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] Philosophy Forums > General Philosophy
] Source Forum > Intro to Philosophy / Factual Issues / Books >
] Source Thread > What is philosophy for? Where I end and you begin ...
] Post Topic > Philosophy As Noble Obsession / 7Jan07 /
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. PHILOSOPHY AS NOBLE OBSESSION
. [Or: The Philosophical Relevance of Photographs]
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> On 2Jun06 joe eschaton asks: What is philosophy for? ... Well?
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Philosophy is and can be many things, of course, depending on one's (often
transitory) point of view; but above all these stands the form based upon
what is commonly recognized as philosophical literature, especially as in the
writings of the great (and even not so great) philosophers of the past and
present. In a very important sense philosophy *IS* its philosophical writings;
all else (ie. all other expressions of philosophy in life and actuality) is a
kind of secondary offshoot or emanation of this literature.
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So what Philosophy is about, in general and in particular, is the attempt
to simplify both quality and complexity (ie. as well as the problems and
questions they raise). Consider one example of this. Pictures and photo-
graphs both have the unique aspect of being able to preserve various
moments in history. Photos (digital and film) especially take a small slice of
previous events, and hold onto them more or less perfectly for as long as
they last. They thus record historical events much better than mere written
descriptions ever could. ...
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Moreover, they can be endlessly analyzed by scientists and various sundry
experts for any number of reasons, for they are also excellent aids to the
mind by way of remembrance and memory in general. This also means that
history on the whole has become increasingly more detailed as the number
of pictures has gradually increased since the beginning of history, some
thousands of years ago. Indeed it could even be said that pictures have
always been the basis of History, and in a concrete form, the memory and
mind of the entire human race.
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Today there are many billions of pictures and photographs, and all these are
additionally encumbered by the growing numbers of fake and modified pics.
All together this profusion of historical bits and bytes has been great for
historians and everybody else, but it has also rather complicated things, for
it has also underlined the problems of complexity and quality, if you see
what I mean. Thus it was easy for Philosophy (and the great philosophers
of the past) to "explain and describe" life, the universe, and everything, in
previous centuries, because the numbers of pictures was relatively limited.
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Today, however, all this explaining and describing has become both more
precise and more problematic; and yet again underscoring the "problems and
realities" of both quality and complexity. Within the philosophical writings
themselves this now manifests as literature of a noticeable skeptical and/or
analytical bent. The entire course of History is "contained", as it were in
a nutshell, within pictures and literature; but more especially within the
writings of the philosophers. This is why it is *always* important for all
philosophers AND philosophy-students to read *read* and *more* READ
those darned philosophical writings of those darned great (and not so great)
philosophers of past and present ... hahaha :D
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Anyway, that's what Philosophy is all about (ie. reading and writing). What
it's *FOR* is altogether a very different sort of question; an altogether more
important question in so many ways it would be silly for me to try and list
them all. Some of these answers regarding Sophia's purpose and reason-for-
being have merit and validity, but many more are seriously lacking in the
much needed elements of veracity, wisdom, and validity. You can stress the
vital aspect of practical application to human living and general-being.
You can stress the aspect of utility, or the element of doubt and radical
skepticism, or even the fundamental trade of detailed and minute examina-
tion and analysis. And all this is well and good, and all have earned their
place within Sophia's ample bosom; but - alas- none of these can provide a
general, or generally valid, account of the greater purpose of Philosophy so
as to enable a functional and "cosmic" answer to the simple question of
"What is philosophy for, eh hoser"?
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Having thus aroused the Reader into a state of fervent frenzy, eye suppose
i am now expected to undertake the grisly, unruly, and thankless duty of
providing THE one and only all-purpose *BEST* answer to the question of
Philosophy's grand purpose ... [insert many sighs and lamentations here]
... oh very well, if you insist ...
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For all those unique and worthy persons who undertake to involve themselves
(in many and various ways and means) in the great and noble obsession that
is commonly called Philosophy, let it now be know that there is indeed an
answer to the question that is both useful and worthy. The purpose of
Philosophy is not just to accumulate and analyze our ever-growing knowledge
about life-the-universe-and-everything, but *also* to increase the quality of
people's lives by promoting and spreading Universal Reason, critical thinking
in all areas of life and study, and (most importantly by far) rational behavior
(again in all areas of life-the-universe-and-everywhere)!
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In doing so, Sophia fulfills Her historical role as the driving force behind the
historical process of spiritual rationalization. If every one of us small and tiny
individual human creatures can gain (and hold!) some miniscule portion of the
Noble Lady Sophia (ie. we ourselves manifest and become Sophia in a concrete
multitude of ways), then that in and of itself entails a measure of freedom
gained for us all, and yet another advancing step made by and for human
Liberty.
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] Philosophy Forums > General Philosophy / 24 Feb07 /
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The 2 Ways to Study Philosophy
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The most important thing that a philosophy student needs is the ability
to recognize a good and worthy philosophy book when he finds one. Another
related (and also needed) skill is knowing which books (especially which
philosophy books) are a waste of time and/or otherwise unworthy of
your efforts and attention. Developing these skills can save the wise
philosophy student a great deal of unnecessary pain, headaches, and
sundry other useless agonies.
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And just as important as the ability to spot good philosophical literature
is knowing what to do with a good philosophy book once you have it in your
willful little hands. There are two ways to read philosophical literature:
the right way, and every other way! The right way involves many difficult
mental, intellectual, and spiritual disciplines that are of great utility
to all philosophy students. Perhaps the most important skill in this regard
is the ability to read any philosophical text *slowly*!
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In practice this means a paragraph, a page, a chapter at a time. Then you
must stop and think about what you just read. You ask questions about it;
like 'what is the author saying here?' You consider also the reasoning and
validity and general merit of the things proposed. And you can even decide
if you agree or disagree with the philosopher in question. The point is
that you should get into the habit of questioning and criticizing and
thinking about all kinds of things. Remember always your first principles:
'I am ... therefore I think'.
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Now this may never be the supreme and final definition of all human being,
but it most certainly is the best definition of the philosopher ... *AND*
the philosophy student! And remember also that philosophical literature is
by no means limited to what the professors and standard philosophy text-
books and histories say. As far as philosophical literature goes, the
student should realize that there are two sorts of writings that are
deemed "philosophical" ... and thus worthy of the student's attention.
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At the head of these two categories you can place Plato and Aristotle.
These two main categories of philosophy correspond to the two main ways of
doing philosophy. The objective approach (Aristotelian and scientific) looks
outward, and more or less ignores the looker, while the subjective approach
(intuitive and contemplative) focuses primarily on the looker (although
not always at the expense of the larger 'real world'). But, sadly (and to
Sophia's great detriment), the vast majority of the writings by modern
and/or famous philosophers will fall easily into Aristotle's over-inflated
category ... O woe iz us! :(
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And so the Plato side is often over-looked and under-valued. Yet some
important names are hidden in this area; hidden away by history, by mis-
categorization brought on by ignorance and willful blindness, and by the
always desperate need to 'keep it simple'. Significantly, Plato's fuzzy
category of philosophical literature includes some very interesting
existentialist thinkers . . .
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4X: Right along side Plato himself you can add Jefferson (d.1826, a
politician), Beethoven (d.1827, a composer), Blake (d.1827, an artist)
["Ultimately, the difficulty of placing William Blake in any one
chronological stage of art history is perhaps the distinction that best
defines him." - Wikipedia], Goethe (d.1832, a poet), Nijinsky (a dancer),
Dostoevsky (d.1881, a novelist), T.E.Lawrence (d.1935, an adventurer),
H.G.Wells (d.1946, a science-fiction writer and historian), G.B.Shaw
(d.1950, a playwright), and so on and so forth.
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The list goes on and on from here, and most of these names will never
appear in the standard philosophy text-books and classrooms; and more's
the pity. Almost half of the available philosophical literature is completely
ignored because it doesn't FIT into THOSE very particular and *carefully*
*constructed*categories* ... Hence the current poverty of post-modern
philosophy. And hence also the need for a dramatic reformation of the
ENTIRE popular paradigm of Philosophy as it is now understood and defined!
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Thus the philosophy student must constantly resist the pressure to narrow
the scope of Philosophy's vision, must constantly battle the relentless
drive to limit and limit and limit the range of Philosophy's concerns and
interests. Academic philosophy is indeed a wasteland in so many ways, so
it's up to the philosophy students themselves to breathe life back into
Sophia's abused and mutilated corpse ...
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Yes, there's *still* some Life left in the old girl yet!
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- the almost unclassified one - cybrwurrm ;>
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Goto More Minors
"To
pretend that truth is so deeply hidden from us, and that
it
is hard to distinguish it from falsehood, is quite preposterous:
the
truth remains hidden only while we have nothing but false
opinions
and doubtful speculations; but hardly has truth made its
appearance
than its light will dispel dark shadows." -- Galileo
textman
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