I mean… I know it’s inevitable to philosophize (sp?), but could it be said that philosophy is completely pointless? I mean, trying to understand the way the universe works, what reality is, the meaning, etc.
This would be saying that you cannot conceptualize reality. Or reality is not a concept.
This is a little off topic, but this idea that reality cannot be conceptualized, or abstracted, would lead us to the thought that the reason we feel we must conceptualize reality is because of the constant thinking going on inside our skulls. So, when we stop conceptualizing, or stop thinking, we become in relationship with reality (not to say that we are out of relationship with it, that is impossible, but our perception is that we are). Anyone here who meditates can attest to this.
If you really want to get technical … yes, philosophy is pointless, but so is your life in that perspective. It depends on how you look at it.
Honestly, if I had something more entertaining to do with my time I would say screw philosophy. The key to life, in my opinion, is to stay busy. I am trying to go for the whole “Its the question that drives us (not the answer)” … thing. Keep questioning.
I agree with all three of you. I think that we cannot reasonably except to find any concrete answers through philosophy, but its fun to question things, use your intellect and reason, those are what philosophy is useful for.
Is this pointless? It is if you don’t feel this need of some for the experience of “meaning” incased in wisdom. It is a personal question and IMO can only be answered by and for oneself.
What I meant, is pointless in the sense that we are never going to come up with some concept of the universe, or reality, that is completely satisfactory.
Is life pointless? Yes. Is that a bad thing? Of course not. People seem to always see pointlessness as uselessness. Which is a drastic misconception. If the universe were in fact purposeful, then it could have no purpose at all. Purpose comes from no purpose. Coincidence of opposites at it’s best.
Maybe not for everyone but I do believe that a person can become intellectually aware of universal structure and purpose. It can be verified through experiential self knowledge that unifies the intellectual with the emotional. But again, this is personal and of no value in society.
Organic ife of which man is a part is a proccess and as such doesn’t have a specific point to it. Since I believe it to be an extension of divine plan I could not consider it a bad thing objectively. Subjectively of course I have my complaints.
You lost me here. Our fantasy lives can create purpose from no purpose at all. But creation is objective; so discovering purpose requires leaving our fantasy life which is not so easy.
It isn’t pointless for everyone, just some people. Like a singer who never gets noticed.
Edit: Oh, and I have figured out how to make a computer model of the universe, with just a few basic rules involved, and no Big Bang. It was talking on this site that helped me along the way.
If you are looking for a reason for philosophy, I would recommend Phaedo by Plato. Though I didn’t really get it, my professor kept referring to it as a defense of philosophy.
But it may be a little outdated, as most of the posts here seem to suffer from an existentialist bias. In which case there is no point to anything; make your own purpose. If you include philosophy in it, great, if you don’t, great.
If the universe had a purpose, then there could be no individual purpose, except maybe to play a part in the ultimate purpose. This would be a purely fate based world. I think we can all see fate alone, is a pointless arguement. I think it’s best to assume that the universe is a combination of fate and spontaneity. While there is a general outline or plan, it’s incredibly flexible.
No, you have the wrong attitude. Philosophy is something that humans do and that’s it. We do it to relieve tension and feel more secure. Everything that humans do has a motive and nothing is pointless.
I think you misunderstand my definition of pointless. When I say pointless, I mean it is not serving a means to an end. The universe doesn’t exist to reach a certain point, and then stop. Get what I’m saying? I think the point of life, is life itself.
As I understand it the universe serves as the means for perpetual continuation of both the process of involution or unity into diversity, and the process of evolution which is the universal flow of diversity back towards unity. Like you I don’t believe it stops but just continues. Nothing ever stays the same. It is either participating in the processs of evolution or involution.
But what is life itself? Does it vary in quality in accordance with involution and evolution? Is life itself the same for a horse and for an oyster or is there a qualitative difference in their “being” in relation to a scale of being or evolution?
If being or"life itself" differs in quality, is man responsible at all for his own evolution or change in the quality of being? If so, then this would be “purpose.”
