Hello…
Hola.
I should probally say more but I’ve never been great with introductions…
For now I’ll just say I like philosophy especially when it concerns with controversy.
You’ll fit right in then. No one here likes anything that isn’t controversial. Well, maybe a few people. Anyway, there’s a section where you can introduce yourself. Have fun posting. Welcome to ILP!
Welcome. We’ve been in need of some fresh perspectives around here…
Yeah. My perspective is pretty stale.
Thanks for the welcome. I suppose you could call me a pessimist with a cynical bravado and flare when it comes to human events, whether or not that is a perspective being welcomed around here I guess I’ll find out soon enough.
I wasn’t going to say anything, but yea…
A pessimist, you say? You’ll fit right in.
Neat.
Thanks. I needed that affirmation of my staleness.
It would be cool if more people were willing to discuss academic philosophy. Then I could get them to tell me what to write in essays. I’ve tried a few threads recently but they’ve not got anywhere. I suppose the problem is that the stuff is so involved that if you haven’t happened to have read a particular guy you won’t get it. Wikipedia only goes so far.
I wish there were less pessimists.
Academical such as what exactly?
Why is that? Pessimism seems pretty logical to me compared to all the other systems I have read about in my study of philosophy.
You know, modern analytic philosophy. The stuff they give you to read when you study philosophy at university.
Pessimism about what? Versus optimism about what? What is there to be pessimistic about? What is there to be optimistic about? These are just attitudes we choose to take towards our situation in the universe. Why choose pessimism? Optimism makes for a happier life. Its not going to affect the universe either way.
I’m not a college graduate. I mostly read philosophy during my own time.
Personally I think pessimism is more realistic then idealistic forms of optimism.
Interpretations of course.
It suits me personally.
I think it all depends on the person projecting these sort of feelings.
Has Joker been reincarnated
Let’s start a David Kellogg Lewis thread.
Right, I don’t know much about him, but modal realism: whats the deal? Why did he think possible worlds exist?
Exactly, it all depends upon the person projecting the feelings. Nothing makes us be pessimists or optimists. I choose to be more of an optimist. But we need to realise that the universe is neither out to get us or built with our needs in mind.
In another world, no one started that thread either. So the counterfactual remains false.
He thinks that assuming a priori a infinite number of possible worlds gives us a better framework for describing reality. He rejects the idea that he violates occams razor in that he thinks his theory explains more than the next guys simpler one, and so the worlds aren’t multiplied beyond necessity. The worlds are all concrete, because he doesn’t want to say anyone’s wrong, just that they’re confused about which world they’re in, and they’re causally isolated from one another, so you don’t have to think of them as bearing any impact on the one we call actual. I’ve been reading this dude for a good while now, just a bunch of articles that he’s done, but over the summer I’m doing “on the plurality of worlds” which is the big one where he defends modal realism. I think it’s really good stuff. I’ve read all the philosophy that everyone here has read and have been bored with most of it for some time.
I think alot of people avoid guys like Lewis because they know it might take years before they can speak about him with any authority. He also has a pretty good sense of humor. Which helps with the fact that some of his work is intimidatingly dense. He’s a materialist, an athiest, a monist, all the good stuff. And he’s written on almost every philosophical problem. It’s interesting to read one guy writing on all the things you’ve learned, because it sort of gives a unity to the things that may have seemed seperate before. He’s very consistent. I say we get some people to start reading and discussing.