Reflection Of Self

Philosophy Forums Philosophy
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Hello SilentS:

— What use is thinking if we sit on our butts in front of a computer screen and type silly quotes read from ancient philosophical texts and make witty thoughts and phrases concerning them?
O- If nothing else, it is a better alternative than watching MTV or standing in line waiting for the next Play Station to come out. Besides, typing quotes from ancient texts coherently and making remarks about them that are interpreted as “witty” is not as easy as some might suppose. I value a site like this because philosophy is a needed tool for critical thinking, something very much needed in an era of rampant spin on issues that affect us all.

— What use is repeatedly going over ideas that have been brought up for centuries when they aren’t being processed within terms of a real life situation?
O- Philosophy is like a tiguer, once found in his jungle, with claws and jaws of death. Now he is in chains declawed and defanged. What I mean by this is that many fields that still deal with real life, physics, theoretical science, psychology, sociology etc, etc, were once the play groun of philosophers. In another era, Einstein himself would not have blinked to call his theory a “Philosophy”, and Freud has a legacy in both psychoanalysis and philosophy; yet, in my opinion, he was a philosopher. If Platos and Aristotles are not found anymore it is because the rise of lasting banks of knowlege have multiplied the field in view in such a way that there aren’t many who can survey the entire field as they once did. Their enormity is relative to the point of history in which they come.

— I guess my question is, what does philosophy have to do with your everyday life other than consume your time in front of a computer or inside a book?
O- When you wish to form an opinion on abortion, you rely, consciously or not, correctly or not, in some practices of philosophy. If you have an opinion on the issue of Medicare, you again employ some philosophy. War, Stem cell, Art… if you discuss these issues, you’re probably going to touch on some points already visited by some philosopher. Granted, we have an enourmous amount of prejudice, but philosophy is about moving from a prejudice to a judgement. It is doing justice to the issues before us (notice that many philosophers were initially intended to be lawyers). If it is important that we hear all the evidence in the trial of an individual, how much important is it when we put on trial our culture?

— Could you possibly be over-analyzing the world and not actually doing anything worthwhile?
O- Only if you forget what is it that you’re really doing. We may question, in philosophy, the existence of a world outside of us and wonder if we are not just brain-in-vats; or we may wonder if we can tell what really outside of us, if the truck coming our way is anything but a creation of my imagination or if we are justified in believing the logical fallacy that because we have seen other die when run over by a truck that the same will now happen in our case-- That’s philosophy! But as Hume said, before being a philosopher first be a man…paraphrased.

— Philosophers used to be inventors and masterminds. What happened?
O- Knowledge increased and was retained better and as a consequence the former field of pure philosophy was made into smaller sections of expertise. Once, the Academy was but a Stoa, now a Campus cannot be, in some cases, explored on foot.

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Hello nameta9:

— Well first philosophy has no goal. It has no ends. It doesn’t have to come up with a solution to problems, that is the job of science and engineering or psychology etc.

O- Once philosophers were at once scientists, engineers, surgeons and “psychologists”.

23

Hello Sawelios:

— According to Nietzsche, “the greatest deeds are thoughts”. But, you might say, if Nietzsche had never published his writings, how could his thoughts ever have had the great effect that they have? - To this, Nietzsche also has an answer:

“[T]he “higher nature” of the great man lies in being different, in incommunicability, in distance of rank, not in an effect of any kind - even if he made the whole globe tremble.”
[The Will to Power, section 876.]

O- Do you find it interesting that:
1- Nietzsche believed, in accordance with the above, that his books were only second great in light of his thoughts?
2- But why would one then write a book, or give a speech on one’s thoughts, actions that, for the thinker, only bring confusion, I would suppose, to the herd of those not so great? But he writes many books-- yet of what? His thoughts? If so then his books are as great.
3- If the essense of greatness in a man lies in his “incommunicability”, then why type a single sentence? Or perhaps his question on whether he had at least been understood but a perverse joke on the reader, who still expects written characters to mean something, to communicate a thought? Perhaps Nietzsche’s thoughts were truly his greatest deed, of which he wrote down a mere parody to cement his higher rank over the rabble, who in turn, saw meaning and great thoughts that were not there.
4- If the world did tremble, it was not in consequence of Nietzsche’s thoughts, which lived and died trapped in his head, uncommunicated in any way, but due to the projections of other’s thoughts onto the canvas Nietzsche provided.
5- The world, I say, trembles not because one man thought, but because one herd’s thoughts were focused by the shaft of a sheeperd. Hitler shocked the world not because his thoughts were that great but because his thoughts were a lighting rod that focused the thoughts of an entire people in a single point; because in him, millions saw their own ideals and that is what shakes entire continents.

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You act like science is a bad thing.

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In fact the greatest philosophical thoughts I have had are TOTALLY INCOMMUNICATABLE! You will never know! It is exactly because when something cannot be said or transmitted it becomes an infinite mystery. And as such acquires infinite value. I have been in incredible places with the mind - emotion but cannot talk about it because it would be useless. And millions of other REAL PHILOSOPHERS have been in even more incredible places, no one will never know. Do you have a secret too ?

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over thinkers build up thoughts into every section of the brain and thus rewrite their concious.

Most of the people attracted to philosophy are ones of a right brain dominace who wish to rewrite morality and the world into their own image.

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Or they are French.

But in that case perhaps their goal is to convince you that they have no goals, to appear even more satisfied than necessary.

28

What is the relation of branches of science to philosophy. It seems, that any philosopher answers questions around their Topic. Are they valid compared with the empirical methods of science? Perhaps this is time and place for reflection. Reflection means in this sense the results implicitly reflect the Situation in science. Look on Husserl Lebenswelt as grounding of science!