Philosophy is dead. Dead words nothing else -- a therapy. Transformation only possible through meditation.
I call B.S. on this.
Philosophy as a public service
31–40 of 99 posts
Re: Philosophy as a public service
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
If my "modern philosophy course" you mean a course dealing with only modern philosophy, then of course not: they're not seeking to delve into the ancient history, but deal with whatever era is on the docket. That's not the point of the course. But philosophy majors at many universities do have to deal with that as well. It just isn't the focus of a course in modern or contemporary phil. But as for courses dealing wit…
But the point of learning about Pythagoreanism isn't to learn ancient history. It is to learn philosophy. And if pythagoreanism-platonism is the most influential thread of philosophy of all time, then modern philosophy would need to obviate that legacy (like modern chemistry obviates ancient chemistry), integrate it, or simply remain ignorant of it.
The legacy isn't avoided in upper level classes. And an intro survey in philosophy will cover it. But if I am in an upper level course on contemporary philosophy, I don't need to rehash Platonism. I know philosophy is said to be a series of footnotes to Plato, but this isn't literally the case.
Re: Philosophy as a public service
#33The article is more about the hoped-for value of mimicking survival mechanisms found in nature in order to endure climate change rather than explaining "Philosophy as a public service". I actually think that once you're in the realm of implementation you're no longer in the realm of philosophy, which should , IMO, remain abstract. A book like "A Thousand Plateaus", "Being and Time", "The Critique of Pure Reason" are…
Sigh Why do people here like Deleuze and Guattari? They're intellectual charlatans of the highest caliber.
Re: Philosophy as a public service
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
But the point of learning about Pythagoreanism isn't to learn ancient history. It is to learn philosophy. And if pythagoreanism-platonism is the most influential thread of philosophy of all time, then modern philosophy would need to obviate that legacy (like modern chemistry obviates ancient chemistry), integrate it, or simply remain ignorant of it.
You wouldn't start a Tudor England history course with the Roman Empire just because they had historical influence. You'd probably be aware of the linking via the introductory courses. Not every course needs to discuss every facet of a topic, foundational or not.
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Re: Philosophy as a public service
#35The article is more about the hoped-for value of mimicking survival mechanisms found in nature in order to endure climate change rather than explaining "Philosophy as a public service". I actually think that once you're in the realm of implementation you're no longer in the realm of philosophy, which should , IMO, remain abstract. A book like "A Thousand Plateaus", "Being and Time", "The Critique of Pure Reason" are…
Sigh Why do people here like Deleuze and Guattari? They're intellectual charlatans of the highest caliber.
Care to explain why you think that?
Re: Philosophy as a public service
#36Relatedly, if anyone is looking to get started with philosophy, Crash Course has a fantastic video series on it: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8dPuuaLjXtNgK6MZucdY...
Another approach is reading a few articles from https://www.iep.utm.edu/ and http://plato.stanford.edu/ But IMHO the best course of action would be to acquire logic proficiency first. And no, I'm not talking about the logic programmers usually know, but rather formal and informal philosophical logic. Proficiency in logic is to philosophy like reading sheet music is to music. You can get by without it, but it will hel…
"A few articles?" This is what discoverability looks like on both of those sites: https://plato.stanford.edu/contents.html. Just start at "A"?
I think non-academic people like me are served perfectly well by reading Spinoza's Ethics. Googling for more from there will cover almost all of post-dualism Western phil.
Re: Philosophy as a public service
#37The article is more about the hoped-for value of mimicking survival mechanisms found in nature in order to endure climate change rather than explaining "Philosophy as a public service". I actually think that once you're in the realm of implementation you're no longer in the realm of philosophy, which should , IMO, remain abstract. A book like "A Thousand Plateaus", "Being and Time", "The Critique of Pure Reason" are…
Sigh Why do people here like Deleuze and Guattari? They're intellectual charlatans of the highest caliber.
Thanks for the thought-image, bub.
Re: Philosophy as a public service
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
If my "modern philosophy course" you mean a course dealing with only modern philosophy, then of course not: they're not seeking to delve into the ancient history, but deal with whatever era is on the docket. That's not the point of the course. But philosophy majors at many universities do have to deal with that as well. It just isn't the focus of a course in modern or contemporary phil. But as for courses dealing wit…
But the point of learning about Pythagoreanism isn't to learn ancient history. It is to learn philosophy. And if pythagoreanism-platonism is the most influential thread of philosophy of all time, then modern philosophy would need to obviate that legacy (like modern chemistry obviates ancient chemistry), integrate it, or simply remain ignorant of it.
In my program, we had a saying that lowbrow philosophers end every argument with "Plato said it first"; middlebrows say "Kant said it first"; highbrows say "Wittgenstein said it first."
Modern philosophy hasn't "obviated" Plato, per se, but any competent philosopher today can discuss what Plato thought generally and how/why we think differently today. The philosophical method of analysis and argument remains, but no one talks seriously about Platonic forms except as part of the history.
Re: Philosophy as a public service
#39The article is more about the hoped-for value of mimicking survival mechanisms found in nature in order to endure climate change rather than explaining "Philosophy as a public service". I actually think that once you're in the realm of implementation you're no longer in the realm of philosophy, which should , IMO, remain abstract. A book like "A Thousand Plateaus", "Being and Time", "The Critique of Pure Reason" are…
Once you are in the realm of implementation Philosophical/theoretical idealism goes out the window.
No story survives contact with reality, and that is all Philosophy gives us - stories. A.k.a theories.
Risk management requires counter-factual reasoning.
Re: Philosophy as a public service
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
But the point of learning about Pythagoreanism isn't to learn ancient history. It is to learn philosophy. And if pythagoreanism-platonism is the most influential thread of philosophy of all time, then modern philosophy would need to obviate that legacy (like modern chemistry obviates ancient chemistry), integrate it, or simply remain ignorant of it.
In my program, we had a saying that lowbrow philosophers end every argument with "Plato said it first"; middlebrows say "Kant said it first"; highbrows say "Wittgenstein said it first." Modern philosophy hasn't "obviated" Plato, per se, but any competent philosopher today can discuss what Plato thought generally and how/why we think differently today. The philosophical method of analysis and argument remains, but no…
With some exceptions. Mathematical Platonism is still taken quite seriously, though it's evolved a bit since the Meno.