Before coming into this class, I had a very limited knowledge on philosophy. I knew
what the subject was about, and I knew it was about important individuals such as Plato.
However, I did not know that Philosophy is such a complex and interesting subject. More
importantly, I never thought that I would enjoy learning about this subject as much as I do now
at the end of the semester. I had always thought that even though Philosophy was an important
subject, that it was not interesting at all. I had thought this due to believing that the subject was
mostly about learning about other individual’s viewpoints on certain matters. Throughout my
life, I have always had a close-minded opinion until taking this course. Before taking this online
course, I was not open to another individual’s viewpoints as much as I am now from taking this
course. I had the viewpoint that what I believe is correct and that I do not need to look into other
individual’s viewpoints. I am very happy that I was able to take this class because it allowed my
viewpoints to “open up”. Due to taking this class, I was able to see other individual’s viewpoints
though the weekly discussions that we would have, and this allowed for my viewpoint to open up
as the semester went on. I believe that these online discussions and being able to respond to my
peers was what really allowed for my viewpoints to begin expanding. Doing discussions
throughout the semester allowed me to see that there are other viewpoints out there that
everyone, mainly myself, should take into account before forming an opinion on a matter or
subject. Before weekly discussions began, I had thought up until the first discussion that all I
would have to do is put a response with my opinion and not have to concern myself with what
other individuals’ in the classes opinions on the question were. However, this was defiantly not
the case. Even though I hated responding to peers at first, it allowed me to see other individual’s
viewpoints and slowly throughout the semester my mindset began to “open up” and see that
other individual’s viewpoints should be taken into account before forming an opinion of my
own. Learning about different philosophers, what their ideas were, etc. also really helped open
my view on Philosophy. It allowed me to see ideas and thoughts that I had never thought about
until taking this course and it allowed for me to see that there are other viewpoints in the world
that are much better than my own. Being able to read about what other philosophers have
contributed to the world really opened my eyes as well. It made me see that the world we live in
today is much more complex that it seems from the naked eye. It allowed for me to see other
ideas that important individuals believed in and allowed me to put more thought into them as
well. Before this course, I never thought that I find something as Descartes Theory to be actually
interesting for myself. Throughout this course, the most exciting area to me was when we were
learning about Descartes. I personally loved learning about Descartes. Descartes was such an
interesting individual to me that I decided to do my own personal research on him as well in
order to gain more knowledge. Watching the film, The Philosophy of Science, was really
enjoyable for me as well. Watching the film, Kant, was another film that was extremely
interesting to me as well. For myself, week 9 was the most exciting week for me in the semester
as I was able to learn about Descartes. Descartes is an individual who I never imagined being
interesting enough for myself to personally research more about before taking this course. It was
also extremely interesting for me to learn more about Plato. Plato was a philosopher who I had
heard about but never had given much interest to until taking this course. Overall, I am extremely
glad that I took this course. Even though I had first registered for this course to fulfill a GE
requirement, it allowed for me to open my mindset, viewpoint and as well as find a subject that I
never thought I would have extreme interest in as I do now at the end of the semester.