the real value of philosophy
Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2022 12:56 am
as I have returned to work after a 5 month lay off because of
ankle surgery, I have been missing of late.. going forward, my writings
shall be more along the line of when I can fit it in...
The traditional categories of philosophy is usually listed
as such: Epistemology, Metaphysics, ethics, logic, aesthetics,
political philosophy, language (which was strong in the last century)
These categories, I believe, have led us astray...
In our philosophical thinking, we hold to categories
that should be of limited value, at best....
by this I mean that we hold epistemology as having great value
in philosophy... but in reality, epistemology should be a minor
philosophical insight... in other words, we place far, far too much
emphasis on epistemology and not enough on where philosophy should
be...
Philosophy to be of use to us, should engage in our lives less about
epistemology, logic, language games, metaphysics,... and more about
questions about ethics/morality and closer to the existentialist's questions
of existence...
"What does it mean to be human" is not a logic game or about language
or epistemology... philosophy needs to be about our possibilities..
what is possibly for us to achieve, not what can we know...
Philosophy is facing us in the wrong direction by the emphasis on
the aspects of philosophy......the right question should be "how are we to live"
not "how do we know"....
Philosophy is lost and going in the wrong direction because it isn't engaging
in the right questions...
and on way we can turn philosophy around is by asking ourselves,
which philosophy can we use as a way of life? And that is the real
value of philosophy... using philosophy to perceive what should be
our way of life? To inform us, to educate us, to enlighten us...
Philosophy isn't a tool we use to gain knowledge, but a mean of
understanding for ourselves, a way of life.. that is the value
of philosophy and we have lost that essential and crucial meaning
of philosophy..... it is a means for us to find a way of life for ourselves...
we can use, as a way of life, Stoicism, or pragmatism, Hedonism,
existentialism, Aristotelianism, cynicism, epicureanism, Kantianism,
Objectivism.... just to name a few possibilities as a way of life...
or we can work out a modern way of life, Marxism for example..
or we can seek out other examples of "a way of life"
for example, as a way of life, we can adapt transhumanism, for example
or post-modernism.... we can go many different ways in seeking out
a "way of life" in our modern world... and that is the value of philosophy..
by giving us examples of previous "ways of life" or by giving us
a way to work out new examples that can be adapted into
"way of life"
This seeking a "new way of life" really ought to be what modern
philosophy is about... not about epistemological questions that
tell us nothing about what it means to be human... or language
games theory that is nothing more than mental masturbation...
Kropotkin
ankle surgery, I have been missing of late.. going forward, my writings
shall be more along the line of when I can fit it in...
The traditional categories of philosophy is usually listed
as such: Epistemology, Metaphysics, ethics, logic, aesthetics,
political philosophy, language (which was strong in the last century)
These categories, I believe, have led us astray...
In our philosophical thinking, we hold to categories
that should be of limited value, at best....
by this I mean that we hold epistemology as having great value
in philosophy... but in reality, epistemology should be a minor
philosophical insight... in other words, we place far, far too much
emphasis on epistemology and not enough on where philosophy should
be...
Philosophy to be of use to us, should engage in our lives less about
epistemology, logic, language games, metaphysics,... and more about
questions about ethics/morality and closer to the existentialist's questions
of existence...
"What does it mean to be human" is not a logic game or about language
or epistemology... philosophy needs to be about our possibilities..
what is possibly for us to achieve, not what can we know...
Philosophy is facing us in the wrong direction by the emphasis on
the aspects of philosophy......the right question should be "how are we to live"
not "how do we know"....
Philosophy is lost and going in the wrong direction because it isn't engaging
in the right questions...
and on way we can turn philosophy around is by asking ourselves,
which philosophy can we use as a way of life? And that is the real
value of philosophy... using philosophy to perceive what should be
our way of life? To inform us, to educate us, to enlighten us...
Philosophy isn't a tool we use to gain knowledge, but a mean of
understanding for ourselves, a way of life.. that is the value
of philosophy and we have lost that essential and crucial meaning
of philosophy..... it is a means for us to find a way of life for ourselves...
we can use, as a way of life, Stoicism, or pragmatism, Hedonism,
existentialism, Aristotelianism, cynicism, epicureanism, Kantianism,
Objectivism.... just to name a few possibilities as a way of life...
or we can work out a modern way of life, Marxism for example..
or we can seek out other examples of "a way of life"
for example, as a way of life, we can adapt transhumanism, for example
or post-modernism.... we can go many different ways in seeking out
a "way of life" in our modern world... and that is the value of philosophy..
by giving us examples of previous "ways of life" or by giving us
a way to work out new examples that can be adapted into
"way of life"
This seeking a "new way of life" really ought to be what modern
philosophy is about... not about epistemological questions that
tell us nothing about what it means to be human... or language
games theory that is nothing more than mental masturbation...
Kropotkin