Are There Philosophies Which Are Dangerous and What Has Made the Ideas Toxic?

[Pattern-chaser]

It may take the harsh lessons in order for human beings to distinguish between need and greed...

Extinction is a harsh lesson indeed.

Part of the problem is also the throwaway culture, which involves items not made to last.

If items don't last, then replacements must be obtained; consumption is maximised. Capitalism directly opposes eco-recovery of any and all sorts, in every way that I can think of. That's why I offer it here, as perhaps the most toxic ideology that we humans possess.

[JackDaydream]

It may take the harsh lessons in order for human beings to distinguish between need and greed...

Extinction is a harsh lesson indeed.

Part of the problem is also the throwaway culture, which involves items not made to last.

If items don't last, then replacements must be obtained; consumption is maximised. Capitalism directly opposes eco-recovery of any and all sorts, in every way that I can think of. That's why I offer it here, as perhaps the most toxic ideology that we humans possess.

Extinction is the main problem facing humanity and the main problem is that many people do not see it in terms of capitalism. It is possible to think of one's own impact but so much is about the levels beyond the individual consumers. The elite people who own the corporations have such a powerful influence and it is in their interests to continue the capitalist system, linked to materialist consumer values.

Capitalism may also have a toxic link with totalitarianism, especially in the way in which people at the lower scale of the hierarchy are denied freedom materially. The gap between the rich and the poor has become greater after the upheavals of the pandemic and lockdowns. Also, changes which were beginning may have speeded up, such as gradual loss of cash and people being replaced by machines, such as in shops. This is resulting in more poverty. I read recently that even food banks are getting low because it has got to the point where people who were donating initially are now needing the food banks themselves.

The link which I see between capitalism, totalitarianism and potential extinction is that the elite may enable their own lines of survival amidst diminishing resources, while the larger 'mass' populations in the West and other countries become more and more vulnerable. I don't wish to go down conspiracy theory thinking but there may be a certain amount of rhetoric of keeping people from questioning, through the media and its capitalist values of consumption and comforts.

[stevie]

Philosophy, to a large extent is bound up with human thinking.

It's the brains capacities being led astray by themselves which causes philosophical thinking. Utterly useless. While the brain's capacities as such are useful in terms of survival.

Do you regard philosophical thinking as distinct from all other forms of thinking, including that about practical and commonsense thought?

There is useful thinking and useless thinking. Philosophy belongs to the latter.

What makes human beings distinct from other sentient beings is introspective and rational ways of understanding.

Since "other sentient beings" are non-evident in this regard your statement is a non-statement.

So, in a way if you think that philosophy is 'useless' you may be seeing the human condition in a pessimistic way.

Not at all. Since philosophy is useless human condition and human life does not depend on it. That may appear pessimistic only to a partisan of philosophy. But a non-partisan's equanimity towards philosophy and its useless issues isn't affected, neither pessimistically nor optimistically.

You speak of this in relation to survival but what is the purpose of survival in itself. It is possible to see the purpose of survival as being the processes of consciousness and, where it leads, to be the underlying process of evolution itself.

The "purpose of survival in itself" is being.

[Pattern-chaser]

There is useful thinking and useless thinking. Philosophy belongs to the latter.

...

So, in a way if you think that philosophy is 'useless' you may be seeing the human condition in a pessimistic way.

Not at all. Since philosophy is useless human condition and human life does not depend on it.

And yet philosophy is only a word we use to describe serious, considered, thought. Is it your view that serious, considered, thought is "useless"? In real life, I have not found it to be so. I imagine your experience must differ from mine?

[d3r31nz1g3]

You could argue all philosophy is dangerous or at least a lot of it.

Religions are patently dangerous, for example.

And nihilism is dangerous even if there is a lot of truth to it.

People are often mentally healthier in the absence of care for truth or belief.