What is Philosophy? : Crash Course Philosophy #1
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Date: 2022-04-04
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Comments and reviews: 9
Cannock
Philosophy is an attempt to understand the world around us and the reasons for it and us and the things that we do. A lot of it can be introspective and deals with questions as to the ideal society and the motivations of people and why they do things. Whilst I like philosophy there exists a caveat within it for me as a central issue:
Namely, Philosophy can encourage apathy as regards too much thinking and not doing, or not putting ones thoughts into a physical manifestation in the real world, this is of course where philosophy can encounter the realms of politics, economics and sociology. But I find for my own introspective analysis that philosophers as a whole tend to to be sterotypically disconnected with real world issues and more focused on spouting platitudes and stoking their own egos. An idea is nothing if not acted upon, Plato took no action to create his republic of ideal guardians, Machiavelli espoused his theories but did not connive and manipulate to put them into effect, Locke took his notions of a liberal or liberated society of freedom but did he campaign for it, did he issue speeches or create a movement or cause to do so? One may of course retort that he practised it by allowing others to do as they do, to which I say the ideal or idea not put into affect is nothing, and less than nothing it detracts. I may have the idea of making a sandwich to appease my hunger, but without the inclination or will to do so i shall remain hungry.
Buddha drew an interesting parallel here when he described a person shot by a poisoned arrow, he states that the man could enquire from whence direction the arrow came, where it was made, what it was made from, who shot the arrow, what is the poison etc etc, but only by dealing with the arrow, i. e. by acting upon it can he affect his life. Thus whilst I admire philosophy and love it myself, I find that most take no action from it, worse they may become armchair philsophers, worse still they may stoke their own egos and platitudes and lastly they may, surrounded only by followers lose touch of the real world they once tried to understand. Wisdom can therefore be a snare, for it is not a conclusion that is important, indeed only dead fish swim with the stream but the evermore exploration and continuance of the journey, once one reaches a definite conclusion and no longer takes an action, is it not that he/she is indistinguishable from the corpses of those laid to rest in previous generations? he/she that states that they now know truth are thus now nobody, for they have stopped action, thus it is that to know, or truly know is to know that you know nothing and thus one lives by continuing on the journey of trying to understand. Philsophy is therefore a journey, for which the action of walking that path IS the aim, the quaint phrase: It is not the destination but the journey that matters springs to mind.
Ugh. you now have me getting philosophical. ah well, here's to more understanding and more wisdom. Have a nice day anyone who reads this.
reply
Philosophy is an attempt to understand the world around us and the reasons for it and us and the things that we do. A lot of it can be introspective and deals with questions as to the ideal society and the motivations of people and why they do things. Whilst I like philosophy there exists a caveat within it for me as a central issue:
Namely, Philosophy can encourage apathy as regards too much thinking and not doing, or not putting ones thoughts into a physical manifestation in the real world, this is of course where philosophy can encounter the realms of politics, economics and sociology. But I find for my own introspective analysis that philosophers as a whole tend to to be sterotypically disconnected with real world issues and more focused on spouting platitudes and stoking their own egos. An idea is nothing if not acted upon, Plato took no action to create his republic of ideal guardians, Machiavelli espoused his theories but did not connive and manipulate to put them into effect, Locke took his notions of a liberal or liberated society of freedom but did he campaign for it, did he issue speeches or create a movement or cause to do so? One may of course retort that he practised it by allowing others to do as they do, to which I say the ideal or idea not put into affect is nothing, and less than nothing it detracts. I may have the idea of making a sandwich to appease my hunger, but without the inclination or will to do so i shall remain hungry.
Buddha drew an interesting parallel here when he described a person shot by a poisoned arrow, he states that the man could enquire from whence direction the arrow came, where it was made, what it was made from, who shot the arrow, what is the poison etc etc, but only by dealing with the arrow, i. e. by acting upon it can he affect his life. Thus whilst I admire philosophy and love it myself, I find that most take no action from it, worse they may become armchair philsophers, worse still they may stoke their own egos and platitudes and lastly they may, surrounded only by followers lose touch of the real world they once tried to understand. Wisdom can therefore be a snare, for it is not a conclusion that is important, indeed only dead fish swim with the stream but the evermore exploration and continuance of the journey, once one reaches a definite conclusion and no longer takes an action, is it not that he/she is indistinguishable from the corpses of those laid to rest in previous generations? he/she that states that they now know truth are thus now nobody, for they have stopped action, thus it is that to know, or truly know is to know that you know nothing and thus one lives by continuing on the journey of trying to understand. Philsophy is therefore a journey, for which the action of walking that path IS the aim, the quaint phrase: It is not the destination but the journey that matters springs to mind.
Ugh. you now have me getting philosophical. ah well, here's to more understanding and more wisdom. Have a nice day anyone who reads this.
reply
Isaac
For me, the best definition I've ever come across for philosophy was -the activity of trying to work out the right way to think about things. - The keyword in that definition is -activity, - because part of what makes philosophy so rewarding is engaging with the ideas of different philosophers and interrogating our own ideologies and biases in order to better ascertain whatever the truth is. If all we're doing is learning what others have said and simply repeating it, then we're little more than contemporary sophists.
reply
For me, the best definition I've ever come across for philosophy was -the activity of trying to work out the right way to think about things. - The keyword in that definition is -activity, - because part of what makes philosophy so rewarding is engaging with the ideas of different philosophers and interrogating our own ideologies and biases in order to better ascertain whatever the truth is. If all we're doing is learning what others have said and simply repeating it, then we're little more than contemporary sophists.
reply
King
Hahaha. honestly. when i was a little kid i thought i was the only REAL person on earth with like. a conscience and everything. I thought everyone else were robots, or phantoms in human husks, placed there by some greater power to amuse or antagonize me. People thought i was just egotistical, which makes no sense since i was an introvert with confidence issues. Anyway, I'm glad there is PHILOSOPHY (yay) to possibly help me figure out the cause of the thought process of younger me -
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Hahaha. honestly. when i was a little kid i thought i was the only REAL person on earth with like. a conscience and everything. I thought everyone else were robots, or phantoms in human husks, placed there by some greater power to amuse or antagonize me. People thought i was just egotistical, which makes no sense since i was an introvert with confidence issues. Anyway, I'm glad there is PHILOSOPHY (yay) to possibly help me figure out the cause of the thought process of younger me -
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ghost
Your choices are based on the information you have and the hormones that were made at the time based on the information you have and the situation but they're still your choices
Philosophy is just lazy people who don't understand science pretending to be smart
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Your choices are based on the information you have and the hormones that were made at the time based on the information you have and the situation but they're still your choices
Philosophy is just lazy people who don't understand science pretending to be smart
reply
Paula
I told my dad I wanted to learn psychology and psychiatry when I go to college but all I got is a -So you wanna be with crazy people? - or -You're just making yourself go crazy then- Now I am hesitant to tell him I wanna study philosophy.
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I told my dad I wanted to learn psychology and psychiatry when I go to college but all I got is a -So you wanna be with crazy people? - or -You're just making yourself go crazy then- Now I am hesitant to tell him I wanna study philosophy.
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PSB
India' s history is more than 50, 000years old only 5000 years is written. And the world is best described in Ancient Indian texts. We have described about Universe thousands years ago.
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India' s history is more than 50, 000years old only 5000 years is written. And the world is best described in Ancient Indian texts. We have described about Universe thousands years ago.
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Alisha
So I chose history as a college course. decided I didn-t want to do that, so I changed to philosophy. now I-m here trying to decide if I want to, plus it can-t hurt to learn more
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So I chose history as a college course. decided I didn-t want to do that, so I changed to philosophy. now I-m here trying to decide if I want to, plus it can-t hurt to learn more
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Alaa
I have a question, is there any episode that explains more about logic and why do we trust logic in philosophy and know that logic is the best tool to use?
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I have a question, is there any episode that explains more about logic and why do we trust logic in philosophy and know that logic is the best tool to use?
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Khemiri
If logic (the tools) is a deterministic way to get from an assertion A to another one B, than there must be a true way towards -reality-
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If logic (the tools) is a deterministic way to get from an assertion A to another one B, than there must be a true way towards -reality-
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