People have differing views on life. Each person looks at life and notices something distinct, experiences something unique, and has a story to tell. People’s unique experiences throughout life give them their own individual perspective and outlook of how they view the world. This explains why many people don’t see eye to eye in some cases. For example, many people see life as unfair given their unfortunate circumstances. However, others with those same unfortunate circumstances may view those situations in a very positive light. In my case, I view life as chaotic but beautiful in its own way. I first understood the idea of chaos in my own life when my dad, who was my world, got diagnosed with cancer and I realized he was going away. However, through that chaos in my life, my amazing father helped inspire me to always paint a positive outlook on life despite its turmoil. His advice to me was that our life is a blank white canvas and life events are like colors that create a work of art on that canvas. In that work of art there may be colors that we do not necessarily like and colors that we absolutely love. However, all the colors come together to make that work of art unique and complete. Such should be our view on life with its bitter as well as its sweet moments coming together to create a complete and beautiful life experience for each one of us. This is why there is beauty in life’s chaos if you look at it with the right perspective.
I have encountered various philosophies while learning about life, although, I have not regarded any unique philosophy as appealing since I have not given any of them serious consideration. I feel that in order to gain an increased understanding pertaining to distinct philosophies, I would need to undertake deeper research. Most interpretations attributed to philosophy are divided into certain definitions. During the capstone course, our professor Dr. Peters introduced us to distinct philosophies. In my case, the two major philosophies that have significantly caught my attention are feminism and humanism. Both of those philosophies are intersectional with existentialism and resonate with me significantly as two key philosophies when it comes to my view toward life.
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From my perspective, existential therapy serves as one of the major philosophical approaches that made significant sense to me. The approach serves as a unique therapy type that focuses on evaluating challenges from the perspective of philosophy as opposed to following a strategy that relies on a certain technique (Engelhardt, 2011). Emphasizing on the entire condition of humans, existential therapy applauds the capacities that humans portray while at the same time encourages people to take responsibility for the successes that they realize in life (Freire & Freire, 2004). The psychological and emotional challenges that individuals face are regarded as inner conflicts that occur when people are confronted by the chaos they encounter in life. As opposed to focusing on the past, the approach emphasizes the present while focusing on the entire condition of a human in light of what an individual perceives (Corradi, 2018). In this case, I believe that the approach would play a critical role for a human service professional in assisting clients especially through supporting individuals to face the diverse anxieties they have experienced during life.
On the other hand, feminism is a philosophy that embarks on lobbying for the rights of females when it comes to the idea of gender equality. In this course to enhance my philosophy of life I wanted to understand how feminism relates to humanism. Feminism is intertwined with humanism because the two philosophies aim at portraying the potential in women and at giving them the freedom to choose their course in life. In this light, it is worth noting that women have come a long way in their advocacy for a deeper understanding. There was a time in history where the world was very chaotic for women who back then were confined to the kitchen, to act as housekeepers and to raise children. The feminist ideology is also enhanced by existentialism to imitate that every individual female on the global landscape has a purpose in life and should be free to pursue the life she chooses and to live it to the fullest (Killinger, 1961). It is worth noting that Feminism is a form of humanism and stems from existentialism to zero down on gender imbalances and the prerequisite attributes (Rubini, n.d.)The former perceptions, which of course were chaotic, were shaped by chauvinist beliefs to indoctrinate the people to believe that there were certain jobs for men while the women had their special place. As a Muslim, I am aware of the disadvantaged position many women find themselves in especially in regions where Islam is the dominant religion (Bernal, 1994). Tracee Ellis Ross, in this light, takes a feminist stance when she intimates in a TED talk that the society must address the suppression of the female gender in all corners of the world in order to enhance equality (TED, 2018). At the birth of feminism, the women rose to claim equality by challenging the men in the job sector. Women have proven that they could operate machinery, raise families as single-parents, hold office jobs, and equalize the men in sports and other male dominated professions such as the military. Currently, I am interning at an organization called Supporting Adoption and Foster Families Together (SAFFT) whereby the philosophical approaches that I have learned were quite applicable in ensuring the well-being of the children especially in matters of reunification. A humanist approach was handy in forging an understanding of the diversity of human personalities and their manifestations. Humanism reveals that people are usually responsible for themselves while they should embark on diverse efforts to allow them to overcome the diverse challenges that they face (Engelhardt, 2011). In this case, I would argue that humanism usually hold true for those individuals who practice a certain kind of religion or believe in a higher power. Humanists usually believe in the life that individuals have known about and that they are responsible for ensuring that life becomes possible for others in this world. Humanists also believe that people are the ones who have led the society to be the way it is (Kurtz, 2007). Humanists have been associated with the bad as well as the good in the society. In a world dominated by individuals affiliated with various religions, I usually find myself under the influence of religious reasoning. Therefore, I believe that the two philosophies of feminism and humanism converge to the point of merging. Feminism calls for assisting women and girls in society to help them avoid the diverse anxieties that they face during life (Kurtz, 2007). Likewise, humanism makes us realize that we are just humans and that our encounters during life make us who we are hence the need for making society better so that we have better life experiences and therefore better humans. Detangling the two philosophies would result in a scenario where people in society are left to address issues on their own (Kurtz, 2007). In this case, I believe that the two philosophical approaches put together would work in an efficient way when it comes to offering human services. Despite being a religious person of the Muslim faith, I would not allow my religious beliefs to affect my work as a human service professional, and I would be impartial to working with people who may or may not be religious. The major trait that is of the utmost significance to have as a human services professional, is to perceive all people as humans while assisting them whenever they need help.
In my case, I believe that adopting the two philosophies of feminism and humanism, would greatly contribute to my work while serving as an FSM (Family Success Manager) intern at SAFFT (Supporting Adoption and Foster Families Together). Based on my interactions with a variety of clients, I believe that I would be able to apply the two philosophical approaches to address the clients’ needs when assisting them in facing the different anxieties that they have experienced in life. This approach would allow them to adopt the free choice while at the same time taking overall responsibility for the choices they make (Lykke, 2010). I would encourage my clients to take control of their lives to ensure that they find meaning as well as live entirely in the present. Additionally, every client has a unique identity which reflects certain aspects of that individual. I would need to understand the identities of the individuals that I work with and accordingly address the different identities in a way that is suitable for that identity in order to produce positive outcomes (Freire & Freire, 2004).
Each of the two philosophical perspectives resonates with my general outlook on life. As I stated earlier, I view life as chaotic but beautiful in its own way. As a feminist, for instance, I would be able to identify and address the needs of the female clients whose abilities to live life to the fullest may be hampered by an unhealthy relationship plagued with male dominance. More often than not, females dealing with gender bias issues in their relationships might also be subjected to acts of violence such as rape, and physical or verbal abuse and may possibly be suicidal. A feminist approach would play an essential role in allowing them to perceive life as beautiful and worth living (Kurtz, 2007). The humanist perspective also strikes a chord with my general view towards life, mostly because it argues that people are the ones who have made society what it is today. This is apparent in that individuals in society at times appear senseless and selfish while at other times we see individuals supporting each other and putting their hands together for the greater good of others and society as a whole (Lykke, 2010). Despite what appears to be a chaotic trait that people portray, they also exhibit traits that make living together as humans appear beautiful. Such humane and kind practices make me perceive life as beautiful despite the absurdity and negativity that dominates various aspects of society.
Overall, I believe that the two philosophies of feminism and humanism interconnect in my established perspective as a professional in the area of human services. That composite philosophy would guide me to best serve and assist my clients in the best possible manner while interning at SAFFT. As for feminism, it would serve as a guide in terms of understanding the manner in which females should be treated and that would enable me to offer them a positive outlook on life. In the case of humanism, it would allow me to remain connected to my adopted view about life while at the same time allowing me to assess for truth in life (Engelhardt, 2011). It will serve as a tool that I can utilize in sharing with other people regarding their view toward life and the beauty it offers.
Based on the understanding I have gained from exploring the feminism and humanism philosophies, I still feel the need for conducting extra research to allow me to gain increased understanding regarding those two philosophies and other ones as well. At least, I feel that those two will serve as a future guide for the way I perceive the world as well as how I think. Even as various philosophies seem to contradict each other, coming across those two philosophies which merge well, is an amazing concept to come across and understand. I anticipate gaining a greater understanding of the manner in which those two philosophies would coexist and operate in my role as a human services professional in the future.
References
Bernal, V. (1994). Gender, Culture, and Capitalism: Women and the Remaking of Islamic "Tradition" in a Sudanese Village. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 36 (1), 36-67. https://www.jstor.org/stable/179326
Corradi, R. (2018). Gypsy feminism: intersectional politics, alliances, gender and queer activism. Abingdon: Routledge. Print.
Engelhardt, H. T. (2011). Bioethics and secular humanism: the search for a common morality. Eugene: Wipf and Stock Publishers. Print.
Freire, P., & Freire, A. M. (2004). EPZ pedagogy of hope: reliving pedagogy of the oppressed. London: A&C Black. Print.
Kurtz, P. (2007). What is secular humanism? Amherst: Prometheus Books. Print.
Lykke, N. (2010). Feminist studies: a guide to intersectional theory, methodology and writing. Abingdon: Routledge. Print.
Ross, T. E. (2018). A woman’s fury holds lifetimes of wisdom. TED. https://www.ted.com/talks/tracee_ellis_ross_a_woman_s_fury_holds_lifetimes_of_wisdom?language=en
Rubini, R. (n.d.) Humanism is existentialism: Renaissance and Vichian legacies in Italian philosophy between Hegel and Heidegger. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24016437
