I note the thinking of many in regard to 'what is philosophy' is too narrow and shallow, given the term 'philosophy' has existed explicitly and implicitly for thousands of years, e.g. > 10,000 years in relation to Vedic philosophy.RCSaunders wrote: βMon Jan 03, 2022 2:58 pmAll Philosophy Is Bunk
All philosophers are bad, but the worst are Plato, Rene Descartes, Spinoza, George Berkeley, David Hume, Immanuel Kant, Edmund Burke, Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Hegel, Arthur Schopenhauer ...
The ignoramus jumped in hastily without even defining what they are talking about, i.e. "what is philosophy."
To be effective re "what is philosophy" one has to be exhaustive to understand the essence of 'what is philosophy' within human history, not merely from the West, but also East, and everywhere else.
When one is thinking too narrowly and shallowly re what is philosophy, one are likely be influenced by people like Saunders who are brainwashed to interpret philosophy more towards academic philosophers [who bastardized philosophy] and by the bunch of people who just want to condemn whatever they are ignorant of without any rigorous research into what the subject-matter really is about.
The philosophy that is most condemnable are those from bastardized academic and armchair philosophies which focus merely on words and no actions nor useful purposes.
It is said that the number of definition of 'what is philosophy' is the same as the number of people who attempt to define it. That is quite true.
I don't believe the term 'philosophy' was coined without it relating to some essence and human function and impulses of human nature.
For example the term science was coined from the etymological origin to "to know" which is a tool of philosophy-proper.
To understand what 'philosophy' is about, I have done extensive research into it.
I have gather and read more than 500 definitions of 'what is philosophy' [from West, East and everywhere] with a wide variety and diversity of meanings [wisdom, blah, blah, blah] attached to it.
From the wide variety of definition of what is philosophy there is a core essence of what is philosophy, i.e. philosophy-proper.
This core essence of philosophy-proper is related to a fundamental overriding human function to promote continual progress for the well being of the individual[s] and that of humanity.
The basic tool of such a function is 'wisdom' whereby philosophy is commonly defined as the 'love of wisdom' but that is not the only tool philosophy relied upon. Philosophy will rely on whatever tools and resources that are necessary to achieve its purpose, i.e. well-being which is not directly happiness and pleasure.
Philosophy-proper is a fundamental function within all humans but the problem is, it is not active in the majority of people. Thus there is a need to expedite to trigger the philosophical function in the majority in the future. This will depend on those philosophers who has a more active philosophy-function within them.
Those who condemn philosophy by ignorance of philosophy-proper is doing a disservice to mankind.
- Physics Needs Philosophy / Philosophy Needs Physics
Philosophy has always played an essential role in the development of science, physics in particular, and is likely to continue to do so
By Carlo Rovelli on July 18, 2018
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/ob ... s-physics/
Why is 'philosophy-proper' so Critical to Humanity
Philosophy-proper has always been active behind the scene [analogically like a symphony conductor, CEO, ] in all progress of mankind from the beginning.
Why philosophy-proper is so critical as human evolves is because as human evolves with greater knowledge of reality, humanity is also aware of more dangerous threats to the species, e.g. climate change and those threat that could push humans into extinction.
Humanity is also aware the human species is under serious threats as population increases whilst resources on Earth is limited.
A rogue asteriod could appear from nowhere and blast the Earth to smithereens. Though the event is slim Scientists are now providing for this contingency and humanity need philosophy-proper to co-ordinate all the different fields to work in harmony to ensure effectiveness.
As human knowledge expand on an exponential rate, there is a need for a corresponding expansion in Morality & Ethics which must be supported by philosophy-proper.
So note the above IF your thinking is too narrow and shallow in the case of 'what is philosophy' in term of its essence and original drives.
Views?