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Kant's Four Questions

Posted: Thu Nov 23, 2017 5:43 am
by Nick_A
18th century German philosopher Immanuel Kant tried to answer four questions in his philosophy:
1. What can I know?
2. What do I have to do?
3. What can I hope for?
4. What is the human being?

Philosophy for Plato is the love of wisdom. The philosopher is the friend of or lover of wisdom. What would it take for a philosopher to answer Kant’s questions as expressions of wisdom as opposed to educated sophistry?

Re: Kant's Four Questions

Posted: Thu Nov 23, 2017 10:52 am
by uwot
Nick_A wrote: Thu Nov 23, 2017 5:43 amWhat would it take for a philosopher to answer Kant’s questions as expressions of wisdom as opposed to educated sophistry?
Well, a lack of education, for starters.

Re: Kant's Four Questions

Posted: Thu Nov 23, 2017 2:27 pm
by -1-
Nick_A wrote: Thu Nov 23, 2017 5:43 am
Philosophy for Plato is the love of wisdom. The philosopher is the ... lover of wisdom.
1. "Therefore I say unto you, that whosoever obeys the Ten Commandments, shall live for ever; and whosoever loves wisdom, which includes all philosophers, shall perish in eternal hellfire, for fornication ist strictly verboten by the Commandments." Paula's letter to the Corinthians, chapter seven, letter nine, para 30, sentence 42, word 503, letter 2.

2. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's philosophy.

Re: Kant's Four Questions

Posted: Thu Nov 23, 2017 2:32 pm
by -1-
Nick_A wrote: Thu Nov 23, 2017 5:43 am 18th century German philosopher Immanuel Kant tried to answer four questions in his philosophy:
1. What can I know?
2. What do I have to do?
3. What can I hope for?
4. What is the human being?

Philosophy for Plato is the love of wisdom. The philosopher is the friend of or lover of wisdom. What would it take for a philosopher to answer Kant’s questions as expressions of wisdom as opposed to educated sophistry?
Kant can't answer his own questions. I think you absolutely MUST ask Immanuel Can if you want to get some real answers. some hard-hitting answers to some hard-hitting questions.

Now please ponder and if you like, answer these questions:

1. What makes one thing go before the other?
2. What time do you think the right time is at any time?
3. Who is the best lover of all times in human history?
4. Why was the second best lover of all times in human history?

BTW, I already know why the punk rocker crossed the street. Because he was stapled to a chicken. So much has been worked out in unanimous independent thinking by many world-famous philosophical minds.

Re: Kant's Four Questions

Posted: Thu Nov 23, 2017 2:34 pm
by -1-
Nick_A wrote: Thu Nov 23, 2017 5:43 amWhat would it take for a philosopher to answer Kant’s questions as expressions of wisdom as opposed to educated sophistry?
Ten pints of beer, OR ELSE a good toke, or else cleaning the goobers out of his mind for once.

Re: Kant's Four Questions

Posted: Thu Nov 23, 2017 2:57 pm
by Nick_A
uwot wrote: Thu Nov 23, 2017 10:52 am
Nick_A wrote: Thu Nov 23, 2017 5:43 amWhat would it take for a philosopher to answer Kant’s questions as expressions of wisdom as opposed to educated sophistry?
Well, a lack of education, for starters.
Yes it is a good beginning but how does one become free of education when a person is under so much pressure to be educated?
"The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education." ~ Albert Einstein
Answering Kant's question with wisdom requires learning. Even Einstein endured the problem of of the effect of education on wisdom.

Re: Kant's Four Questions

Posted: Thu Nov 23, 2017 9:16 pm
by surreptitious57
What makes one thing go before the other The law of cause and effect is what is responsible for this
What time do you think the right time is at any time There is no such thing as objective time due to Special Relativity
Who is the best lover of all times in human history A question that is philosophically irrelevant and also cannot be answered
Who was the second best lover of all times in human history A question that is philosophically irrelevant and also cannot be answered

Re: Kant's Four Questions

Posted: Thu Nov 23, 2017 11:37 pm
by FlashDangerpants
surreptitious57 wrote: Thu Nov 23, 2017 9:16 pm What makes one thing go before the other The law of cause and effect is what is responsible for this
What time do you think the right time is at any time There is no such thing as objective time due to Special Relativity
Who is the best lover of all times in human history A question that is philosophically irrelevant and also cannot be answered
Who was the second best lover of all times in human history A question that is philosophically irrelevant and also cannot be answered
There should be some ultra clever question we could ask about what sort of twat answers rhetorical questions. But I can't think what it is.

Re: Kant's Four Questions

Posted: Thu Nov 23, 2017 11:38 pm
by FlashDangerpants
Nick_A wrote: Thu Nov 23, 2017 2:57 pm how does one become free of education when a person is under so much pressure to be educated?
Jeopardy question right? I'll take "what is the title of Nick_A's autobiography?"

Re: Kant's Four Questions

Posted: Fri Nov 24, 2017 1:45 pm
by Dapplegrim
Nick_A wrote: Thu Nov 23, 2017 5:43 am 18th century German philosopher Immanuel Kant tried to answer four questions in his philosophy:
1. What can I know? That you know nothing.
2. What do I have to do? Get a life.
3. What can I hope for? Happiness, but in your case it could be a bit of a long shot.
4. What is the human being? You, hopefully!


Re: Kant's Four Questions

Posted: Fri Nov 24, 2017 10:04 pm
by Nick_A
Dapplegrim wrote: Fri Nov 24, 2017 1:45 pm
Nick_A wrote: Thu Nov 23, 2017 5:43 am 18th century German philosopher Immanuel Kant tried to answer four questions in his philosophy:
1. What can I know? That you know nothing.
2. What do I have to do? Get a life.
3. What can I hope for? Happiness, but in your case it could be a bit of a long shot.
4. What is the human being? You, hopefully!

I agree that the most essential foundation upon which wisdom is acquired at the expense of education is the realization that we know nothing.

2. What does it mean to "get a life" that reflects the love of wisdom?

3. In your opinion Ii the goal of wisdom in contrast to education the pursuit of happiness or of meaning?

4. I match the educated definition of a human being but am I really so in the context of wisdom?
Simone Weil and Thomas Merton were born in France 6 years apart - 1909 and 1915 respectively. Weil died shortly after Merton entered the Abbey of Gethsemani. It is unclear whether Weil knew of Merton, but Merton records being asked to review a biography of Weil (Simone Weil: A Fellowship in Love, Jacques Chabaud, 1964) and was challenged and inspired by her writing. “Her non-conformism and mysticism are essential elements in our time and without her contribution we remain not human.”
Are we really human if we live by education and without what is essential to acquire human wisdom or are we really just pre-human?

Re: Kant's Four Questions

Posted: Fri Nov 24, 2017 10:11 pm
by Viveka
Nick_A wrote: Thu Nov 23, 2017 5:43 am 18th century German philosopher Immanuel Kant tried to answer four questions in his philosophy:
1. What can I know?
2. What do I have to do?
3. What can I hope for?
4. What is the human being?

Philosophy for Plato is the love of wisdom. The philosopher is the friend of or lover of wisdom. What would it take for a philosopher to answer Kant’s questions as expressions of wisdom as opposed to educated sophistry?
1. The self-evident.
2. Act for the Good.
3. Hope for the Best. That's what hope is for, right?
4. A being who is born in the best of conditions for Philo-Sophia, the teachings of Religion, and the revelations of Gnosis.

Re: Kant's Four Questions

Posted: Fri Nov 24, 2017 10:51 pm
by Dubious
Nick_A wrote: Thu Nov 23, 2017 5:43 am 18th century German philosopher Immanuel Kant tried to answer four questions in his philosophy:
1. What can I know?
The here & now whether known as illusion or reality but most of all that it's subject to change...while it's still subject to change!

2. What do I have to do?
To live daily in the here & now trying to get priorities straight.


3. What can I hope for?
That intelligence will defeat stupidity serendipitously causing the above 2 to be in my favor...which hasn't happened yet! :cry:

4. What is the human being?
One confused SOB!!

Re: Kant's Four Questions

Posted: Sat Nov 25, 2017 12:13 am
by Nick_A
Viveka wrote: Fri Nov 24, 2017 10:11 pm
Nick_A wrote: Thu Nov 23, 2017 5:43 am 18th century German philosopher Immanuel Kant tried to answer four questions in his philosophy:
1. What can I know?
2. What do I have to do?
3. What can I hope for?
4. What is the human being?

Philosophy for Plato is the love of wisdom. The philosopher is the friend of or lover of wisdom. What would it take for a philosopher to answer Kant’s questions as expressions of wisdom as opposed to educated sophistry?
1. The self-evident.
2. Act for the Good.
3. Hope for the Best. That's what hope is for, right?
4. A being who is born in the best of conditions for Philo-Sophia, the teachings of Religion, and the revelations of Gnosis.
1. But what is self evident and how does it relate to what we can know? It may be self evident that my foot hurts but how does that relate to the big picture which reveals the reality of my self in a universal context?

2. 3. How do you define the "good?" for example is Havel's observation accurate? What is best?
"Hope is a state of mind, not of the world. Hope, in this deep and powerful sense, is not the same as joy that things are going well, or willingness to invest in enterprises that are obviously heading for success, but rather an ability to work for something because it is good." Vaclav Havel
4. What are the right conditions necessary to become human? Are they created through societal education or by remembering their purpose and acquiring the wisdom to live their value?

Kant's question seem simple but IMO they force us to admit what we don't know and understand and how easy it is to hide our ignorance with the condescending cloak of education.

Re: Kant's Four Questions

Posted: Sat Nov 25, 2017 12:35 am
by Nick_A
Dubious wrote: Fri Nov 24, 2017 10:51 pm
Nick_A wrote: Thu Nov 23, 2017 5:43 am 18th century German philosopher Immanuel Kant tried to answer four questions in his philosophy:
1. What can I know?
The here & now whether known as illusion or reality but most of all that it's subject to change...while it's still subject to change!

2. What do I have to do?
To live daily in the here & now trying to get priorities straight.


3. What can I hope for?
That intelligence will defeat stupidity serendipitously causing the above 2 to be in my favor...which hasn't happened yet! :cry:

4. What is the human being?
One confused SOB!!
1. I agree. The one universal constant is change.

2. But if we don't "know thyself" how can we get our priorities straight" We live a life of continuing reaction to change both in ourselves and in the external world. It seems before truly getting our priorities straight we would have to acquire self knowledge and the potential for human "being."

3. Is intelligence just the knowledge of facts? A human being will have a human perspective which is more than facts. My question is how to acquire a human perspective leading to wisdom as opposed to an educated perspective that keeps us in psychological prison.
""The difference between more or less intelligent men is like the difference between criminals condemned to life imprisonment in smaller or larger cells. The intelligent man who is proud of his intelligence is like a condemned man who is proud of his large cell." ~ Simone Weil
4. As I see it a pre-human is a confused SOB living in hypocrisy. A human being would have experienced objective human meaning and purpose so would no longer be confused but have a realistic appreciation for the struggle for conscious evolution and a human perspective rather than finding meaning in the continuing battle with the shadows on the wall in Plato's cave