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Ask HN: Learning about philosophy

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Re: Ask HN: Learning about philosophy

#231

Post by rhizome31 »

smhost wrote: post #145
biswaroop wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, when I say Eurocentric, I include the UK. Europe for most people still includes the British Isles, regardless of the preferences of certain conservatives. Also, wow that's an ignorant quote. Let me rephrase it: "We have no internal problems. All of our external problems during a 60 year period have come from our neighboring countries, and all the solutions are the ones we and our allies came up with." Genius.…

> Sorry, when I say Eurocentric, I include the UK. That's my whole disagreement. The analytic-continental divide is a split within the western world. But you present it as if the non-eurocentric world is more conducive to the continental tradition, when even the concept of eurocentrism not only comes from europe, but it comes from the continental tradition through hegel's philosophy of history and his predecessors.

I'm sorry but you misread the comment you replied to. It was taking analytic and continental philosophy as a whole (western philosophy) and was encouraging philosophy students to go beyond it and also look into non-western philosophy.

Re: Ask HN: Learning about philosophy

#232

Post by quijoteuniv »

Most replies (and maybe the author too) assume Philosophy=Western philosophy. If you are looking into developing a personal philosophy you need to know yourself better. Many ways of doing that, some kind of meditation needs to be involved. Words in books would have a limited scope withouth power of action. At that point is not better than poetry, just more difficult and boring.

Re: Ask HN: Learning about philosophy

#235

Post by unabst »

Everyone has a personal philosophy, and your path of personal growth is the path by which your personal philosophy is developed.

There are many great interviews with Mike Tyson where he gets highly philosophical. He has some amazing lines, and they just keep hitting hard.

Steve Jobs had great philosophy, arguably laying the foundations upon which Apple was built. Many great entrepreneurs share this pattern.

Einstein and Feynmen are known for their philosophical genius also.

Great philosophy can come from politicians, artists, writers, and even comedians. George Carlin and Patrice O'neal are my favorite. There's great philosophy surrounding sports too. The Last Dance is a great watch.

My only point is, don't marginalize yourself to the field of philosophy. Philosophy is deep thinking, and the ability to articulate and navigate those thoughts. The books under the philosophy section are the thoughts that have nowhere else to be. Great philosophy about computation will be under Computers.

If you're serious about your personal philosophy, then start writing your thoughts down. Then organize them and edit them and pursue them. Pick up books that answer your questions and read the organized thoughts of your role models. Every field has its great philosophers, and more often than not, they're the trail blazers of their field. They will not be found under philosophy.

Re: Ask HN: Learning about philosophy

#236

Post by FranzFerdiNaN »

istjohn wrote: post #230
pmoriarty wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"philosophy is utterly incapable of telling us what to make or do" Take a look at the enormous popularity of Stoicism on HN. I think quite a few people here would disagree with you about philosophy being "utterly incapable of telling us what to make or do".

And yet most philosophers aren't Stoics. Physics will tell you how fast an object will fall. You can ask a dozen physicists and they will all give you the same answer. Philosophy only tells you how to live if you ask exactly one philosopher. Ask a second, and you will be no better off than when you started.

The point of philosophy is to teach you how to think so you can formulate your own answer. Apparently you expect everything to be 1+1=2, which really is kind of sad.

You are a person who desperately needs philosophy, yet you seen incapable of understanding why you would need it. Science seems to have ruined you.

Re: Ask HN: Learning about philosophy

#237

Post by FranzFerdiNaN »

ZoomZoomZoom wrote: post #142

If you want to learn about philosophy, I highly recommend Russel's History of Western Philosophy. It's usually frowned upon and recommended to avoid for Philosophy students exactly for the same reasons I think it's one of the best books ever written: It doesn't shy away of critique and dispute, as it was written by a practicing philosopher (who still values objectivity and holds to high standards of reasoning). The l…

Reading this book is like reading Gibbon as a first book about Roman history. Please don’t do it.

If you want a better history of western philosophy, I would recommend Anthony Kenny’s A New History of Western Philosophy.

Re: Ask HN: Learning about philosophy

#238

Post by schoen »

Not a classic nor even something that's stood the test of time nor even something that's done yet, but I've been interested in David Chapman's stuff

https://meaningness.com/

https://meaningness.com/eggplant

https://meaningness.com/further-reading (some of his influences and suggestions for reading, much of which is philosophy or philosophy-adjacent)

Mental models are one of his primary focuses (especially in In the Cells of the Eggplant). (He has a background in formal AI and a longtime academic interest in how an AI, or a human, could usefully model and act in the world. More recently he's been a serious student and practitioner of some less-well-known-to-English-speakers sorts of Buddhism, which he mostly tries to describe to his website readers from a secular, naturalist perspective.) I appreciate that he's kind, curious, thorough, intelligent, and eclectic. I sometimes think I'll be doing well if I get to 30% of his attainment in any of these areas!

Re: Ask HN: Learning about philosophy

#239

Post by jimsojim »

Start by questioning every aspect of your life, your actions, your intentions, your thoughts - why are they the way they are? Books and mental models are mere tools that won't get you anywhere, they just add to the conditioning and the "burden" of knowledge. To find your own philosophy of life you have to start by unconditioning your mind so you can become sensitive to the reality as it is and not what the world around you has taught you.

Re: Ask HN: Learning about philosophy

#240

Post by preya2k »

FranzFerdiNaN wrote: post #236
istjohn wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet most philosophers aren't Stoics. Physics will tell you how fast an object will fall. You can ask a dozen physicists and they will all give you the same answer. Philosophy only tells you how to live if you ask exactly one philosopher. Ask a second, and you will be no better off than when you started.

The point of philosophy is to teach you how to think so you can formulate your own answer. Apparently you expect everything to be 1+1=2, which really is kind of sad. You are a person who desperately needs philosophy, yet you seen incapable of understanding why you would need it. Science seems to have ruined you.

> Science seems to have ruined you.

This is a very interesting thought. Is this something you came up with, or are you quoting any specific philosopher? I’d love to read more about this topic.

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