Knowing our Bias — Introduction to Issue 5: Perspectives

Welcome to Issue 5 of Conundrum: Perspectives. As our first issue of the new year, we’re excited to delve into a new type of philosophical study. The mission statement for our writers is as follows:

Perspective is defined as a specific attitude or manner by which a person thinks about something. While not as well-defined as topics like free will or the existence of God,  perspective is foundational to philosophy. It shapes the way we view the world, approach challenges, and bounce back from failure. Because we spend most of our time surrounded by people with the same upbringing as us, and are taught very similar things, it becomes easy to forget that our preconceived notions are not definitive. Similarly, the philosophers and philosophies we study often come from very similar traditions, and therefore it is easy to forget that the Western Continental canon is only one of many. This issue will focus on studying the perspectives of different philosophers across the world, as well as the limitations in perspectives of famous philosophers, through one of two paths.

1. Write an article about Africana, Eastern, Feminist, Indigenous, or another non-Western philosophy. This can be an short overview of the history of the tradition, a deep dive into a particular philosopher or philosophy (list of potential philosophers to write about below), or a compare/contrast of this tradition and a Western one (or another one).

2. Write an article about the limitations of a certain philosopher's perspective and writing. Kant never left his hometown, Descartes made bad arguments to defend his faith, etc. Many philosophers were limited by their religious, political, or historical circumstances — certain eras were defined by proving previous writers works (i.e. Aristotle), and therefore falsehoods from one time period were propagated into the next.

These two topics are intentionally broad — this is your time to study something new.

A new format to Conundrum’s repertoire is the Meeting Notes. As part of Maryland’s Richard Montgomery High School, several Conundrum writers help create weekly documents introducing members to new philosophical thoughts and ideas. The 3 documents we chosen to publish as introductory articles — Hannah Arendt, Standpoint Theory, and Angela Davis — all originate from Feminist philosophical traditions, and provide new life and opposition to the existing Western canon. We hope to introduce even more ideas through these meeting notes, allowing readers outside of our philosophy club to see the same descriptions, ideas, and thoughtful questions that promote our weekly discussion.

Other articles include an introduction to Ibn Sina (also known as Avicenna), a famous philosopher of the Islamic Golden Age, and his Floating Man thought experiment, a precursor to well-known ideas on identity and mind-body duality. Our writer Kevin Si continues his essays on war through his piece on Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, and explores how millennia-old war strategies are just as applicable to our conflict (if not violence) driven world.

We thank you for your patience, and hope that your interest in the subject of philosophy extends to our exploration of thinkers outside of the usual canon. We believe that understanding perspective is fundamental to becoming a better philosopher and person.