what is philosophy/history/economics actually doing?

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Peter Kropotkin
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Joined: Wed Jun 22, 2022 5:11 am

what is philosophy/history/economics actually doing?

Post by Peter Kropotkin »

think of philosophy and history and economics
as games we play...and the point of these disciplines is to
work out the rules of history and economics and biology
and yes, even philosophy.... Wittgenstein often wrote
about language being a game and what were the rules of
that particular game...and what if we think about life
as being a game and what are the rules to life, to playing
the game of life....so we might think about politics for example,
as understanding how we interact with each other in terms
of politics, what is the relationship between individuals
and a society.. or said another way, politics is the art of
figuring out who is running the game and who pays for it....
so why is a democracy a better game to play than a dictatorship?
and what are the rules to a democracy that make it a better game?
and so we can believe that philosophy is a examination of the
game we play and the rules to that game...

so, the German Idealism is an examination of the rules of reason..
how does reason work and why is reason a better way to play the
game of life over feelings/emotions? and the Enlightenment is
just another version of the rules of the game...and what did the
Enlightenment hold to be true? that we must use reason to overcome
the rules, from the medieval times that insisted that we must
follow the church, the state, authorities of all kinds including
following Aristotle in science.... and so instead of just applying
the rules that Aristotle wrote about, the scientists during the
Rennaissance and afterwards, investigated the rules on their own...
they discovered that Aristotle was wrong about a great many things...
he applied the wrong rules to nature... he got it wrong..
and it took the church centuries to acknowledge that...

Different environments require different rules...for example,
living in the hills of Tibet requires different rules than living
in the flatland of France....different environments require different rules...
and so, we discovered that there are no universal/global rules
that allow everyone to have the exact same rules for living or
existing...the rules governing France cannot govern the
mountains of Tibet because of the vastly different environment...

but what rules and why those rules? and that is the second part
of this equation... that rules are meant to play the game but
to in order to play a game, we have to know what is
the end result... for example, to win in football/soccer game,
you have to score more goals than the other team.. so you
have two different things going on, you have offense, which
is trying to score the goal and the second aspect is to prevent
the other team from scoring, defense...and within the rules
of football/soccer, we have offsides and penalties and penalty
kicks...I read somewhere that that football/soccer has just
17 rules.. and the point is that everyone who plays football/soccer
knows those 17 rules and have agreed to abide by them...and that
is how we keep order within football/soccer... if you commit an
egregious foul, attempt to harm someone, you get tossed, red carded
and you are gone.... and so goes the game of life... if you commit
an egregious enough foul, attempt to harm someone, you get tossed,
thrown into jail or worse, prison...and that is the point of the justice
system, to work out what fouls are deserving a penalty of jail
and what fouls are not deserving a penalty...according to the
rules established as laws...and what has been considered to
be a foul, a law broken, has changed over the years...
at one point in time, it was a capital offense, to die by hanging
if you were a pickpocket...or if you insulted the pope or if
you denied god... all of which would get you, at a minimum
of jail/prison and depending, the death penalty...
today, we don't punish those who insult the pope or
deny god's existence... the rules have changed
because the environment has changed...

and so the Art and science of philosophy is to understand
what rules are in place today and what it means to be
a human being in today's environment...but as with sports,
we have to know what is the point of the game we are playing?
are we, as Aristotle suggested in his very first line of his ''Metaphysics''

"All men by nature desire to know"

or are we seeking to find god or are we seeking out the "good" life?
or is the game of life about going to heaven, or perhaps it is
to acquire wealth, power, fame, material goods?
and with every example, comes the assumption about what
exactly is the point of life? what is the goal of existence?

So for example, the Greeks and Romans, thought lowly of
the man who only sought out fame or wealth as a goal to existence....
for the Greeks, they believed that the point of existence was to
pondered what existence meant... to contemplate existence,
which the Christians took to mean to contemplate god in heaven
forever...and if that is the goal of existence, than what the Christians
did, attempting to get to heaven, makes sense...you followed
the rules of god and you got to heaven where you could
contemplate god forever... that was the name of the game for
the Christians... but that doesn't work for us today...
and why? because the name of the game, the environment
has changed for us in our modern world.,..

so, what needs to happen is that we must create a goal,
a point of existence and then create the rules to needed
to gain that goal or point of existence...and that is why
we are so lost and disconnected/disoriented from ourselves
and life itself... we can't figure out the rules of existence
because we can't figure out the point of existence..
what is the goal of living? until we decide that, we cannot
establish the rules of existence....the point of the game
creates the rules needed to play that game....football/soccer,
baseball, basketball, horse racing, hockey.... all of them
have different rules and that is because all of them operate
under different conditions/environments.... hockey
is played on ice.. and thus the rules must take that into
account... hockey is played with sticks and the rules
about hockey sticks are firmly laid out...you can't slash
the other guy with your stick...but in football/soccer,
you don't have any sticks, thus there are no rules about that...
but field hockey has sticks, and so there are rules about that.....

So, think about life and existence as a game, and what rules
should we have about our life, our existence? and now you
are engaged in philosophy... what rules should we
have as human beings? and that depends on what is the
point of life.....what goals are we actually trying to achieve?

Kropotkin
alan1000
Posts: 313
Joined: Fri Oct 12, 2012 10:03 am

Re: what is philosophy/history/economics actually doing?

Post by alan1000 »

What's your point, in one sentence?
Peter Kropotkin
Posts: 1505
Joined: Wed Jun 22, 2022 5:11 am

Re: what is philosophy/history/economics actually doing?

Post by Peter Kropotkin »

alan1000 wrote: Thu Mar 23, 2023 1:15 pm What's your point, in one sentence?

K: no, thank you

Kropotkin
Veritas Aequitas
Posts: 12357
Joined: Wed Jul 11, 2012 4:41 am

Re: what is philosophy/history/economics actually doing?

Post by Veritas Aequitas »

Peter Kropotkin wrote: Tue Mar 21, 2023 4:00 pm So, think about life and existence as a game, and what rules
should we have about our life, our existence? and now you
are engaged in philosophy... what rules should we
have as human beings? and that depends on what is the
point of life.....what goals are we actually trying to achieve?

Kropotkin
The objective within the 'game of life' is to be alive [survive] as long as possible in the optimal conditions within current constraints [internal and external] till the inevitable.

'Philosophy-proper' is the inherent tool within us that will enable us to use whatever other tools to optimize to be alive [survive] as long as possible in the optimal conditions within current constraints [internal and external] till the inevitable.

The above is the main objective of the game of life.
To achieve the above, individual[s] and group[s] can establish [plan] whatever sub-objectives and rules in alignment with one current conditions, but they all must be aligned with internal and external conditions to optimize the well-being of the individual[s].

The critical element here is 'optimize' i.e. work within limitations, not going to the extremes, in complementary with all conditions, etc.

The above generic principle of life is applicable to the diversity and complexity of reality.
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Agent Smith
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Re: what is philosophy/history/economics actually doing?

Post by Agent Smith »

"What do you see sir?"

"I see, I see, a, a, dog with a man, a bearded man, but bald and ..."

"That'll do sir. You can go now."

"What about the rest?"

"It's no longer necessary sir. Here's the $10, your fee. Please proceed to the exit."

"Oh ok. Good day. Thank you"

"Pleasure"
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