Philosophy as a public service
nautil.us
Philosophy as a public service
1–10 of 99 posts
Re: Philosophy as a public service
#2I like this, but wonder if this kind of art is at all accessible to the people who need to hear its message.
Re: Philosophy as a public service
#3I like this, but wonder if this kind of art is at all accessible to the people who need to hear its message.
Good question. I'm certain it isn't, but also, you can't give all things for all people.
These thought experiments are useful, interesting, and appealing to certain segments of people. There should be different ways to transmit the same message to others, instead of looking for 'one-size-fits-all'.
Re: Philosophy as a public service
#4I don't see how this has anything to do with philosophy, thought experiments as such arent't philosophical, some philosophy (mostly anglosphere) just uses them to draw conclusions from common sense intuitions. This kind of 'philosophy' has been a public service for as long as art exists which often draws from concepts of science and philosophy and presents it in a easily digestible form to common sense.
Re: Philosophy as a public service
#5In this case, philosophy clearly is an art. Creating artistic sculptures, imagining a long-term future, playing with the notion of time, inducing debates… all of this is relevant of arts. From my experience, this is not specific to this philosopher: modern philosophy is the art of playing with words and concepts.
Philosophy is indeed a public service, even if it's rather a niche one. People have a large access to many kind of arts and activities. Some will enjoy reading etiology books or discussing ethical themes, some will visit museums, some will watch Scorcese's movies, many will watch Avenger entertainments. We all need some kind of artistic culture around us. So philosophy is a public service because some part of the public enjoys it to the point that it is important in their life.
This "public service" status is not restricted to arts and entertainment. For instance, the science on the human evolution has no practical goal — extending knowledge has no direct impact on us. Just like philosophy, it will not really influence the way we live. Yet many people want to know more about human origins, which is a excellent reason for continuing research.
Re: Philosophy as a public service
#6I wanted more exploration of the Bristlecone time thought experiment. How did you anticipate people's actions changing based on adherence to this new time? If a tree year is now 2 earth years (for example) , how does that change our behaviour, and how does this have a positive/negative effect on the environment (which is presumably the aim of this thought experiment?) How does one properly adhere to this new time in order to have the desired positive effect?
Re: Philosophy as a public service
#7Relatedly, 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...
Re: Philosophy as a public service
#8I don't see how this has anything to do with philosophy, thought experiments as such arent't philosophical, some philosophy (mostly anglosphere) just uses them to draw conclusions from common sense intuitions. This kind of 'philosophy' has been a public service for as long as art exists which often draws from concepts of science and philosophy and presents it in a easily digestible form to common sense.
It begs the question of what philosophy is. If it is "love of wisdom", as the Ancient Greeks suggested, then it seeks to know all things. That is, it seeks knowledge of what is, not of what is most likely, which is the domain of modern science.
Re: Philosophy as a public service
#9Relatedly, 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 just listening to what philosophers are thinking. The Philosophy Bites podcast catalog is great for that. https://philosophybites.com/
Re: Philosophy as a public service
#10In this case, philosophy clearly is an art. Creating artistic sculptures, imagining a long-term future, playing with the notion of time, inducing debates… all of this is relevant of arts. From my experience, this is not specific to this philosopher: modern philosophy is the art of playing with words and concepts. Philosophy is indeed a public service, even if it's rather a niche one. People have a large access to man…
Everything is an art. Science is an art. Even "pure mathematics" can be artful and beautiful. There is beauty in all the miracle of the application of human creation, thought, and skill. There is beauty in process, in discovery, of discovery, etc.
And this is all so beautifully meta as well, because this too, is a philosophical statement.