Many philosopher like Albert Camus, Friedrich Nietzsche, Jean-Paul Satre, Peter Wessel Zapffe, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Thomas Aquanias, Barauch Spinoza, etc. built the large modern philosophy. Many problems that they tried to solve, was what consumed them.

For example, we can see in Nietzsche that he advocated for self-overcoming, amor fati, and affirming, suffering, and becoming who one is, creating one's values, and his ideal figure that was the Übermensch. But history tells something else. Nietzsche himself experienced chronic illness, which we can attribute to his health state, but also he received migraines, isolation, academic failure, social alienation, and he had an requited attachment towards Lou Andreas-Salomé. And he also had several psychological collapses.

We can see similar thing with Albert Camus. He argued that life was absurd, and that the universe offers no inherent meaning, and that we should rebel against absurdity. And from his Myth of Sisyphus, he proved that one must imagine Sisyphus happy, but he himself suffered with tuberculosis. He had political disillusionment, and there were several conflicts with the French left, and estrangement from former allies. He had guilt and anxiety during the colonial crisis in Algeria.

And with Hegel, we can see that he envisioned history as rational, progressive, and dialectical, and moving towards freedom. He also said that the real is rational. But his life, he experienced a lot of instability in early life, struggled professionally for years, he witnessed wars and political upheaval, sometimes accommodated existing power structures.

And same thing can be done with Arthur Schopenhauer, Jean-Paul Sartre, and many other people. And I can truly say that the struggle is in everybody's life. Even in my life, I cannot become the sort of figure that my philosophy has.

But as far as we can see, there are several of these philosophers who had their struggles but in many situations could not apply their philosophy as properly as they should have been able to, even though their life contained suffering, but they could not apply their own philosophy up to much greater extent. My idea is not accusation, it is about analysis, about seeing how Solomon's paradox can affect philosophy and other philosophers in history, and how one can learn from it.

With the photographer.

I mean that's the first spell I learnt in 8th Grade.

This video asks the same question. But, my question is: "What is Philosophy?"

When you realise that you barely use the notes you write before the exam and end up watching English For All videos instead.

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The Departure of the Old Teacher

This story begins at the end of 8th grade, before our annual examinations. We learned that our History teacher, who also taught English Literature for Classes 9 and 10, had left the school. Apparently, he had conflicts with some other teachers. His departure was a major loss because he was genuinely interesting. He taught History, Civics, and English Literature, had a strong American accent, and seemed to come from an impressive academic background. Many of us felt that we might never have such a teacher again.

With his departure, the school suddenly needed someone to teach Julius Caesar and continue English Literature classes.

A New Teacher Arrives

Our first English period remained English Language, while the second was English Literature. This time, we were introduced to a new teacher. It was the first time we had a female English Literature teacher in Classes 9 and 10. However, she seemed unfamiliar with the school's standards, the syllabus, and what students had already been taught.

Her primary reliance appeared to be AI tools. She often acted as if she knew everything, refused help, and rarely accepted mistakes. Instead of structured lessons, she frequently organized debates, supposedly to improve understanding, but these usually became entertaining discussions rather than productive classes.

Over time, our notes increasingly resembled AI-generated material. Many examinations seemed to be created using AI, including the answer keys. This became especially frustrating in subjective questions. I remember one question from The Model Millionaire asking how we would help the poor man. Everyone gave different answers, but only the response matching ChatGPT's answer was accepted, despite the question being based on personal opinion.

Students Teaching Students

Eventually, many of us felt that we were educating ourselves. My friend and I began preparing notes, conducting seminars, and helping classmates understand topics. At times, it felt as though the teacher was receiving a salary while students were doing much of the actual teaching.

She even asked us to edit textbooks about AI and Artificial General Intelligence intended for Classes 6 and 7. Ironically, the books themselves seemed to have been generated using AI. We joked that they were essentially autobiographies: books written by AI about AI. Nevertheless, we still helped improve and organize them.

The Idea of a Revolution

After a while, we felt things had gone too far. We believed that our teacher was incapable of carrying out many responsibilities expected of a teacher. My friend and I decided that something had to change, and we jokingly called our effort "The Revolution."

Inspired by the Russian Revolution, we imagined ourselves organizing a movement against poor teaching. It may sound dramatic now, but at the time we genuinely believed we were seeking justice. We gathered evidence, documented issues, and waited for the right opportunity to act.

The Spark

That opportunity arrived when History test results were released. Our English Literature teacher also taught History and Civics, despite being relatively new to those subjects. The marking process felt inconsistent. Some students received higher marks than expected, while others received lower marks, but almost everyone agreed that the checking itself seemed arbitrary.

At that point, another student joined us. Let us call him Alpha. Alpha was dissatisfied with his marks and wanted them increased. Although he supported our movement, his motivations seemed more personal than ideological.

The Petition and Its Collapse

We prepared a petition and collected signatures. Another student had already complained to school authorities before us, but unfortunately our plans leaked. The teacher panicked, and much of the blame fell upon the student who had complained earlier. He was publicly confronted and taken into meetings with school authorities while they tried to resolve the situation.

For a time, a Chemistry teacher encouraged us and assured us that our concerns were justified. This gave us hope. However, once the matter became serious, she stepped back and withdrew her support. Several teachers became involved, tensions escalated, and even my History marks were reduced.

Around the same period, there was a debate competition. Ironically, I won first prize, despite the fact that the teacher organizing the event did not seem particularly pleased about it.

What Went Wrong

Our central complaint had always been about educational quality. We objected to AI-generated notes, AI-generated examinations, and AI-generated teaching materials. We wanted a teacher who could genuinely teach, not merely someone acting as a middleman between AI and students.

However, many participants eventually pursued their own interests. Some wanted higher marks, others sought revenge, and some simply wanted to be part of the excitement. Very few people cared about the original objective: improving English Literature education.

Ironically, my friend and I did not even need better teaching for ourselves, as we were already strong in English Literature. We wanted change for the benefit of the class as a whole.

Looking Back

In the end, the movement failed. The teacher remained in her position, and many of the people we hoped to help either abandoned the cause or acted according to their own interests. Information leaked, trust broke down, and the original purpose of the movement became distorted.

Looking back, the experience taught me a great deal about politics, revolutions, and human nature. In some ways, it reminded me of Animal Farm, where collective movements often begin with idealistic goals but gradually become shaped by personal ambitions.

It also gave me a better understanding of how conspiracies and political movements develop, and even helped me appreciate characters like Cassius in Julius Caesar. For all its chaos, it became an unexpected lesson in history, political science, and the realities of collective action. Humans, it turns out, can recreate entire revolutions inside a school corridor with nothing more than grievances, petitions, and questionable timing.