the spirit of philosophy
Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2023 4:00 pm
yesterday went to Berkley, to a bookstore called Moes and bought
a book... A Short History of Chinese Philosophy" by Fung Yu-Lan...
Now I am not quite ready to dive into Chinese Philosophy as I am
still engaged in Indian Philosophy, but to get ready to engage in
Chinese Philosophy.....and the very first Chapter is called, Yep,
"The spirit of Chinese Philosophy"
and within that "spirit" you have two types of philosophy...
one is ''otherworldly" and the other type is ''this worldly''
of the two, we can think of most philosophies as being ''other worldly''
Plato for example... and Aristotle as being ''this worldly''
''this worldly'' philosophy is engaged in the daily task of dealing with
social affairs in human relations... not with how to get to heaven or
to find peace, but how we act and interact with our fellow human beings...
political thought is within this ''this worldly'' philosophy...
and one of the questions of philosophy is this... is philosophy something to
know or is it something to experience?
or as Marx puts it... it is not enough to know the world, we
have to change it...
clearly reading the threads and posts around here, most are quite
happy knowing the world... to transform or change the world is
not the objective of most people around here...
they are interested in the ''passive'' form of philosophy... to spout one's
philosophy as ego... which is to say, look at how smart I am because
I know this...but my objective is quite different... I am always engaged
in getting people to act, to turn thoughts into actions by means of
philosophy as a ''way of life"....
take a value, say justice and use that value to live your life..
when faced with a question, you wonder, what does justice
mean in the face of this question? and recall, that Justice is
equality... to be just is to be equal...equality before the law is
a fair judicial and political system... and so the question becomes
how do we achieve justice/equality in our modern world,
given how unjust and unequal our political and judicial systems are...
so, every single question we have, should somehow engage in our lives
as practical questions...and that is the engagement we should
have with the world.... how do we practice justice as an everyday
value, is not only a philosophical question
but a judicial and political question...
we let try this: what is the ''philosophical spirit of our own current age?"
a pretty good word for our current philosophical age is:
Moribund.... at the point of death....
I mean even around here, a philosophical website, who actually attempts
to challenge their own beliefs? rare few...most use this site to practice
polemics about their favorite cause...see Age or vegetarin for this sort
of polemics...
the question becomes, how do you philosophize? what is your goal?
are you actually interested in seeking/finding the truth or are you,
as most people around here, trying to convert others to your point of view?
what I would like to see is the democratization of philosophy...
in that everyone, every single person is engaged in philosophy...
but that is the Chinese way... for as the book I just bought says,
not every single Chinese person practices religion, but
every single person practices philosophy.. (or at least that is the goal)
and that should be our goal as well... instead of promoting the egotistical
goal of reaching heaven, instead we should be engaged in the ''this worldly"
philosophy... what does it mean to be human? and what is the path to get
us from being animals to being animal/human to finally becoming fully human?
Kropotkin
a book... A Short History of Chinese Philosophy" by Fung Yu-Lan...
Now I am not quite ready to dive into Chinese Philosophy as I am
still engaged in Indian Philosophy, but to get ready to engage in
Chinese Philosophy.....and the very first Chapter is called, Yep,
"The spirit of Chinese Philosophy"
and within that "spirit" you have two types of philosophy...
one is ''otherworldly" and the other type is ''this worldly''
of the two, we can think of most philosophies as being ''other worldly''
Plato for example... and Aristotle as being ''this worldly''
''this worldly'' philosophy is engaged in the daily task of dealing with
social affairs in human relations... not with how to get to heaven or
to find peace, but how we act and interact with our fellow human beings...
political thought is within this ''this worldly'' philosophy...
and one of the questions of philosophy is this... is philosophy something to
know or is it something to experience?
or as Marx puts it... it is not enough to know the world, we
have to change it...
clearly reading the threads and posts around here, most are quite
happy knowing the world... to transform or change the world is
not the objective of most people around here...
they are interested in the ''passive'' form of philosophy... to spout one's
philosophy as ego... which is to say, look at how smart I am because
I know this...but my objective is quite different... I am always engaged
in getting people to act, to turn thoughts into actions by means of
philosophy as a ''way of life"....
take a value, say justice and use that value to live your life..
when faced with a question, you wonder, what does justice
mean in the face of this question? and recall, that Justice is
equality... to be just is to be equal...equality before the law is
a fair judicial and political system... and so the question becomes
how do we achieve justice/equality in our modern world,
given how unjust and unequal our political and judicial systems are...
so, every single question we have, should somehow engage in our lives
as practical questions...and that is the engagement we should
have with the world.... how do we practice justice as an everyday
value, is not only a philosophical question
but a judicial and political question...
we let try this: what is the ''philosophical spirit of our own current age?"
a pretty good word for our current philosophical age is:
Moribund.... at the point of death....
I mean even around here, a philosophical website, who actually attempts
to challenge their own beliefs? rare few...most use this site to practice
polemics about their favorite cause...see Age or vegetarin for this sort
of polemics...
the question becomes, how do you philosophize? what is your goal?
are you actually interested in seeking/finding the truth or are you,
as most people around here, trying to convert others to your point of view?
what I would like to see is the democratization of philosophy...
in that everyone, every single person is engaged in philosophy...
but that is the Chinese way... for as the book I just bought says,
not every single Chinese person practices religion, but
every single person practices philosophy.. (or at least that is the goal)
and that should be our goal as well... instead of promoting the egotistical
goal of reaching heaven, instead we should be engaged in the ''this worldly"
philosophy... what does it mean to be human? and what is the path to get
us from being animals to being animal/human to finally becoming fully human?
Kropotkin