Its thoughtfulness vs. thoughtlessness. The will to think deeply vs. the will to avoid thinking.
Thats the definition I see most fitting, a generic definition. Its like Klingsor has written - the opposite of philosophy is entertainment!
Careful with generalising Entertainment- Is it not possible to be entertained while learning? Also some films, music etc. are informative, reflect reality and indeed are phylosophical. However i do agree that some, infact most/general entertainment is far from any form of philosophy and encourage ignorence.
The oposite would be ; To search for more ways to become ignorent
which reminds me of the age old question “is ignorence bliss?”
a. not for a philosopher.
BLISS IN IGNORENCE?..never
…well actually there are somethings i wouldent like to know.
I meant “entertainment” in the same humorous way that Klingsor meant it in. Its just that words tend to sometimes be used as substitutes for concepts themselves I think…
Oh! You are sooooooooooo wrong! Just because someone is not a philosopher does not mean that they are thoughtless, where’d you get that idea? Philosophy may be about, “thinking deeply” but if you’re not a philosopher then it doesn’t mean that you you will have, “the will to avoid thinking” or to avoid thinking deeply. If you’re not a philosopher it just means that you are not interested deeply in matters that are not everyday life concerns and so might think about them but not try to get to the truth, that’s all.
BeenaJain,
Everyone thinks therefore, everyone is a philosopher.
well said xanderman and well said beenajane…this is cool
I don’t think that a ‘Will to avoid thinking’ could have been defined any better.
i SORT OF agree with two of the above insights:
- To think is to philosophize. To not think is the opposite of philosophy.
- Philosophy is the opposite of philosophy, meaning opposites occur WITHIN philosophy, between two polarized thoughts – but this second one is a bit of a copout, as true as it is.
These are still problematic. What does it mean to think?
Hermes started all this with the idea that violence is the opposite. This is true in many cases, in that many violent people failed to think ENOUGH or in the RIGHT WAY. But they did think, and they probably based their violence on a philosophy, however BAD a philosophy it may have been. Heck, in all fairness, the violence could easily have been based on any number of famous philosophical doctrines.
I also think philosophy is one of those words that doesn’t have an opposite.
Anything you assign will merely reflect your mood and MAY also make a cool bumper sticker, but it wouldn’t be tenable, philosophically. All in all, a nice thought-starter. Hermes, this one was VERY Socrates Cafe.
I have to say this one completely spiraled out of my authorial control. I was thinking about several things I read in Heraclitus when I posted this. Heraclitus is terrified of mob violence. It damn near makes him wet himself. Because of this, he postulates all sorts of things that all boil down into “Be moderate, wise, removed and speculative”, do not be part of the violent crowd. From these roots spring philosophy. I was aiming at creating a fractal parallel wherein the relationship between philosophy and violence is that of enemy brothers, just like other violent pairs in greek tragedy (or in the Bible, which I know a touch better). What I was hoping for would be for people to write in with other presocratic quotations/thoughts (hell even socratic ones would be cool) that either supported this or went against it.
Is it a good thing to be very Socrates Cafe? I’ve never participated in one and am a little wary of them b/c of my lack of experience.
Well, Hermes, that’s pretty good, put that way. Surely there’s evidence to suggest that philosophy could potentially be a chief ENEMY of violence. But if brute survival was the birth mother of violence, philosophy, sadly, is the rich uncle that supports it…the ignorant have a philosophy, to lap up beliefs with the blind voracity of a pack of wolves lapping up the blood of their prey. But they’re not wolves…so they are, sadly, philosophers, to paraphrase Xanderman. I love Socrates Cafe when it gets dolts thinking. I just don’t like to be there to see the dusty tractates unfurl like nymph/snail hybrids crawling down a trailor-park garbage disposal.