What attracted you to philosophy?

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commonsense
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What attracted you to philosophy?

Post by commonsense »

How old were you when you first became interested in phil osophy? Where were you when that happened? What would you like to say about your initiation to philosophy?
commonsense
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Re: What attracted you to philosophy?

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As for me, it was just out of curiosity that I registered for an introductory course as an elective for a baccalaureate in computer science. I was 52. I was going back to school to become a wealthy computer programmer.

I was hooked from the start. I was so excited that I went back to my computer science friends and told them—I thought I was so smart—that philosophy was just a matter of manipulating variables, which was something we did with every line of code.

Philosophy had been stolen from us, I told them, or at least from math and science. Like I said, I thought I was so smart back then.

After viewing a Star Trek episode for my first homework assignment, I thought things just couldn’t get better. Then there was Descartes, who I thought was the cat’s meow.

Then I discovered that Descartes had problems. And then I came to the realization that inquiry, once begun, never ends. How delicious!

18 years later and I’m still enjoying the shit out of it.
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Re: What attracted you to philosophy?

Post by Impenitent »

Thales' magnet

-Imp
commonsense
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Re: What attracted you to philosophy?

Post by commonsense »

:lol:
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Re: What attracted you to philosophy?

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commonsense wrote: Sun Dec 23, 2018 9:58 pm What attracted you to philosophy?
Money for nothing, and the chicks for free.
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Re: What attracted you to philosophy?

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Seriously speaking, I went to my father at age 5 or 7 (I was five or seven, he was older), and asked him, "Daddy, what if the entire world was made of iron?" He took a long, hard look at me, and said, "son, the philosophers of this world have been thinking about this." And he said no more.

At age 23 I enrolled in an elective philosophy course in a community college, and I got buzzed. I got a real high out of arguing with the teacher. I was hooked. The rest of the class looked at me as if I were an idiotic genius. I was excited about stuff that they 1. did not understand 2. couldn't care less about.

At age 34-ish I enrolled in a philosophy elective in my math, physics and comp sci programme at a university, and this time the magic was gone, but I aced the course, and the teacher (a philosophy Ph.D.) said to my face, I was much smarter than him. Wow.

Then life got busy, until recently. That's when I discovered the online philosophy forums.
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Re: What attracted you to philosophy?

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I noticed in my journey through life that a lot, and I mean almost all, comp sci students, grads, workers, mull a lot of the current events and philosophy over in their heads, and in fact most of their lives are spent that way. They come up with creative solutions to the world's problems, and why the world is not better for it, is because the world does not care about a better world, due to the fact that the world is a loose association of people who each want to boss each other. So they aim for money and power, and the good of the world is actually only a by-product of this process.
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Re: What attracted you to philosophy?

Post by bahman »

I have nothing better to do.
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Re: What attracted you to philosophy?

Post by commonsense »

bahman wrote: Tue Dec 25, 2018 6:32 pm I have nothing better to do.
What? How about model railroading, baking or stamp collecting?
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Re: What attracted you to philosophy?

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commonsense wrote: Tue Dec 25, 2018 11:05 pm
bahman wrote: Tue Dec 25, 2018 6:32 pm I have nothing better to do.
What? How about model railroading, baking or stamp collecting?
"I had nothing better to do" can be taken literally, not just the way of understanding it's on the bottom of the totem pole of interesting things to do.

"I had nothing better to do" has the connotation in natural language that though there are better things to do than this, the better things were not available to do.

But taken literally, nothing is better to do, than this. So philosophy is done, because it is practically and literally the best of all possible things in this entire world to do.
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Re: What attracted you to philosophy?

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commonsense wrote: Sun Dec 23, 2018 9:58 pm How old were you when you first became interested in phil osophy? Where were you when that happened? What would you like to say about your initiation to philosophy?
I was kidnapped as a child and was forced to labour many years in a philosophy mine. After stowing the best nuggets in the vein, I bought my way to freedom, and invested in the mine that once held me as slave labour. Now I kidnap children and force them to work for me... And so the world turns. :wink:

** No children were harmed in the telling of this fabrication.**
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Re: What attracted you to philosophy?

Post by attofishpi »

commonsense wrote: Sun Dec 23, 2018 9:58 pmWhat attracted you to philosophy?
Thinking.
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Re: What attracted you to philosophy?

Post by Dalek Prime »

attofishpi wrote: Wed Dec 26, 2018 9:21 am
commonsense wrote: Sun Dec 23, 2018 9:58 pmWhat attracted you to philosophy?
Thinking.
What attracted you to your wife then, atto? Hint: it weren't thinking. :lol:
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attofishpi
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Re: What attracted you to philosophy?

Post by attofishpi »

Dalek Prime wrote: Wed Dec 26, 2018 9:32 am
attofishpi wrote: Wed Dec 26, 2018 9:21 am
commonsense wrote: Sun Dec 23, 2018 9:58 pmWhat attracted you to philosophy?
Thinking.
What attracted you to your wife then, atto? Hint: it weren't thinking. :lol:
Thinking is why I failed to be attracted enough to marry.
Dalek Prime
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Re: What attracted you to philosophy?

Post by Dalek Prime »

attofishpi wrote: Wed Dec 26, 2018 9:45 am
Dalek Prime wrote: Wed Dec 26, 2018 9:32 am
attofishpi wrote: Wed Dec 26, 2018 9:21 am

Thinking.
What attracted you to your wife then, atto? Hint: it weren't thinking. :lol:
Thinking is why I failed to be attracted enough to marry.
That's my boy! Yeah, same here.
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