable might led to a miserable life, which is why they might prefer to be oblivious in order to be happier | |
| -The aim of this exercise was firstly to SEE how we select the topic that resonated with us the most, and then analyze the issues that are discussed in the tale | |
| -Even though we might not be the most representative group of sample, it was interesting to SEE how the statistics change through time | |
| -However, I realized that I have learned something more about myself, Ying Tung (Dasha) Lin CEMS Spring 2016 and learned how important it is to UNDERSTAND myself, as well as others | |
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| ## Source: SPRING 2015/Isabelle Spicker_Socratic Final.pdf | |
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| -” Coming back to my example, the QUESTION is: does the fisherman act virtuously and is his activity one of soul? If yes, he should work more | |
| -Although this sounds very clear and LOGICAL, it unsettled me that lying in the sun actually still makes me very Isabelle Spicker Socratic Dialogue Final Essay happy | |
| -And until this very moment, I THOUGHT that being happy, following Aristoteles’ ultimate goal, is the meaning of life | |
| -As is apparent from the previous section, the topics of meaning, happiness and the answer to my QUESTION of “why?” are closely related | |
| -So I was looking forward to advance my preliminary answer to the QUESTION of “why do I need to have a career” in the sessions on happiness and the meaning of life | |
| -” When I THOUGHT that the meaning of my life was to be happy, it made me very uncomfortable to be unhappy because I wasn’t only feeling miserable for not being happy but also for failing my life | |
| -Additionally, I BELIEVE that being unhappy sometimes makes a lot of sense | |
| -Furthermore, I now ACCEPT some unlucky circumstances, like getting the most demotivated group member as my team member, as an opportunity to directly work towards my goal or as a means to prepare for circumstances that might appear later during my work, which will indirectly help me achieving my aim | |
| -She just worked for three years as a stewardess and now spends all the money she earned on a long holiday in Brazil to LEARN how to dance Samba | |
| -” I strongly BELIEVE that everyone of us bears responsibility, not only for our lives by finding meaning and making it meaningful but also towards the society as a whole | |
| -Yet, I was touched by how many of my fellow students THOUGHT it impossible to get through working life without acting against your morals | |
| -I have been deeply disturbed by the QUESTION of life’s meaning as a teenager | |
| -I also didn’t know that I wasn’t the first person to try to find answers to this QUESTION, and that there is a whole collection of philosophical literature to help me in my search | |
| -As their individual stories do not demand general validity, it is easier for me to ACCEPT that this theory might be right for this person at that given moment | |
| -And afterwards, I REALIZE that if I adapt it a bit it fits to my situation and theory very well | |
| -My philosophical journey has just begun and as you predicted, everything I THOUGHT through raises new questions | |
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| ## Source: SPRING 2015/KGanko_paper.pdf | |
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| -It is also called maieutics and is a form of cooperative dialogue between individuals, based on asking and answering questions to stimulate CRITICAL thinking and to draw out ideas and underlying presumptions | |
| -Instead of benefiting from gaining understanding through active listening and openness to different ideas they want to win the debate and do not QUESTION their opinions nor are willing to change them | |
| -We also established some rules, and were told that the classroom will be our mental gym where we will LEARN how to dialogue, and try to help each other to LEARN and become aware of our thoughts and beliefs | |
| -Moreover, we were given examples of useful QUESTION which would help us while conducting our dialogues | |
| -During the second part of the session we conducted a THOUGHT experiment “dilemma of the flute” that showed us the differences in our thinking | |
| -The session made me REALIZE about all the masks I have been wearing | |
| -I want to constantly LEARN and develop myself | |
| -During the session students discussed following quote: “If one has character, one has also one’s typical experience that recurs again and again”, and tried to answer the QUESTION whether character determines our destiny | |
| -First one was Aristotle’s school of THOUGHT that states Aristotle’s depend on ourselves and should be a central purpose of human life and a goal in itself | |
| -My own approach is closest to Aristotle’s which made me reflect on life and REALIZE that action and being virtuous is extremely important in order to reach happiness | |
| -The discussion continued as the QUESTION was raised whether desire makes us happy? And if we keep on desiring or if there will be a point where our desire is satisfied? We all agreed upon the notion that working towards a desire and being so close to finally achieving it can make us happy | |
| -However, I BELIEVE there is a middle road between the stoic and Buddhist rejection of all desire on one hand, and the pleasure seeking pursuit of gratification on the other | |
| -An understanding of the mechanisms of the various components of the brain: the RATIONAL, the emotional, the instinctive; allows us to identify the sources of our desires and choose to pursue only those enlightened desires which are consistent with our own narrative | |
| -I have started QUESTION my own desires, whether I have desires at all since I have experienced feelings of emptiness | |
| -We can choose how we react to the circumstances of our life, however there are some things in life we cannot change and we should ACCEPT them | |
| -My main learning when answering questions related with the Heinz THOUGHT experiment was realization on how I approach moral dilemmas | |
| -What the parents tell us – we ACCEPT external rules 2 | |
| -However, dwelling on that prevents me from exploration and learning, I REALIZE now that my cognitive abilities were affected | |
| -Further during the session, the group applied each of the theories to the Heinz dilemma analysing how would a person representing each of the theories solve the difficult QUESTION concerning morality | |
| -However, what worries me the most is the fact that, even though asking questions and dialoguing has so many advantages, what should be our strategies for implementing that method with people who do not want to dialogue? Who do not want to listen, because they think they are always right? Would we be courageous enough to pursue despite receiving rejections? How can we teach others how dialogue if they only know how to debate? How would we know if we have some effect on others? Socrates was poisoned because of his efforts to educate himself and others, to QUESTION people and make them think – are people seeking the truth under the same threat? If yes is it worth to sacrifice oneself? (After studying philosophy we are left with more questions than answers) | |
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| ## Source: SPRING 2015/SD_FinalEssay_AlessaVogler.pdf | |
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| -Today, I doubt that the degree did not suit me; rather I tend to BELIEVE that I just was not ready to begin my studies straight after finishing high school | |
| -It was the first time I THOUGHT that I might have found a job that I actually enjoyed most of the time – less because of my tasks, but rather because of my colleagues and the atmosphere | |
| -Well- rounded personalities that are not numb to their environment, that UNDERSTAND the mechanisms of capitalism and how a business works but that are also conscious of the consequences of their behaviour in- and outside of their immediate surrounding | |
| -This metaphor was used again later in the course and it raised the QUESTION whether we want to live as happy pigs or sad humans | |
| -This is a legitimate QUESTION since it makes our lives easier to not think about questions that are difficult to answer or do not entail the answer we would like to get from them | |
| -This discovery is best possible with the art of maieutics, which refers to the act of eliciting knowledge in a person’s mind by questioning and insisting on LOGICAL reasoning | |
| -So in my opinion, it is our duty, similar to what Socrates did, to make other people in our environment starting to QUESTION and examining their lives and their behaviour | |
| -As opposed to this, one could QUESTION whether there are not some people who would be happier being ‘slaves’ than being free | |
| -The first step to live accordingly Socratic Dialogue – Final Essay Alessa Kristina Vogler would be to REALIZE which things are in our control (opinion, desire, aversion, etc | |
| -I feel like I can LEARN a lot from Epictetus’ “The Enchirdion” | |
| -I will have to ACCEPT that there are some things that are out of my control and have to react accordingly | |
| -That might be because he/she has not yet understood norms, is just following norms or does not QUESTION norms | |
| -According to Gilligan’s research, women tend to REALIZE the premise early that we all live in relationships with one another | |
| -As we discussed it in class however, I started to UNDERSTAND what she was trying to say and started in believing parts of it | |
| -So during the course I THOUGHT that we have to start with something when trying to change our behaviour | |
| -Hannah Arendt states that the trial was biased from the beginning onwards; that Israel regarded Eichmann as the initiator of the so-called ‘solution of the Jewish QUESTION’ and not as the typical murderer that ‘only’ followed commands from his administrative superiors | |
| -Some of us will have a lot of power in the future and so we have to be aware that it will also be in our power to change things and to QUESTION some aspects of the status quo | |
| -Personalities such as you as well as this young law student who decided to go to El Salvador are extremely inspiring and although your stories sometimes make me feel like a hypocrite (because I keep thinking about meaningful aspects of life and SEE the many areas in which this world really requires a change but despite that decide to stay in the ‘hamster wheel’) I am very thankful that you encouraged us to think for ourselves and also that you emphasized the consequences of “good people doing nothing” | |
| -As you wrote on Moodle, action is a result from thinking and in my opinion you have made us think a lot in the past weeks and I am sure this THOUGHT process will have an impact on our future actions! | |
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| ## Source: SPRING 2015/socratic final essay.docx | |
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| -I was a musician, I wrote songs, THOUGHT about life and the way things are a lot so yeah I definitely must have been “deeper” than the general “Business School” average! I also found it hard to talk about things in front of people I have met just a week ago, somehow it didn’t feel genuine or real when I first went into it | |
| -Wrapping the semester up now, I feel I have been fortunate enough to SEE that my prejudice is now broken and perhaps this has been the greatest gain of it all; learning to be open and being able to get inspired by others without prejudice | |
| -There are so many things in our daily lives that we never QUESTION, topics that we have an opinion on yet we have never even THOUGHT about | |
| -I BELIEVE seeing the power of dialogue, the common point of all of us being open to share and realizing how wrong my prejudices were, are among the top learnings I am taking away from all of this | |
| -I saw how much I THOUGHT about how I look doing things rather than focusing on doing what I want to be doing | |
| -Talking about this and seeing how everyone actually shared a piece of THOUGHT here and there with me made me feel safer and to look for further understanding of myself | |
| -Seeing how willing everyone was to demolish their own walls and to speak helped me UNDERSTAND myself by creating comfort away from my comfort zone | |
| -We asked the QUESTION of what happiness is in class and that made me REALIZE that I had never ever properly put in some serious THOUGHT about it | |
| -As human beings I BELIEVE that we feel more comfortable when things are clearly defined | |
| -Knowing yourself and happiness is also like that, hearing Aristotle’s definition actually made a lot of sense and fitting “happiness” in that structure made me feel more at ease and comfortable towards the path of self awareness and I BELIEVE most of my classmates shared these feelings | |
| -As I have stated above, I BELIEVE that ambiguity is scary | |
| -This discussion allowed me again to SEE the similarities between me and my classmates whom I for once assumed to be very different for me | |
| -Each discussion led to me believing we are not all that different and eliminating the ambiguity that we SEE in difference, I was able to feel more comfortable in class with those people | |
| -I believed I had defined what desire is in my life but I had never THOUGHT about how to utilize desire to achieve happiness | |
| -I was able to clearly SEE the differences between Southern and northern European cultures as well as individual differences in approaches to life | |
| -We expect to SEE certain behavior by certain people and we neglect the fact that individuality plays a greater part in how we behave rather than the culture or gender role we were born into | |
| -It allowed me to SEE that stereotyping is also a way of prejudice and it directly affects how we perceive or treat people | |
| -We live in a world where morality is a hard thing to define and to live by, in this course I was able to SEE how so many different variables affect the morality and ideology of a person that it each person requires specific attention to be understood, because morality or values are too complex to be defined by just a culture or a gender | |
| -I BELIEVE it has been fundamental for me in increasing my self awareness and finding my path to peace and happiness | |
| -It really made me BELIEVE in the courage and dedication of our professor to what she does and I really think it was a very brave thing to do that has given really important results | |
| -Some of these people had very strange backgrounds, I could SEE that some of them had never received love from family or friends | |
| -The documentary made me SEE how so many things in life we are taking for granted | |
| -I have never considered them as privileges but watching the documentary made me SEE that there are people out there who have been missing out on the most basic inputs of our live like love and compassion and someone to lean on | |
| -As I have said, I still think that justice is very complicated and I know that not all criminals are people who come from less fortunate backgrounds who would have been awesome guys if they had decent families and better conditions, but regardless of that, the film really made me SEE that we are taking a lot of things for granted in life and we never think about not having them | |
| -The problem with society is that, we don’t UNDERSTAND that criminals are more likely to go back into crime if we don’t give them a chance to live normal lives | |
| -How can you expect a former inmate to live a normal life if he can’t even get a job because he was incarcerated back in the day? Once again, I still can’t get my head around justice but I know that our society definitely does need more empathy and if we start trying to UNDERSTAND those people whom we so easily label as “others” a lot more good will come out of this world | |
| -Much like everything else in class, this had also been a session where I was fortunate enough to SEE how so many things we are taking for granted | |
| -Now are we to be held responsible for buying those things? I’m sure that 90% of the customers of these brands have never even THOUGHT about it | |
| -Self awareness and empathy may be the two values I BELIEVE I have improved through this class the most and I think responsibility is way easier to grasp if we use empathy towards all of those who are affected by our actions | |
| -Especially for professional relationships where we have lots of structures and boundaries, being able to SEE through the person next to you and UNDERSTAND their feelings and motivations plays an incredibly important part | |
| -As an employee, a manager, a friend or a son I will always force myself to have an open mind in any relationship I walk into and UNDERSTAND the person sitting next to me, because I have seen how powerful it is to have a white blank page when you are first starting something | |
| -I saw how many things we take for granted in life through this class and I am in a place where now I QUESTION things a lot more than I used to and this is a good thing given with my increased importance on empathy and awareness | |
| -To sum up, I BELIEVE that this class has helped me in becoming a better manager, employee, a friend and an overall better person who is capable of looking at things from a deeper perspective | |
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| ## Source: SPRING 2015/Marek Medvesek_Final essay_ Socratic Dialogue.pdf | |
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| -Marek Medvesek Session 1 Dialogue The first session introduced bus to the concept of Socratic Dialogue, how it’s about picking the right questions in a conversation to help our discussion partner UNDERSTAND his or her thoughts better | |
| -Having a closed mind will lead you nowhere and we should always explore opportunities to LEARN from one another | |
| -It showed me therefore that these philosophers were not us detached from reality as I once used to think and that studying them can prove to be extremely beneficial, when trying to UNDERSTAND myself and as an effect improve the quality of my life | |
| -I learned how important it is to devote some time to contemplating about life and UNDERSTAND myself | |
| -Furthermore this class helped me appreciate the art of dialogue and UNDERSTAND its superiority towards a debate | |
| - 2 Session 2 Know thyself The beginning of the class started off with a traditional manner of attempting to answer an inconvenient QUESTION | |
| -It may very well be that we will never be able to answer the QUESTION, the effort to try and the process itself are extremely valuable | |
| -I had to ask myself the QUESTION of what do I want to do in my life and this is what lead me to apply for a Master in Innovation and Entrepreneurship at ESADE | |
| -I never wanted to study management, I didn’t SEE much value in it, but I decided to participate because it was a prestigious programme and everyone said it what I should do | |
| -My pursuit for happiness will consist of constantly trying different things, because how otherwise can you actually UNDERSTAND yourself and what you want | |
| -Both in the case of desire as well as fear it is crucial to be able to identify and UNDERSTAND them | |
| -The discussion about the experiment opened furthermore a gate to a great variety of other related topics - from househusbands, through evil nannies and overprotective moms to a QUESTION whether it is ethical at all to have children considering the apocalypse that is about to stumble upon us in the nearest future | |
| -We could clearly SEE a difference of approaches towards gender equality and the whole concept of a family between students from southern and nordic cultures | |
| -For her it is a CRITICAL period of forming a child’s character and she couldn’t imagine her kids being taught the very core life values by a stranger | |
| -On the final note Victor concluded the whole discussion with a rather depressing QUESTION “Why should we have kids if the world is deteriorating so badly” and they will be forced to live in misery | |
| -It was eye opening to SEE that even though at the surface we looked as a very similar group of people our views on life differ greatly | |
| -If we live in nasty conditions then, if we SEE crimes and hatred around us the probability we will commit a crime as well jumps drastically | |
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| ## Source: SPRING 2015/AKBAR, Sumer - SD Final Essay.docx | |
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| -Everyday, I try to improve and better UNDERSTAND myself and what things mean to me in a personal context | |
| -First, it allowed me to make sense of what of my own views and the other is the opportunity to broaden my learning of philosophy and UNDERSTAND the role it will play in the future | |
| -As business students, we often fall into the trap of thinking through fact and analysis neglecting the premise that philosophy is built on knowledge, CRITICAL thinking and curiosity | |
| -As an aspiring manager, I UNDERSTAND that my opinion on the aforementioned topics must be consistent in how I display myself in front of my family, friends, and colleagues | |
| -It is increasingly important that we become more self-aware of who we are and what we BELIEVE in | |
| -For me, this session taught me the importance of CRITICAL thinking and self-reflection | |
| -It became clear to me that I had to look into my own THOUGHT process and challenge the underlying assumptions I have made | |
| -According to Aristotle who THOUGHT along similar lines believing the notion that “human beings are social beings,” gave rise to idea that humans are bounded by the ability to express themselves through the exchange of ideas and organization and have the ability to express themselves through cooperation and competition | |
| -As an aspiring manager, I was able to SEE the importance of listening, collaborating, and communication effectively as key elements | |
| -Too often, we SEE politicians debating and arguing for the sake of arguing rather than engaging in dialogue | |
| -I BELIEVE that every effort one makes should be for the utilitarian benefit | |
| -How legitimate are they? Are they RATIONAL? Are they sound? It was Socrates who believed that values and beliefs do not change over time and that life is only worth living when we reflect on it, however I find myself in a dilemma questioning what I know and why I think that way | |
| -I continue to struggle to place myself in a particular school of THOUGHT in the paradigm from Utilitarism to Marxism | |
| -It leads to the premise that there is one singular truth that can be derived through unraveling LOGICAL reasoning | |
| -I BELIEVE that contentment is the threshold of happiness | |
| -As a class, we came to the consensus that individuals experience happiness in different ways as represented by the schools of THOUGHT presented by Aristotle and Spinoza | |
| -I struggle to UNDERSTAND why some people cannot be happy with the means that they have | |
| -It was Spinoza who BELIEVE that “happiness is not the reward of virtue, but is virtue itself” | |
| -On the other hand, I also BELIEVE that by engaging in evil behaviour, an individual cannot be truly happy | |
| -It is very important to UNDERSTAND the context around fear | |
| -There are numerous times that I have failed, and I have had to find a way to rise above and LEARN from my mistakes | |
| -As I am writing this, I REALIZE how silly it sounds, but it is true | |
| -Topic Four: Responsibility I BELIEVE that the class that impacted me the most was the one on responsibility which focused on learning the context behind criminals in the in the judicial system as well as the future lawyers that will represent them | |
| -In class, we discussed the role of jails, and I BELIEVE that jails are in place to teach and facilitate reintegration into the community | |
| -I BELIEVE it is important to let criminals feel heard and to help them restore their faith in both the judicial system and society as a whole | |
| -As a utilitarian, I BELIEVE that without reintegration, the loop cannot be closed leaving the system fragmented | |
| -I BELIEVE that this continuous improvement will be necessary until we (as a society) are able to become a truly, civilized society (in the ideal sense) | |
| -I BELIEVE that society has this misconception that we are indeed civilized, but if that were the case, then why do we still need the justice system to either instil fear preventing us from doing bad things? In the same breath, the justice system is there to protect us from criminal activity | |
| -I would still QUESTION, if we are putting barriers on innovation, are we truly innovating? As future business leaders, we need to cognizant of our moral responsibility | |
| -I started the course knowing virtually nothing about philosophy and wanted to LEARN how it can be applied in a business context | |
| -In class, I sat quietly trying to UNDERSTAND the opinions of my peer group while trying to break down the preconceived notions I had before taking part in both Socratic dialogue and traditional debate | |
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| ## Source: SPRING 2015/Laker, Maximilian - Final Essay.pdf | |
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| -From my very general understanding of the concept it resonated with me, so I was eager to LEARN more | |
| -Having attended a catholic high-school, I never really had any philosophy class before, so I was curious to LEARN more about what distinguished the ideas of great philosophers and what had made them survive for centuries | |
| -Moreover, the remarkably different set-up of the course as a Socratic Dialogue made me interested in participating, on the one hand to LEARN from other students, and on the other hand to experience a completely new methodology | |
| -To put it into perspective, before taking this course I perceived myself as being a quite self-aware person knowing more or less what I want in life, thinking I had well-THOUGHT ideas or my own perception of concepts such as happiness or identity – which I never had expressed explicitly though | |
| -Being confronted with questions such as what thinking means, or being asked the likes of who are you?, showed my two things: First, how rarely we actually think about the fundamental concepts, that are so essential to UNDERSTAND in order to answer subsequent questions about, for example about happiness or the meaning of life | |
| -It was very fascinating to SEE how being encouraged to voice one’s concept revealed the flaws in them and actually helped developing them further | |
| -Having the sessions of this course as a recurring fixed time in my schedule and secure space to come to, in order to reflect and actually think rather than do, powerfully demonstrated – at least for me – that I am considerably less self-aware than I previously THOUGHT | |
| -I could SEE that some decisions I took in the past had at times been the result of reactive activism rather than deliberate contemplation of what I really want | |
| -While doing so, we did not spend a single moment for an honest assessment of whether or not the other position had any merit, resulting in no change of THOUGHT at all | |
| -At the same time, according to the aforementioned notion the actual behavior of the individual, rather than only the contemplation of ideas, are in the focus of this school of THOUGHT | |
| -Identifying myself more with the stoic school of THOUGHT, having to wait until the end of one’s life, whether or not some great misfortune might happen – which I can not influence anyway – would seem to me like a source of fear and insecurity, substantially impacting everything I do | |
| -Instead, if I free myself from such external calamities, the QUESTION if I have a life marked by happiness is only dependent on myself and my own actions | |
| -Besides, getting to practice the art of the Socratic Dialogue and having an extremely interesting conversation with my brother, there was a third remarkable aspect of doing this exercise: Towards the end of the dialogue, my brother raised the QUESTION whether happiness – notwithstanding it’s clear attractiveness – represents the meaning of live | |
| -Sira Abenoza | ESADE | CEMS | Maximilian Laker To pick up the discussion from class, does not having gone through suffering in turn means that our lives are meaningless? I BELIEVE, when there are no substantial threats present, the hurdle to start thinking about life and it’s meaning simply is a lot higher | |
| -It is within this larger context that I would also SEE the discussion whether everybody needs to have a meaning of life | |
| -As a consequence, as we could SEE during our discussion, some students argue that they doubt that it is necessary to formulate a meaning of life for 8 Socratic Dialogue | Prof | |
| -Going back to the initial QUESTION, happiness consequently is not necessarily the meaning of life, as we have seen, even in suffering a meaning of life can be found, the key is to be reflective and self-aware to find a meaning for oneself | |
| -Not being affected by it means spending little or no THOUGHT at all thinking about the design and purpose of the justice system in place | |
| ------------------------- | |
| ## Source: SPRING 2015/Final Essay_Phillip Schmalzried.pdf | |
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| -What they all have in common, however, is the the advice that I should do whatever I BELIEVE would make me happy in the short-‐ as well as in the long-‐run, as striving for happiness is most important in life | |
| -Prior to taking this course, I had never spent much time on wondering how to be happy as I was quite happy with my life in general – maybe because I had not given it much THOUGHT | |
| -Aristotle’s take on happiness was that everything should be about achieving happiness and that once achieved, it cannot be destroyed as we can LEARN how to deal with misfortune through rationality | |
| -While I BELIEVE that Spinoza’s approach of achieving happiness by simply being happy sounds pleasant and easy to implement, I think it is somewhat short-‐sighted as our emotions can influence that state | |
| -He supported the theory that one needs to LEARN to UNDERSTAND their thoughts and emotions in order to UNDERSTAND why we feel the way we do | |
| -While I do BELIEVE that it is essential that one is capable of analysing and understanding their emotions in order to be happy, I BELIEVE Epicirus’ concept is not all-‐embracing | |
| -I BELIEVE happiness requires conscious decisions, such as setting achievable life goals and not striving for unrealistic outcomes | |
| -I find the THOUGHT very liberating that happiness is available to everybody, regardless of one’s wealth, ethnicity or circumstances | |
| -This underlines the importance of being able to influence and UNDERSTAND our thinking | |
| -I BELIEVE, that out of these, experience is by far the most important, as it is experience and knowledge that allow us to reflect on our actions and our life | |
| -So when Socrates claims that an unexamined life is unworthy, I BELIEVE he is very much in line with Frankl’s theory of the existential vacuum, as the result seems to be the same | |
| -I BELIEVE, however, that while examining our lives or actively reflecting on our actions and experiences are essential and helpful in the process of identifying our meaning of life, it does not necessarily imply us achieving it | |
| -Why is it that I BELIEVE I need to dedicate most of my energy into my career, ready to ultimately sacrifice personal relationships along the way? Is that the meaning of life I have identified for myself upon examination, or is it not much 3 Phillip Schmalzried – Final Essay – 19 | |
| -16 rather a mind set that I was unconsciously forced to adopt over the period of five years studying at business schools? This leads me to a very essential QUESTION – is it necessary that we identify our meaning in life for ourselves or is it not completely acceptable if we have somebody helping us with that search? This goes completely against what Kirkegaard believed, who stated that it was every individuals’ responsibility to find that meaning for themselves | |
| -Following Frankl’s THOUGHT on the risk of falling into an existential vacuum, should it then not be our responsibility as a society to give a person affected by the existential vacuum a meaning in life or at least help them to identify it for themselves? Even though I have so far dedicated a lot of time to finding my personal meaning of life, I BELIEVE I am far from having identified it | |
| -I BELIEVE, that what it boils down to essentially is the concept of identity and what it really means to us | |
| -While I BELIEVE, that knowledge would help to eliminate most of the existing injustice we have in today’s world, I am convinced that it requires more than just knowledge | |
| -Therefore, I BELIEVE that Hobbes raised another very important point | |
| -I find it very hard to ACCEPT that we as humans in the 21st century still require the guidance of institutions in order to ensure justice for all within our societies | |
| -When talking about responsibility, I BELIEVE it is inevitable to also consider courage, as it is a prerequisite for being willing to take on responsibility | |
| -Giving into fear leads to decisions and actions that are no longer based on LOGICAL reasoning and therefore are most likely far from being the best decisions we make | |
| -I BELIEVE it is very important that we think of courage not only in the concept of fighting bravely, but also as the ability to overcome all the different fears we are experiencing, regardless of their nature | |
| -People often BELIEVE that they do not have it in them, and that they can not overcome their biggest fear | |
| -Hence, everybody has the capacity to act courageous, we all have what it takes, we just need to UNDERSTAND it | |
| -Coming back to the initial topic of responsibility, I BELIEVE in the context of business students and upcoming managers, there are two sides we need to UNDERSTAND | |
| -First, we need to overcome our fears in order to be willing and ready to ACCEPT and take on responsibility, as outlined in the previous paragraph | |
| -I BELIEVE, that it is our responsibility, as highly educated future managers, to not turn our backs on an issue like this, even when it is certainly more convenient than dealing with this issue | |
| -Concluding Reflection “I know you won’t BELIEVE me, but the highest form of Human Excellence is to QUESTION ourself and others | |
| -If there is one thing, above all others, that I am taking away from this course, it is the realization that it is not only good to QUESTION the status quo, when it comes to our personal development it is also necessary and crucial for expanding our horizon | |
| -I was amazed to SEE how students in this course opened up, sharing personal matters and issues with the entire group that they very likely have not shared with many people they consider close | |
| -Now that the course has come to and end, I have tried my best to outline my learnings in this reflection, but I do not BELIEVE that every learning can be put into words | |
| -I do BELIEVE, however, that reflecting on what we think we know and questioning our own perception will guide us through the journey | |
| -I have written many course reflections throughout my student life, and many times I have not only been CRITICAL but also quite flattering | |
| -After all, if anything I am writing is true, I should have the courage for CRITICAL feedback | |
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| ## Source: SPRING 2015/YelizSunay_FinalReflectionandEssay.pdf | |
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| -Now I am able to better reflect and draw a comparison between the first lesson we had up until the final symposium, a long journey that everyone of us took; however I BELIEVE that the outcome has been tremendous ‘at least’ for myself | |
| -First of all, I did not expect a very interactive and engaging teaching approach but this drastically changed in the first lesson when we were confronted with the QUESTION: ‘what is thinking’ | |
| -But I guess within the last years as business school students we got trained to really ‘think’ about concepts and try to give meaning to something or try to UNDERSTAND concepts | |
| -We were able to come to the conclusion that with the help of others we are able to connect the dots and SEE the world in a different view and supported ‘Aristotle’s statement that humans are social beings | |
| -I BELIEVE that this exercise was very beneficial in understanding the different perspectives and standpoints on the issue, and again there is no right and wrong here | |
| -It was very interesting to SEE the arguments that were used during this talk and also try to step into somebody else’s shoes; but also to UNDERSTAND the difference between a debate and a dialogue | |
| -I personally have to admit that his definition of happiness strikes me the most among all the other definitions out there; because I BELIEVE that you are never ‘solely’ responsible for your happiness | |
| -Here what is most important is that there were moments why I was only happy for a very short time and now I am asking myself why? Was it something I took for granted or did I not REALIZE I was happy? What was the good life back then and what is it now? There were moments in my life where I THOUGHT I am only working in order to attain ‘material goods’ and that everybody is doing so as well | |
| -I flawlessly THOUGHT that I was going to be happy but I did not-‐ everything was short lived | |
| -Back then I never questioned why; I THOUGHT that’s just the way it is | |
| -But deep down I have always wondered; are these people really happy or is it just a façade to make others BELIEVE that you are happy? In the end I BELIEVE that it is more about the experiences that make you happy and the non material things you are setting yourself in life in order to make you happy | |
| -So what made me change my mind about the definition of happiness? I BELIEVE that individuals have to live through certain things in life to UNDERSTAND what makes them happy | |
| -So I BELIEVE the right attitude is ‘do what you want’ and be more proactive towards what makes you happy | |
| -I decided to travel throughout the country in order not only to SEE beautiful places but have these memories in mind | |
| -You need to be supported by somebody or at least somebody needs to BELIEVE in you in order to achieve your goals | |
| -I did not know what I wanted, I just knew I wanted a job in Marketing in some great MNC where I can LEARN and develop myself | |
| -At first I was very excited to be part of this selective program and my mother THOUGHT that after the trainee is over it would be nice if I could start working for them | |
| -I THOUGHT it was a smart decision back then; but after a couple of months I totally had to disagree | |
| -It took me a while to UNDERSTAND that this is the way it is and I can’t change much about it | |
| -When we were talking about it in class I THOUGHT why would ‘you sacrifice yourself? But I realized I have done it many times | |
| -I was 19 years old and did not really get it-‐ but now I REALIZE I had sacrificed myself and hidden my identity many times during these six months | |
| -So therefore, I THOUGHT if my parents are happy about my achievement I have to be happy too, as many people would love to work here | |
| -I am happy to SEE how many times I have sacrificed myself in order to make others happy | |
| -There is no way I can achieve happiness by not knowing what makes me happy and I can’t listen to what others BELIEVE what I should do | |
| -I wouldn’t accuse anybody of influencing me too much, but rather I was not able to be ‘RATIONAL’ and decide what do I actually want | |
| -I never THOUGHT today I would be able to say I will go my own way and choose what is best for me | |
| -My mum especially would want me move back to Turkey – but really? Do I want to wake up everyday and wonder what’s next? Political instability vs corruption over being close to my parents? Or do I go to a place I actually want to live? I haven’t taken the decision yet… Do I really want to sacrifice my personal beloved environment for somewhere that far in order to start a ‘happy’ new life? The QUESTION here I guess is: what is more important to me | |
| -I BELIEVE you could live in the best on earth-‐ but will you ever be happy? Aren’t your beloved ones and your own comfort zone making you happy? Well who knows – but for a fact I am undecided | |
| -It’s not only about finding the right job as previously explained but the QUESTION is where | |
| -Europe is a fairly accessible continent, but once we go further will I be able to cope with this distance for the next years? Or will it be an experiment to test whether I will return for good or not? This relates back to the QUESTION of who am I as a person and as a manager and what do I stand for, the topic we discussed in the very beginning of the class | |
| -Socrates once said ‘Know thyself’ and this is the initial start to answer the QUESTION | |
| -I BELIEVE this is true for many instances in our lives | |
| -But in everybody’s lives there were moments were this was not possible or simply we did not SEE it so therefore we acted differently | |
| -If we have doubts about this-‐ I simply BELIEVE it’s not ethic | |
| -Everybody makes mistakes and you LEARN from them – it’s a vicious cycle | |
| -However, it becomes CRITICAL if you keep on doing the same mistakes either without knowing or simply neglecting them | |
| -I therefore BELIEVE that you have to experience CRITICAL moments in life in order to QUESTION and UNDERSTAND what really matters | |
| -If everything always goes right you take it for granted but you would not QUESTION it | |
| -This clearly relates to Socrates and his definition of an ‘examined life’, which in my opinion is necessary to UNDERSTAND what makes life worth living | |
| -We make choices on a daily basis but are we really putting a lot of THOUGHT in them to achieve happiness? For myself I can say that nobody forced me to do a Master; but rather everybody in my close environment believed that I should rather start working and gain experience | |
| -During the time I was unhappy I did not put a lot of THOUGHT into my decision to ACCEPT the job-‐ I just accepted it out of fear-‐ fear to have a gap of a couple of months on my CV and fear to miss ‘the opportunity’ | |
| -In our fourth session we talked a lot about fear and I wish I had taken this class before to UNDERSTAND that fear can be both good and bad and be able to deeply UNDERSTAND why I am fearful | |
| -Now I can say my fear was not justified-‐ I was not able to REALIZE and examine what I want or what makes me happy | |
| -Many of my beloved ones and friends THOUGHT that a Master is unnecessary; they might be right, as an academic degree it does not necessarily grant better ‘job opportunities’; but it enables you to LEARN from more each other and the whole experience makes it more intimate and challenging | |
| -Instead I should start questioning more, why people BELIEVE that I am like this | |
| -People have experienced different moments in their lives and nobody can judge them accordingly – yet if we SEE something wrong we need to speak up | |
| -I have seen a change in his behavior in the last couple of months and was always wondering what I can do about it if he behaves bad – but I always THOUGHT its his life you can’t do a lot | |
| -But after taking this course I changed my opinion, I THOUGHT the best way is to talk to him and share my concerns | |
| -Yet the QUESTION remained where do we draw the line? I remembered session 4 when we were talking about desire and that usually people cheat on each other, because of desiring others | |
| -So here the QUESTION is ‘will his desire ever be satisfied’? My flatmate said that he is aware that he did something wrong-‐ well that’s the first point to start | |
| -I THOUGHT maybe he has to clear his mind and ‘know himself’ before trying to love somebody else | |
| -Therefore, the QUESTION for myself remains? Will he ever be able to control his desire or will he remain a slave of his own desire? After the long talk we had the only thing I hope that he know what he really wants and once he has decided takes a step accordingly | |
| -Don’t counter evil with evil! That was a just a small snapshot of another personal example – but personally I BELIEVE that our Socratic lessons have helped me to UNDERSTAND how I should act as a ‘good or ‘virtuous’ person | |
| -I BELIEVE I have done a lot that he will able to find his ‘right path’ and what is right-‐ but in the end as our inmates said – he is the one who takes the decision and nobody else | |
| -Therefore the only thing is to hope that he will find his right way but only time will tell… Well after all these months I can for sure say that from now on I will try to ‘rationalize’ even more and try to SEE the bigger picture, as Marion was referring to the idea of ‘rationality’ during our Socratic debate | |
| -I always THOUGHT I have to hide my society or personal values just to adapt to my environment-‐ especially when I did my first compulsory internship in Turkey | |
| -But I BELIEVE this reflection is needed to ‘examine my personal life’ | |
| -I still BELIEVE that one of the most influential quotes is that ‘The unexamined life is not worth living’, because if I keep on doing the same thing everyday it would not be fulfilling | |
| -There were times where the class discussion beat me, because I was trying to find an answer and dig deeper-‐ but I couldn’t… My biggest challenge now is to find out what leads to my personal ultimate happiness and whether I am able to UNDERSTAND the difference between happiness and desire | |
| -I have the desire to live in Australia again and leave everything behind, but yet the QUESTION remains if I will be happy in the end or if it’s just a short-‐lived pleasure? In order to give me some guidance, I simply wish I could have a Symposium with Socrates… nevertheless I would like to conclude my reflection with his wise words: “I know that I know nothing“ – and yet that’s the truth | |
| -Thank you Sira for being part of this journey and helping me to SEE the world in another way and make me QUESTION anew | |
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| ## Source: SPRING 2015/Dimitrios Mitropoulos - Final Essay.docx | |
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| -Most people will never LEARN who they truly are because the simply do not look hard enough, do not take the time to investigate | |
| -The fight to fully UNDERSTAND who you are is never ending (and thank god for that!) but the least we can do is not lose track of who we were in this undoubtedly twisted environment | |
| -At this point, however, I must share that I BELIEVE some lives are considered happy because they bring enjoyment to the persons that live them and others are considered happy because they are enjoyable for that person but also for the people around her/him | |
| -So riddle me this: If so many of us REALIZE that the world moves way too fast for us to enjoy our lives, and that we ourselves have set this pace, how is this madness still a thing?! Third Entry “What is the opposite of fear?” | |
| -Incredible QUESTION, one that I have never asked myself before | |
| -I clearly SEE how fear can translate into an instinct of survival | |
| -So the QUESTION is “can fear only be justified ex post”? I always believed that fear to a certain extent is just a natural instinct | |
| -For the people that BELIEVE fear is only a burden discarding this part will probably look like cutting out a cancerous cell | |
| -Through the discussion in Socratic Dialogue I have come to QUESTION my “affection” towards some of my fears | |
| -It is not something that many people will achieve, as a matter of fact I BELIEVE that only a tiny minority will come even close | |
| -I SEE the effort as the equivalent of that of a guru surviving without any food for a hundred days | |
| -I tend to SEE this often in us business people | |
| -Therefore, despite what conservative elitists in this world will struggle to have you BELIEVE, this is not a race about who is more important, and even if you seek your superior mission to justify and validate the breaths you take you must know that you are probably already there, so just be the best you can be for the sake of doing it | |
| -They inspire others to REALIZE that their lives, their efforts, their slightest achievement matters because it weaves the pattern towards a better world | |
| -Since there is no “one-size-fits-all” moral code throughout the world for even the most “black-or-white” situations (which would have been nice, since this notion is the foundation for peaceful anarchy) I assume what we need to do is to examine every situation through our own lens, and then consult the opinion of others of distinct experiences and backgrounds, to SEE what is it that society nowadays considers right and wrong | |
| -I UNDERSTAND it sounds exhausting and confusing but bear in mind that you already have been doing this ever since you could establish a string of THOUGHT | |
| -For once the Donald Trumps of this world will sit on the same yard bench as the Mexican bank-robbers they want to send to the chair and SEE what is that dictates their behavior and vice versa | |
| -However, I do admit that the THOUGHT of it brings about a twisted sense of satisfaction and that is scary to me | |
| -If I find the way to put myself in this politician’s shoes I might possibly LEARN to be more sympathetic towards him | |
| -That being said I BELIEVE the law is above all of us | |
| -The ancient Greeks believed this and it saddens me deeply to SEE my country’s society in such a decay, so far away from the principals that once made it resemble a model construct | |
| -It saddens me deeply because the people that step on these principals are the ones brought up with all the means to REALIZE and UNDERSTAND why they should respect them to the fullest | |
| -I UNDERSTAND that the furnishings of a prison matter, namely the physical environment, but what matters most is the mental context | |
| -It is no coincidence that a great deal of prisoners “find Jesus” in jail, as Jesus is the only person that is openly willing to ACCEPT them despite their errors | |
| -But it did work because I was given the time to reflect on my actions and my mistakes knowing that once I step out that door my parents will be equally willing to ACCEPT me and we would get on with our lives | |
| -This is why I BELIEVE every case should be looked into individually and spherically | |
| -I personally BELIEVE that the mark of a leader is the capacity for self-sacrifice for the benefit of the flock | |
| -And I BELIEVE once you done it once or twice you’ll find that many people who previously stood silent in front of similar situations find motivation to follow in your steps and cleanse the world of it, step by step | |
| -All in all, I am truly pleased for having the opportunity to SEE that in us, and as I mentioned, it is comforting to SEE that so many people from so different backgrounds have the same anxieties and thoughts about our world | |
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