As time goes on, I notice fewer and fewer posts related to philosophy and meaning which are not linked to questions about religion, and fewer posts about the ironies and poignance of life itself. Surely we have not exhausted our range of such thoughts. Or?
I disagree with those who question the value of philosophy or equate philosophers with religious leaders and believers.
Philosophers, ask “why?” and “how?” (among other things) and are always trying to understand the world around them, and ‘how’ we understand this world. This applies to non-academic ‘philosophers’ as well. We are all philosophers to the degree that we strive to understand.
Many religious leaders, like most other religious people, are indoctrinated into a particular religion as children before they have the ability to think critically for themselves. People who “find” religion later in life it seems, often do so after a bad or terrible experience: a divorce, alcoholism or drug addiction, abuse, rape, loss of a loved one, etc. Again, without critical thought. And many who become religious 'leaders' have limited education in general. Philosophers, at least serious philosophers (here I am not necessarily speaking exclusively of ‘academic’ philosophers) accept nothing without critical thought.
In fact, we now live in a society that is polarized in large part because too many citizens don’t recognize or can’t acknowledge the facts before them. They accept, without criticism, opinions that support their belief system. They accept these opinions as fact. Everything becomes relative to their ‘beliefs.’ This is why philosophy is so critically important.
As I have often said before, I have little use for the lionization of "philosophers".
I honestly don't believe their opinions are any better than my own, or yours.
Sure, they discuss interesting topics, but I don't necessarily agree with much
of what they put forward as being particularly profound.
As far as "the meaning of life" goes, for myself, it's whatever I decide it is on
any given day. I have always believed it's up to the individual to determine
what meaning they want for their own lives.
All that said, when topics of discussion are presented, depending upon my
level of interest at the time I see them, I may or may not participate in said
discussions.
All any of us can reasonably do is raise a topic of interest.
It's up to everyone else whether they'll engage or not.
Every single priest, imam, bishop, cardinal, guru, rajarshi, mullah, rabbi, reverend and on and on are all philosophers of one stripe or another, and considering how absolutely fucked up they've made the world and the majority of the population that follows them with the "product" that they spew all philosophers should all be rounded up and used to test weapons on.
IMHO, of course.
There is no "meaning to life", it just is. So we do the best we can without hurting anybody else. Of course all the people who have "the answers" will tell you you differently. That said, it is still very interesting to discuss all the possibilities and what if's.
And I for one am happy to see less of those pointless and endless discussions about those religious or philosophic discussions about that bullshit "meaning of life" theme. Who wants to waste time in bullshit?
There is a huge difference between the intellectual masturbation of which you speak, and serious discussion of thoughts and issues.
@wordywalt so you only like jacking off to porn that has you in it?
Exactly.
I expect better from you. You know damned well that probing philosophical inquiry is not navel-gazing.
I agree: hiking, fishing, kayaking - anything in the great outdoors (with as few other humans in sight ; children, and helping others (especially helping children) are my ‘spiritual connection’. I always felt most alive when backpacking in the Sierra mountain range in Northern California, and when fishing in the many lakes and rivers. I am now (again) living in the Great Northwest, living in a rural area with many hiking trails, rivers and lakes nearby. I am also involved with supporting my grandkids and other children via 4-H. Life is good. I feel ‘connected’ again. Living in Florida - not so much.
I do feel a need to point out that I don’t consider the study (or interest in) philosophy as navel-gazing. I suspect this wasn’t your intent either. Of course, I don’t include Eastern religion/philosophy in the same category as wester classical philosophy. Much of the former is, indeed, navel-gazing, in my view.
"Navel-gazing" was a joke!
@SenorRotten In my lifetime, I have spent thousands of days in the out-of-doors. Wherever I am, I am observing, mentally "digesting" what I observe, and thinking.
@LiterateHiker Some people can't take a joke, especially philosopher groupies.
@LiterateHiker I like Naval Gazing! I haven't gazed a navel in a long time. The last time was when I was sixteen and,,,,,,,,,,,,,never mind.
@LiterateHiker there are some navals worth gazing at.....just not our own....
@LiterateHiker, @Sticks48 ..it is always a joke until someone gets hurt....
"I was just joking," is the lame excuse of mean, sarcastic people.
eye roll
Get used to it. Philosophy is too deep for many. It is also fraught with contradictions and opinions.
So is life.
@wordywalt So is life!! Now lets try to convince others.
Philosophy is like deep sea diving.
Ebb and flow dude, they will be back.
When admin stopped curating the feed on the front page, a few months ago, the high falutin thinker posts get less airtime. Im hoping it stays that way. Admin shouldnt have been promoting the "mental masturbation" of the few (to use terminology from the post author)
Dump religion from the pic and your left with either debating useless, pointless topics (athiesm vrs agnosticism in a world without religion) or rehashing things that have no universal answers, only individual ones.
The greatest gift philosophy has given humanity is the concept that someone who does nothing but think deserves to be feed by those they confuse.
I have the entire "philosophy and meaning" section of the forums, blocked. Highly recommended. Thanks @admin for this feature.
Undoubtedly why this was posted in "general & hellos"
I have read and continue to look into absurdism, existentialism, and stoicism to cope with the beauty and banality of life. Love your question!
You only get two "...isms" per post.
No we have not but there is so much more to think about all the time. What shall I have for breakfast, do I need to pay that bill right away, does my bum look big in that dress, etc, etc.
Eat the bill for breakfast, and you bum will look fine.
See, all problems solved.
I can do poignant. Or I can iron.
But ironic poignancies are way, way out of my range.
I learned about philosophy on the streets of Brooklyn—- got a real good education for free
Philosophy and meta physics is the only place religion has to try and prove god. Religion has failed to provide objective evidence that a god is real.
Yo9u do not understand what philosophy really is or how important it is in refuting poorly developed thought and customs -- such as religion.
The change I notice is an increase in talk about religion and a decrease in talk about politics. Following the 2016 election of Voldemort there was a lot of shock and disgust expressed. That has quieted down lately. I suspect it will pick up again as we get closer to the 2020 election. There is reason to be hopeful: while some 35% of American voters say they will vote for Trump no matter what, 45% say they will vote for anyone but Trump. I am encouraged by these numbers, but by no means lulled into comfortable complacency. The Russians are still working social media to sow division while Republican-controlled States are purging their voter registration rolls of likely Democratic voters. And Fox (Faux) News continues to be the font of right-wing ideology and propaganda we have come to know and loathe. 2020 promises to be a very interesting year. Fasten your seatbelts kids! It's going to be a wild ride!
There are questions posted about the philosophy and meaning of helping widows and orphans while avoiding worldly corruption?
Engaging in real philosophical inquiry helps to expose false ideology and corruption.
@JohnnyQB if someone such as a parent when you were a child were to constantly tell you that you was no good scum worthless crap and as a child not knowing any better to handle the 18 years living with such a parent and those cursing of words all thru out child hood cause a mental illness related to depression and other known mental diseases, could those parents not be considered demons?
@JohnnyQB depends on how you define wrong or how you are implying.
To be gay in the strictest of sense would be the wrong way to be evolutionary fit. Evolutionary fitness is about rate of reproduction. In strictest of human gayness to my knowledge there would be 0 fitness of reproduction.
As to wrong as a violation of a law, that depends on the jurisdiction the gayness is going on in. If gayness is a violation of a law in a Jurisdiction then it would be considered wrong because violation of laws are considered wrongs.
@JohnnyQB morals have to do with principles of right and wrong and/or good and evil behavior.
One aspect of morals is comparing a person's actions to standards of right and wrong such as laws. It would have to be understood that laws can be arbitrary. Good and evil behavior can be complicated to evaluate but basically for simplicity is there harm or what is harmed or benefited? Is someone forcing their gayness on someone else against their will?
Is gayness moral depends on such as Jurisdiction laws and the arbitrary fact of them combined with harm or benefit.
Should laws dictate gayness or restrict it? Icould it be considered a right thing to be in violation of an arbitrary law? From the point of those imposing and enforcing laws, violation of arbitrary laws should not be violated. It could be onsidered a wrong to impose and enforce arbitrary laws.
So, more could be said about discussion of the morals of a gayness person....
As to the majority of my friends, co-workers the past few years there has been several with gayness or bisexuality. I myself, do not consider myself bi or gay but have been involved in 50 shades of Jesus alternative BDSM life styles group activities of a public mannor. I have been a member of 2 bdsm dungeons. If you don't know what that is. Look up woodshed orlando
@JohnnyQB in my early 20s I had dreams of seeing future events along with other prophetic experiences. Long story short, dreams come to pass and from seeing in a dream I met this man I had seen in a dream, he called himself by 4 titles: alpha and omega, grim reaper. son of Lucifer, nameless-faceless one. Since I left christianity after researching that it would be what currently I could label for lack of better terms a Jesus style God.
@K9Kohle789 I am not saying gayness in a derogatory way.
@JohnnyQB you asked me if gay was wrong. I tried explaining the only ways I find gayness wrong is for 2 reasons: 1 strictly trying to reproduce by gayness is the wrong way to reproduce human animals, to my knowledge that does not work at all that way.
#2 gayness imposed or forced onto me I would consider a wrong someone is doing to me.
As I clearly stated, If you want to be gay, don't let me stop you, that is totally your choice as far as I am concerned so long as you are not forcing me to be gay with you or anyone else.
@JohnnyQB I will call up my gay friend and ask him to read my comments. I would much more consider my gay friend and his husband"s evaluation if my comments are offensive. I did ask my gay friend one about the topic gay by choice or by birth, or both. He told me he thought that was an offensive question, I just was asking his thoughts of his experience because of my curiosity to hear from someone that is gay.
@JohnnyQB no, I have been opposed by people that would like me to be considered mentally I'll because I have opposed their racists devil worship and European invasion raping this land from those of my ancestry that has been here for 1000s of years prior to the European invasion of 1492 and the Masonic lodge secret religion racist devil worshippers freedom of England July 4th, 1776.
So, those people that are "Patriotic " to the secret religion of the Masonic lodge secret religion racist devil worshippers call United States of America (the government), they think I am mentally ill for opposing racist devil worship governmental terrorism, taxation and oppression.
@JohnnyQB I have known my gay friend for over 7 years, he us hardcore illogical atheist when it comes to theism. However, his husband is a seminary... I do remember if he just decided not to go to theology school because of gay or if he dropped out because of gay, but otherwise I think the husband, which I have only met but do not talk regularly with. I think the husband would be something of a "believer" or at least not atheist.
these topics can get stale after hearing the similar points of view... these topics seem to be the realm of newer members trying out the forums... the more sure I am about atheism the less spectacular I seem in the universe... have we all crossed this divide? for me pure enjoyment of my life is far more rewarding than discussing it....there is not much new to talk about..
Are philosophy and religion not two sides of the same coin?
Religion is philosophy without the freedom
@twill What if freedom is my religion?
No. Philosophy encompasses much more that religious ideology.
@wordywalt More what? Facts? Undoubtedly. But religion doesn't need facts (obviously). It needs faith, and nearly all religions are, as we've all noticed, certainly deliver. At least for sheep, with no minds of their own. If you were going to do something, anything, you first have to know how, then you need to have faith that it will work.
But as far as why folks seem to be obsessed with how/why, I think it boils down to need to figure out how to get rid of the more tyrannical, more "organized", mainstream ones that have hijacked everyone's common sense. Just my angle on it.
I believe the last and final word on philosophy was reached when Stiches said “I got an AK-47 on my face, ho”