Very Excited to Discuss Philosophy

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Axiomatic
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Very Excited to Discuss Philosophy

Post by Axiomatic »

Hello, I am Axiomatic. I took a philosophy class last year called "Mechanism and Metaphor" which discussed metaphors in art and science, and I absolutely loved everything about that class. I'm taking another class this year on the meaning of life, but it hasn't been satisfying my need for philosophical discussion since my fellow classmates often go off topic (for example, our professor was trying to have us discuss Anselm's ontological argument, and we discussed if God existed or not instead of discussing Anselm's argument itself). It's still a quality class, however. It just isn't perfect, I guess.

I'm really hoping to discuss or at least read discussions about philosophy with others on these boards. I'm happy to be here and I can't wait to get started.
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LuckyR
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Re: Very Excited to Discuss Philosophy

Post by LuckyR »

Axiomatic wrote:Hello, I am Axiomatic. I took a philosophy class last year called "Mechanism and Metaphor" which discussed metaphors in art and science, and I absolutely loved everything about that class. I'm taking another class this year on the meaning of life, but it hasn't been satisfying my need for philosophical discussion since my fellow classmates often go off topic (for example, our professor was trying to have us discuss Anselm's ontological argument, and we discussed if God existed or not instead of discussing Anselm's argument itself). It's still a quality class, however. It just isn't perfect, I guess.

I'm really hoping to discuss or at least read discussions about philosophy with others on these boards. I'm happy to be here and I can't wait to get started.
Welcome. Since you are currently taking a Philosophy class, feel to start classroom based topics that address issues you have with the classes.
"As usual... it depends."
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Sy Borg
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Re: Very Excited to Discuss Philosophy

Post by Sy Borg »

Why would Anselm assume that great systems are necessarily "beings"? Let's consider the greater beings that we know. Each individual is a "greater being" than their gut bacteria. Humanity as a whole is a greater being than individuals. The biosphere is greater than humanity, and the Earth as a whole is greater than the biosphere.

We can keep panning out until we get to everything. So why assume that everything is a "being" when so many interim entities appear to kinds of natural systems and not what we'd tend to think of as a "being"? (Maybe that's a mistake?).

I personally find the subjectivist arguments, positing God (or one's preferred deity) as the ground of being itself. So we are "looking out of God's eyes" so to speak. Still, the entire God meme is highly speculative and tends to be focused on too heavily by philosophers at the expense of more knowable reality IMO.
Fooloso4
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Re: Very Excited to Discuss Philosophy

Post by Fooloso4 »

... my fellow classmates often go off topic ...
You will find the same thing happening here. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes we have to take the long road to get somewhere, sometimes we get lost, sometimes we hit a dead-end, and sometimes we end up travelling on several different roads at the same time. My advice: enjoy the ride. It just may be that where you wanted to go is not as interesting as what you see along the way.
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Axiomatic
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Re: Very Excited to Discuss Philosophy

Post by Axiomatic »

Greta wrote:Why would Anselm assume that great systems are necessarily "beings"? Let's consider the greater beings that we know. Each individual is a "greater being" than their gut bacteria. Humanity as a whole is a greater being than individuals. The biosphere is greater than humanity, and the Earth as a whole is greater than the biosphere.

We can keep panning out until we get to everything. So why assume that everything is a "being" when so many interim entities appear to kinds of natural systems and not what we'd tend to think of as a "being"? (Maybe that's a mistake?).

I personally find the subjectivist arguments, positing God (or one's preferred deity) as the ground of being itself. So we are "looking out of God's eyes" so to speak. Still, the entire God meme is highly speculative and tends to be focused on too heavily by philosophers at the expense of more knowable reality IMO.
That is a very interesting viewpoint. It reminds me of more (for a lack of a better word in my vocabulary that has less of a derogatory connotation) pagan religious views that view the universe itself as the highest power (being "one with nature"). I would have loved to discuss this in my class.
Fooloso4 wrote:
... my fellow classmates often go off topic ...
You will find the same thing happening here. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes we have to take the long road to get somewhere, sometimes we get lost, sometimes we hit a dead-end, and sometimes we end up travelling on several different roads at the same time. My advice: enjoy the ride. It just may be that where you wanted to go is not as interesting as what you see along the way.
I agree with you. Perhaps I should have been more specific about what topics we shifted to.

After my professor explained the argument, I offered a counter-argument that if I imagined the best cockroach ever to have graduated from Oxford, it doesn't make it true that such a cockroach exists (for the record, I've worded my counter-argument much better here than I did in class that day). My fellow students took this as saying "I don't believe in God, so I'm going to try to refute this argument," and the rest of the class was trying to convince me to believe in God (when I already do).

That's discussing my (allegedly) personal religious beliefs, which was too far off topic for me to want to continue the conversation.
Gertie
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Re: Very Excited to Discuss Philosophy

Post by Gertie »

Welcome! Look forward to your contributions :)

I find Anselm's Ontological Argument odd, and it leaves me with the feeling it's slippery rubbish but in a way I can't quite pin down, maybe you can sort it out for me!
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