Philosophy for the Inclined

In the words of the quantum physicist Richard Feynman, "To every man is given the key to the gates of heaven; the same key opens the gates of hell" Very much so is life and everything that is encompassed within it. Every decision you make and every situation you encounter has a mirror image just beyond the horizon, an imaginary part which exists beyond your initial equation. 

For every gain there is an equal loss, and using that ideology, one can see that very much so; everything is like that. Whether a tragic loss, or a horrible accident; To even a great success or moment of elation, somewhere, someplace, someone would think the opposite of what you do, and for his own very good reason. 

For some, Philosophy seems to have reached a standstill at that point. After all, what is the point of discussing and elaborating on a topic if in reality, you are getting no where, you are not answering anything and furthermore you are not reaching any conclusions. If every positive has an equal and opposite negative to counter-act it, how can the universal cooking pot take a side? A discussion on ethics only seems to be resolved when the pros beat the cons or vice versa, but that could simply be because of an existing bias. Where is the conclusion? Where is the answer? What is the point of philosophy if all it is, is not the truth, but what society deems acceptable to be the truth?

Dilemmas, dilemmas. But don't give up on Philosophy yet. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Amateur philosophers who come across this problem need not fret; but simply reflect on their initial expectations and beginnings. Normally in the first ever lesson that one goes through in a Philosophy class, one discusses questions that are almost fictitious but equally viable. Do we live in a dream? Do we have a soul? These questions, almost immediately can be concluded to have no answer, and they don't. In Philosophy you are thought that the question is more important than the answer, and it is. If you are a scientist and take up philosophy with that mentality, you are simply doing it all wrong. It is true that the realm of science is about speculation and logical argumentation, but it is also highly based on answers and conclusions. Conclusions which in Philosophy, you will never end up reaching with enough assurance, for the argument mentioned above. Philosophy is a search for the truth, not the truth itself. And the 'search' is a very big part of that process. It is the methodology that truly makes up the subject, to search and search endlessly for the truth that may or may not exist.

But do not be sad, fellow philosophers.The universal truth that you think exists for a particular question simply does not exist. The world is a relative place as mentioned above and equally so, the answers to those questions are as relative. Philosophy is personal journey that seeks you in building the road to your enlightening destination rather than actually making you get there.

To wrap things up, Philosophy is about the questions you ask and how they might mean something greater than what you can conceive of. And as for that light at the end of the tunnel....you kinda can't see the light....but the tunnel is equally as fantastic to look at ;D