What is philosophy and its meaning?

[Peter_Kropotkin]

What is the actual point of philosophy?
it is the working out of the relationships
and connections in our life…
for example, morals/ethics… what is the
relationship/connection between I/Ich and you/du?
How do we react to each other? and what is the
point/function of our interactions with each other?

all of life, everything is about connections and relationships…
what is my relationship with the state/ or the society?
How do I connect my individual self with the society?
Quite often there is conflict between the self and the society…
why is there conflict and what possible solutions are there
to this problem?

I am in conflict with my society/state today, and the why is
because I do not support the state/society in its ‘‘pursuit
of happiness’’ because the state/society believes that
happiness is found in the failed beliefs of money,
profits, fame, power, material possessions… the
trinkets of existence is, for me anyway, not worth
the effort…As I have described, ad nauseum,
that seeking out those things can only bring us more
of the same… so, in seeking out fame, all that can be
achieved is fame, nothing more, and in seeking out
material goods, there is nothing past or beyond the
material possessions… it leads us nowhere…
there is no future within the search for money or fame
or titles or material possessions…

The relationship I have with money or fame or titles
is pointless because it has no future for me…
Love, if I pursuit love, that has a future beyond just
finding love… for receiving love bring us something
other than love… for in receiving love, I also get hope
and a fulfilment of my needs, both bodily and psychologically,
and that fulfilment of needs plays a very important part
of human existence…seeking out materials goods does
not fulfill any of my needs, either bodily or psychologically…
we can achieve our needs, both bodily and psychologically,
without a gaining of material goods, fame, power, titles,
and money… I can be happy with just love… I have
had, at times, money, but I wasn’t happy because I didn’t
have love or the hope that comes with love…
we can fulfill our needs for love, safety/security,
education, health care, esteem, food/water,
shelter.. without money, fame, titles, materials goods,
or power… and that is what is important… not the
pursuit of those trinkets… but in meeting our needs…

and meeting many of those needs is only possible within
our inclusion within the state or the society… as the
Greeks knew… a man is only complete within the city/state…
if he resides outside of the city/state or speaks another
language outside of Greek, he is a barbarian…
for the completion of making us a human being requires us
to exists within the state/society… thus, we see the
current GOP/MAGA attack on the city is an attack on our
ability to become fully human… for it is the relationship
we have with the state, society that allow us to become
human, fully human…The Greeks saw that thousands of
years ago, why can’t we see it today?
Because we are consumed by the trinkets of existence…
we focus on them instead of the question, what does it take
for us to become human?

Practicing bigotry and prejudice is just another path to
failure in becoming human… we must hold our relationships
to being Ich und du… not Ich and es… which is other… to
turn people into others is to deny them their humanity…

‘‘WOKE’’ values are designed to keep us within the Ich und
du relationship, not the ‘‘Ich und es’’ relationship…
which only devalues other human beings… and that
has a name, nihilism… turning du into other, is
to devalue and dehumanize people…to practice
nihilism… to avoid nihilism, is to engage within
a relationship with others as Ich und du, with du
being equal to us in value… something that prejudice
and bigotry doesn’t do… to treat people with equal value
as ourselves…

All of philosophy is the working out the various relationships
we have with ourselves, each other, the state and the society…
to engage with bigotry and prejudice as many around here do,
is to reject our relationships we have with each other
and with the state/society… for we turn du into es,
other with bigotry and prejudice…

What is my relationship with the state and its institutions,
that is philosophy… to work out my relationship between me
and god, that is philosophy… to work out the relationship
between a state and another state, that is philosophy…

to discover how much money I have or can make, that
isn’t philosophy…to practice prejudice as a relationship
between Ich und du isn’t philosophy because it turns
du into es… to deny me or others our humanity, that
isn’t philosophy… that is nihilism…

what is your relationship with the state/society?
that is philosophy…

Kropotkin

[Ichthus77 (Ichthus77 (formerly She™))]

Your chopped up post is violating my human rights to read something that isn’t all chopped up.

[Bob]

@Peter_Kropotkin

What is the actual point of philosophy?

At its core, the purpose of philosophy is to clarify and examine the relationships that shape our lives. That is our relationships with ourselves, with one another, and with the broader structures of society, the state, nature and even the divine. Philosophy is not merely an abstract pursuit; it is fundamentally practical, which asks what sort of connections make life meaningful? What are our responsibilities to others? What enables us to flourish as human beings?

Philosophy also seeks to untangle the countless threads that connect ‘I’ and ‘thou’ (the ‘Ich und Du’) dynamic, as described by Buber. The way we relate to one another as subjects, not mere objects, defines the ethical core of our existence. When we relate to each other authentically, rejecting the reduction of others to being instrumental or ‘things’, we affirm our humanity and avoid the slippery slope of nihilism, which dehumanises and alienates.

There has been a conflict between the individual and society, which is an ancient and enduring topic in philosophy. It raises questions: Why do the state and society so often value fleeting pursuits, such as money, fame and power, over deeper needs, such as love, meaning and hope? From the ancient Greeks, who insisted that true humanity is realised in communal life (the polis), to modern critics who lament how consumer society can impoverish the soul, philosophers have highlighted this tension.

Aristotle explained it in this way:

There are three kinds of constitution, and an equal number of deviation-forms — perversions, as it were, of them. The constitutions are monarchy, aristocracy, and thirdly that which is based on a property qualification, which it seems appropriate to call timocratic, though most people are wont to call it polity. The best of these is monarchy, the worst timocracy. The deviation from monarchy is tyranny; for both are forms of one-man rule, but there is the greatest difference between them; the tyrant looks to his own advantage, the king to that of his subjects. For a man is not a king unless he is sufficient to himself and excels his subjects in all good things; and such a man needs nothing further; therefore, he will not look to his own interests but to those of his subjects; for a king who is not like that would be a mere titular king. Now tyranny is the very contrary of this; the tyrant pursues his own good. And it is clearer in the case of tyranny that it is the worst deviation-form; but it is the contrary of the best that is worst. Monarchy passes over into tyranny; for tyranny is the evil form of one-man rule and the bad king becomes a tyrant. Aristocracy passes over into oligarchy by the badness of the rulers, who distribute contrary to equity what belongs to the city-all or most of the good things to themselves, and office always to the same people, paying most regard to wealth; thus, the rulers are few and are bad men instead of the most worthy. Timocracy passes over into democracy; for these are coterminous, since it is the ideal even of timocracy to be the rule of the majority, and all who have the property qualification count as equal. Democracy is the least bad of the deviations; for in its case the form of constitution is but a slight deviation. These then are the changes to which constitutions are most subject; for these are the smallest and easiest transitions.

Aristotle. Aristotle: The Complete Works (pp. 1127-1128). Pandora’s Box. Kindle Edition.

According to Aristotle, the state that provides for our most fundamental needs, connection, love, security, and justice, is the city-state or polis. Aristotle argued that humans are by nature “political animals,” meaning that living within the polis is essential for human flourishing (eudaimonia). In his view, a person achieves their fullest human potential through active, virtuous participation in the community, which offers the conditions for friendship, justice, security, and the fulfilment of needs that cannot be met in isolation.

Aristotle emphasized that eudaimonia, often translated as happiness or flourishing, requires both virtue and the presence of external goods, including social connections and just political order. The polis creates the framework within which individuals can develop virtues and receive the love, security, and justice necessary for a well-lived life. Without integration into the community as citizens, humans remain incomplete, which reflects the ancient Greek belief that exclusion from the polis rendered one as “barbarian” or less than fully human.

Epicurus famously argued that material pursuits such as wealth, fame and power only satisfy superficial desires and do not bring true happiness. He taught that true pleasure comes from living simply, cultivating friendships, and seeking peace of mind, rather than from the accumulation of riches. He stated that increasing wealth leads to more desires and anxieties, rather than lasting fulfilment, and advised reducing desires rather than multiplying possessions.

To be human, as the Greeks knew, is to participate actively in society without being consumed by its shallowest values. Philosophy asks how we might structure our relationships, with each other, with the state, and with the divine, so that they foster flourishing, dignity, and mutual respect rather than alienation or domination. Practising bigotry and prejudice is not philosophy, but the negation of it: it collapses the ‘I and you’ into an ‘I and it’, stripping away the humanity of others and opening the door to nihilism.

Those are a few examples.