![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/muratkbesiroglu/23xV6XUbQUNxt3XjvFRxyXBadLyNidVv5rGep4heyGBsjSZ6u83i5qE64iemJk8RevrfC.png)

People tend to see themselves as better than they are. During my undergraduate studies in philosophy, I realized that I was no exception in this regard. It turned out that I was not as open-minded as I thought, and I had unfounded prejudices on many issues.

Uneducated people have a problem focusing too much on the moment they are experiencing. They are not able to predict the long-term consequences of options that seem attractive to them. This leads to the fact that they choose useless political leaders and make bad financial decisions.

Bookworms like me, on the other hand, can break away from the practice of life because they are too focused on theoretical knowledge. Approaching matters with long-term consequences prevents educated people from making big mistakes. On the other hand, it can lead to the fact that they cannot take advantage of the obvious opportunities that arise in their lives.

We use our admirable cognitive abilities to create a model of the world in our minds. However, this model contains a distorted image of the world due to the culture we have grown up in, our personalities, what we have experienced in the past, and what we have read and learned. Being educated can sometimes mean believing in boundaries that don't exist.

What does all this have to do with studying philosophy? Getting to know the ideas of philosophers that can contain opposed opinions to each other, seeing the points where they are all right in their own way, allows us to expand the angle of view.

I am studying philosophy at the Faculty of Open Education of Anadolu University. If I can pass my courses this year, I will have received my second bachelor's degree 27 years after the first one. (The first one was Industrial Engineering) I can access all the course content through a portal. My preferred way of studying is watching videos of lectures and listening to their podcasts. I didn't even have to leave the house for exams during the Covid19 period. I am going to the exam centers to take the visa and final exams during this study period.

Philosophy was an area I was interested in from the age of 20. Before I started my philosophy education, I was aware of the ideas of charismatic philosophers such as Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Sartre, Foucault, and many others. The philosophy curriculum, which includes plenty of psychology and sociology courses, has taught me that humanity's ocean of thought is much more vast.

The most important awareness I had during my philosophy education was that we need to get rid of thinking based on opposites. Being able to see the positive and negative sides of every person, concept, or opinion beyond black or white can be the key to a happier life. (Was it necessary to study philosophy to realize such a basic knowledge? For me, yes:)

Today we meet the advice of the ancients to be moderate with the concept of optimization. Should I work long hours for a more successful and happy life, or should I devote more time to my family and friends? Should I care more about freedom or responsibility? Since the possibilities and needs of each person are different, there is no single answer that can be given to these questions. On the other hand, we can more or less predict that shifting to extremes can have negative consequences.

Not taking advantage of the opportunities offered by the cryptoverse can be an example of shifting to extremes. It is also the case that a person invests all his savings in crypto.

My philosophy final exams will begin soon. That's why I take a break for a while. See you again after January 10.

Thank you for reading.

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