Lessons that make a difference! Zara (KS3)

An RS lesson that had an impact on me

In one RS lesson we were discussing the philosophical topic of The Ship of Theseus. The Ship of Theseus is a thought experiment which proposes the debate of whether an object remains the same despite its elements being replaced.

Although this thought experiment is about a ship it can be applied to the humans because our bodies are constantly changing through time, our cells die and are replaced, we start to develop and mature physically and mentally which causes us to come up with a variety of different questions regarding our identity such as: since our components have been replaced and we have changed, could we still be considered the same person as before? If so, at what point do we become a different person than before? What are the properties that make up a human being? Is there something that makes us the same person through time? Could that something be the soul?

This lesson had an impact on me because it was an introduction to philosophy (love of wisdom) and allowed me to think more deeply and delve into numerous theories about the psyche that had never been discussed at school before. It truly opened my mind and sparked an interest in me. I enjoyed the never-ending questions and studying different debates that arose from just one or two queries. This lesson gave me the freedom to share my ideas without feeling I was right or wrong, because there is no such thing in this topic. You can express your opinions openly, without judgement and this helped boost my confidence.

This lesson helped me open my mind to other ideas and not immediately disagree with them, but to logically analyse them and be able to sum up the advantages and disadvantages of the argument, which also helped in the opposite way too, not to believe something instantly and overview the statement and dissect it which gave me a better analytical ability and an appreciation for other ways of thinking that were different to my own and challenged me to broaden my understanding and be able to argue for both sides. Philosophy is all around us, our government and our laws have been dictated by philosophy and what we consider to be right and wrong, and this lesson got me thinking about the systems we have in place and how they all came to be because of philosophy, because people asked those important questions about why things were the way they were and what they could do to change it. This lesson taught me the importance of asking important questions to not only have a better understanding of yourself and the nature of the world around, but to be able to use that knowledge to build a better world.