Philosophy - why do we do it?

Use this philosophy forum to discuss and debate general philosophy topics that don't fit into one of the other categories.

This forum is NOT for factual, informational or scientific questions about philosophy (e.g. "What year was Socrates born?"). Those kind of questions can be asked in the off-topic section.
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Repoman05
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Re: Philosophy - why do we do it?

Post by Repoman05 »

I had a really nice answer for you but my browser whiped it

Gay goddamned no edit function!
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Repoman05
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Re: Philosophy - why do we do it?

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Pattern-chaser wrote: November 21st, 2019, 1:00 pm
Repoman05 wrote: November 20th, 2019, 10:40 am Then I'd reclass philosophy as a pseudo science of mathematics.
This topic is intended for people to say why they 'do' philosophy. But I would like to ask for clarification here. What are the similarities you have noticed that make you think philosophy resembles mathematics? I find this quite strange, and would like to understand more...?
Because mathematics can be used to explain anything just as subjectivity can be used to explain anything.

One was created to almost reflect objectivity while the other was objectively discovered and then subjectively codified.

Two ways to look at things. Two images depicting the same concept. Face vs vase

Again. I had a much nicer answer for you but it's fking gone now. Sry
Leibniz1699
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Re: Philosophy - why do we do it?

Post by Leibniz1699 »

Ultimately I view philosophy as any activity not related to the basics of survival. This means that science, epistemology, art/aesthetics, politics, economics, linguistics, psychology, theology, and perhaps even sports can be considered branches of philosophy. Philosophy is the science of existence.
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Pattern-chaser
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Re: Philosophy - why do we do it?

Post by Pattern-chaser »

Repoman05 wrote: November 21st, 2019, 6:30 pm Two ways to look at things. Two images depicting the same concept. Face vs vase
OK. This topic is about why we 'do' philosophy, and the perceived benefits we gain from it, so this is not the place to discuss this further. But another day, in another topic, OK? 🙂
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Pattern-chaser
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Re: Philosophy - why do we do it?

Post by Pattern-chaser »

Leibniz1699 wrote: November 21st, 2019, 10:53 pm Ultimately I view philosophy as any activity not related to the basics of survival. This means that science, epistemology, art/aesthetics, politics, economics, linguistics, psychology, theology, and perhaps even sports can be considered branches of philosophy.
So, to you, philosophy covers the physical - "perhaps even sports" - as well as the mental? 🤔
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Leibniz1699
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Re: Philosophy - why do we do it?

Post by Leibniz1699 »

Pattern-chaser wrote: November 22nd, 2019, 9:29 am
Leibniz1699 wrote: November 21st, 2019, 10:53 pm Ultimately I view philosophy as any activity not related to the basics of survival. This means that science, epistemology, art/aesthetics, politics, economics, linguistics, psychology, theology, and perhaps even sports can be considered branches of philosophy.
So, to you, philosophy covers the physical - "perhaps even sports" - as well as the mental? 🤔
Yes. I view all sensory impressions as no different from cognitive impressions (thoughts, memories, emotions, and intuitions). Traditional philosophy is an exploration of mind and ideas whereas other activities are an exploration of the physical world.

When you explore the 'physical' world all that is happening is the scenery is changing - the scenery is made of impressions such as the visual, auditory, and tactile senses. These impressions though are no more or less real than cognitive impressions. Exploring the physical world is therefore on par with exploring the mental world.

Thoughts appear to be evolutionary tools which have helped us navigate our surroundings just like the traditional senses. In this way I view thinking as just another sense.
Darshan
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Re: Philosophy - why do we do it?

Post by Darshan »

Eartheliism, a new philosophy for the 21st century, sees philosophy as the only hope for humanity and Mankind. The last century which gave us 2 World Wars and the Holocaust were not challenged by all major religions which all failed to stop the slaughter. Religion does not solve problems but divides us and can create problems. Philosophy is more powerful than politics and can save us all. Nazism was an evil philosophy created by an atheistic human devil named Hitler. Nazism led to the death of 50 million people and a logical philosophy can save billions of people in the future.
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Skip Russell
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Re: Philosophy - why do we do it?

Post by Skip Russell »

Philosophy and why we do it. Either as an interest in being honest with yourself or to perform emotional masturbation because it's fun and would rather not be that honest.
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Pattern-chaser
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Re: Philosophy - why do we do it?

Post by Pattern-chaser »

Skip Russell wrote: February 29th, 2020, 5:07 pm Philosophy and why we do it. Either as an interest in being honest with yourself or to perform emotional masturbation because it's fun and would rather not be that honest.
Perhaps some of us do it in the hope of learning or understanding something? 😉
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Hereandnow
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Re: Philosophy - why do we do it?

Post by Hereandnow »

Pattern-chaser
Perhaps some of us do it in the hope of learning or understanding something?
Yes, Pattern-chaser. But then can we describe what it is that philosophy can teach us? Consider: take a philosophical theme like ethics. Now, the reason why many are disillusioned with philosophy is that it inevitably leads to metaphysics, and it is assumed metaphysics goes nowhere. When we get to this point where vocabulary starts getting sketchy and thinking loses sight of the ground from which it took off, then we know we are in a place where little warrant exists to establish respectable beliefs. Philosophy's age of reason, so called, was supposed to be a cure for this, but here is the rub!: Once philosophy becomes earth bound and delimits itself to what is verifiable or falsifiable, like a good science does, it no longer can respond to ethical nihilism, and this may not seem like a terrible misfortune, after all, how often do we even think about metaethical matters in everyday living? Errrr, never, really.

Where, then, is the meaning in this that grounds philosophy? If we don't need it, then why bother?

In ethics, the rub is nihilism, and ethical nihilism is not just a philosophical issue, it's a religious one. It's both, and so to say philosophy can teach something, what it teaches is the philosophical ground for religious authenticity. First, people tend to be idiots about religion and this translates into absurd beliefs that wreak havoc in our collective moral lives. I really don't have to give examples because they are so forthcoming. Second, If ethical nihilism is a closed proposition, then what we are is reduced to "the usual" which is generally a conformist who submits to culture, and the trouble with this is that it trivializes us. We are already trivialized by the modes of language that are designed to keep things tame to manageable. Baudrillard called this kind of living hyperreal and it is a childish place. If you are tempted to say, well, that is what reality IS, I have to respond: no, that is what you have been told, implicitly and otherwise, what the world is, and this has become so familiar that you don't even know what it means to think outside of this. Outside of this, apart from the mentality reducing, commercial driven juvenility, there is another self altogether, though to convince you of this would require a lot more than the post allows.

We do philosophy because metaphysics is IN the world. We did not invent this any more than we invented infinity, which is an entirely ill defined term, yet without it, the world would be completely different from what it is, and it is not the remoteness of intuitions like infinity, it is the proximity of unredeemed suffering: Think not? Imagine yourself on the western front in 1917 (read some Siegfried Sassoon) for a year or so, where your charming Geico commercials are not there to cover up the obscenities of violence and the ethical vacuity of nihilism.
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