what do YOU think philosophy is?

an inner truth

 

I think our elaborating was more of a two way personal reflection than a contribution to your work.

Did you read any of it? Perhaps it might aid you in having a better understanding of the assignment. It's a step forward to have done the work, but if you aren't gaining anything in the process, i see no true purpose in completing it.

 

x Wax x , you got boundaries . for one thing - language . you just employed the phrase "no true purpose" , which is a tangle of english nonsense and indulgently sorry judgement . the language of philosophy is far more useful than games of word-play and banter .


your philosophy will guide you in making good choices .

 

Philosophy peraphs is abstract thinking and the gathering of applied knowledge.

 

In what way exactly does using this expression make me, or anything i've said thus far for that matter, linguistically limited and bound? (No offence, but I find this slightly ironic, coming from someone who obviously couldn't be bothered to apply simple grammar rules). I'm also curious to know what makes you think it is narrow-minded and wrong of me to believe one should strive to gain something more when undertaking the otherwise trifling task of completing homework.

 

something i feel i disagree with you on is that you feel this core experience isn't a universal one. it seems that the only thing that is personal about it is the afterthought, or description we attribute to it. we may not see all shades of this experience at once, but it doesn't mean that the shade we see is only ours. we seem to be in a process of growth and expansion, seeing more and more of these shades as we move along.

 

phylosophy is the science of wisedom, though often it seems more emperical then is wise. that is to say formal phylosophy is. lay philosophying is another matter i have no quams about engauging in. for me that's just a matter of finding ways to avoid lying to myself.

=^^=
.../\...

 

Philosophy is the love of wisdom.

 

We may at one point or another come to the same conclusions, feel the same things, experience the same things, but the course our journey takes, is entirely all it's own.

 

.
"Surely she jousts in the inanely
idle manner of a prideful elitist !" .... Wullengar
.

 

I was not taking an attempt at righteousness or virtuousness. If anything, I have been vain, however I don't believe my words to have been empty. I have had nothing to prove or gain throughout this unfolding. I cleanly took advantage of free speech and chose to share my own personal opinion and thought.

Finally, I will genuinely and earnestly say this: be as you chose, do as you please, act as you wish and think as you might but always do so with conviction and passion. Most of all, listen as you should, always with tolerance and the absence of prejudice. Follow your heart and your own path stubbornly, but be aware that it is never wrong and always wise to peer openly into others, be it in search of something or simply out of curiosity. It is important to always be reminded that humanity has most respect and admiration for those who do these things in synchronicity.

 

Simply, philosophy is the study of ideas.

 

I'm not going to try to offer a concise definition of philosophy. You'll run into as many of those as there are philosophers. Instead, I'm just going set some criteria that will hopefully lead to formulation of a definition later on.


Philosophy means "love of wisdom." Compare this with "geology - study of the earth" or "astronomy - law of the heavens." Immediately, you should see a problem. If I walk into a geology with no prior knowledge of what geology is, all I need to do is know a bit of Greek and I'll have a very good idea of what I'm going to learn in that class. What should I think we're going to be doing in a philosophy class? Sitting around talking about how much we love wisdom? Maybe some philosophers do that, but certainly not the good ones.

The question, "What is philosophy?" is a metaphilosophical question. It's a question about how we're supposed to do philosophy. So, if you want to do philosophy, you'd better have an answer to it.

It is important that our definition make philosophy distinct from all other arts and sciences. Philosophy cannot tread upon the domain of physics or any other science.

Almost all sciences were, at some point, considered a branch of philosophy. Biology, for example, only came into its own many years after Aristotle's work in that field. Most recently, psychology broke away from philosophy. This is a good thing. It makes their methods more scientific. But it leaves philosophers very little to do. (Probably also a good thing).

There seems to be a few branches of knowledge that will always belong to philosophy, the most important of which is logic. A good definition of philosophy should probably mirror a good definition of logic.

That's all for now.

 

Philosophy to me is the search for the bare minimum rules necessary for this thing called civilized life to persist. Everyone has his own ideas on what we need to get by, and what's extraneous or detrimental.

The joke is, everyone is wrong and right. The universe exists on a delicate yet extremely powerful balance of all of us pushing and tugging on one another, intellectually, physically, spiritually, and otherwise.

That's why I don't care about politics anymore. It's fun to watch unfold but emotional investment is unnecessary for me these days. Sure I'll vote for the guy I like more but I'm not gonna commit suicide if a republican wins again.

If it was meant to be, so be it. Because nothing is ever really lost, it only seems that way. I just try my best to love and understand everything that comes my way, accept the things I can't comprehend, and to grow stronger every day. No matter how good or bad it gets, this reality is mine. I'm learning new ways to take control, and it's great, but I'll take the bad with the good and accept it all with equal grace, or try my damndest to.

So philosophy intersts me more of as a hobby than a serious persuit. I'm not too concerned about anything but my intuition nowadays. That's my guiding light, though I'll use any information that I perceive as useful. It's all there for me to use now that contradictions and paradoxes no longer confuse me.

I wish I could convey precisely how I mean, but I know that everything is perfect just the way it is, and there is no serious urgency or desperation causing me to behave one way or another. This life is an adventure, that's all. A serious one,but still an adventure.

So I guess my philosophy really is to keep an open mind, seek out good times, and be generous with my love. Generous with others, and with myself. Basically it's just to act in accordance to what my soul tells me. It's a learning process and maybe it doesn't apply to anyone else but me, but that's fine. I know what works for me, I know what's good for me, despite what any of my friends say. I'm my own person, and yet of course I'm not at all.