Nostalgia

hehehehehe, nice.

Good. Now apply it to your own life.
This is your philosophy on philosophy.

After I wrote it and posted it, I thought about changing that to the title.
And I have applied it to my life as much as I care to, thank you very much. This blog will probably be the last useful snippet of philosophy to ever come out of my brain.

'Philosophy: What's the f-ing point?'

Why not make this a thread?

I would love to, Silas, but I don't want to insult those who seem to enjoy its . . . ah, finer points. Though, I will consider it, depending on the reaction I get over the next few days!

This is your philosophy on philosophy.

He's gotcha there!!

neener neener . . . Its okay. its just kevin.

Hm.
You sound, right now, like a girl I know. She's in my physics class. "Why do we have to learn this? Who would waste their time making all of this up?" The humor, it kills.

Well, regardless of its not being physically productive, it does give your brain a good workout. It makes you think. God knows this world would be a much better world with a little more thought.


The mind-forged manacles I hear.

99.99% of philosophy is boring, boring, boring. Even that which I agree with or find profound. Just go read some of those philosophic threads on the boards and tell me they aren't more boring than watching the grass grow. I'd much rather have the ideas explained to me than actually read a first hand work of philosophy. Philosophy strips out the flesh and blood from life. That is why I much prefer (and love) literature. Literature molds the flesh and blood back onto life.

Originally Posted by Virgil

99.99% of philosophy is boring, boring, boring. Even that which I agree with or find profound. Just go read some of those philosophic threads on the boards and tell me they aren't more boring than watching the grass grow. I'd much rather have the ideas explained to me than actually read a first hand work of philosophy. Philosophy strips out the flesh and blood from life. That is why I much prefer (and love) literature. Literature molds the flesh and blood back onto life.

Au contraire! 99.99% of philosophy is absolutely fascinating.

hmmm...Isn't 99.99% the same amount as all those germs cleaning-products kill on the telly ? Perhaps philosophy is harmful to ingest.

so i wont be enchanted by your long philosophical talks??
oh that is sucha shame!

I would say, the point is communication.


The Base of All Metaphysics,
by Walt Whitman


AND now gentlemen,
A word I give to remain in your memories and minds,
As base and finale too for all metaphysics.

(So to the students the old professor,
At the close of his crowded course.)

Having studied the new and antique, the Greek and Germanic
systems,
Kant having studied and stated, Fichte and Schelling and Hegel,
Stated the lore of Plato, and Socrates greater than Plato,
And greater than Socrates sought and stated, Christ divine having
studied long,
I see reminiscent to-day those Greek and Germanic systems,
See the philosophies all, Christian churches and tenets see,
Yet underneath Socrates clearly see, and underneath Christ the
divine I see,
The dear love of man for his comrade, the attraction of friend to
friend,
Of the well-married husband and wife, of children and parents,
Of city for city and land for land.


The first metaphysical poem I ever read was In Cabin'd Ships at Sea, by Walt Whitman. You don't have to read it, but it's good. When I read it, even the first two lines evoked something deeply poetic. [url]http://www.bartleby.com/142/3.html[/url]

Silas- that made me laugh SO HARD!
Walker- Yup. This as philosophical as I ever get about anything.
Nikolai- I don't have a clue what metaphysics are. After reading that piece three times over, I believe understanding what metaphysics are is crucial to understanding the piece.
(I am currently trying to absorb Babylon AD, but I shall add metaphysics to my growing list of things to investigate!)

This is your philosophy on philosophy.

I third this! I mean, we all have a system of values by which we live- that's our philosophy, even it is more simple than others', it's still a philosophy. There's are plenty of branches of philosophy ( in those branches there are 'sub-branches' ) that we could care less about - that make our brains want to explode. Then again, it's nice, sometimes, to organize our beliefs. It's easier for me to say, "I'm an existentialist" than say, "Oh, um, I believe that in making choices, I define myself, that with my freedom comes great responsibility, that my existence precedes my essence..." While, however, I did have one teacher say, in a derogatory tone, that existentialists basically believe that their existence is equivalent to that of a speck of vomit's floating in the universe (I had to go toe-to-toe with her on that one), for the most part people understand. So yeah, I think I really agree with Nikolai. And...philosophy opens our minds to ideas that help us to shape our ethics, our reasoning, our logic.

Some people don't need to study it to have their minds opened, to develop their own 'categories' of thinking- like, you, skib - and that's just fine! People learn in all different kinds of ways - no need to bury your head in Sartre's 'Being and Nothingness' to grasp existentialism (I mean, unless you find that sort of thing up your alley *nerdy smile *).

I also think Dori has a point. While I don't think you're saying the same thing as, "Why do we have to know this?" , I think (IMO) that it's important to seek knowledge as best we can because we're human, and as humans, I believe our responsibility to learn - simply because we have the ability- because it shapes us.

My best friend said something to similar to what Virgil wrote above when I was going to take voice lessons - that my passion would be stripped away. My passion wasn't stripped away - the lessons just helped me to focus it. That's my 2 cents. Nice post, skib!

no need to bury your head in Sartre's 'Being and Nothingness' to grasp existentialism (I mean, unless you find that sort of thing up your alley *nerdy smile *).

Hells ya! *nerdy smiles indeed*

I agree with most of what Wisp said. I think a lot of people, myself included, use philosophy as a way of kind of putting their own thought and beliefs in some sort of order. For me, I was raised Catholic but came away from that strict set of beliefs and am (and will be for a long time I think) trying to figure out what I believe about morality and ethics and what it means to really live. Studying philosophy is a way of not necessarily defining by beliefs by what others think, but of phrasing them in such a way that makes sense (if that makes any sense at all, it's hard to describe). I think I know what I believe, but I couldn't ever find a way to describe it or qualify it to someone else until I read some philosophy and thought "Yes! That's what I mean!".

To me, philosophy is simply a means of making what I believe more precise, and some people are able to do that without studying. To each his own Though I'll agree with Virgil- reading some philosophy is like watching an ant walk across a football field.

Yes, yes, that's what I mean.