What got you into philosophy?

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Maia
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What got you into philosophy?

Post by Maia »

I came to it through an interest in Greek mythology, which led me to Atlantis, and then to Plato, which in turn led me to choose philosophy as one of my A-level subjects at school (that is, from age 16 to 18).

From a completely different angle I've also always been interested in how we perceive and interact with the world around us, but I didn't really connect these two strands for a long time, and my interest, in any case, has always been more practical than theoretical.

I would not describe myself as a philosopher, though. If I ever went to uni, which I still could I suppose, though I decided to get a job instead when I left school, I would study archaeology, which I also did at A-level. I'm very interested in history too, but archaeology involves actually doing things, such as digs, which I always enjoyed.
Iwannaplato
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Re: What got you into philosophy?

Post by Iwannaplato »

Here are some chains of interest that led to philosophy
Pedagogy -> psychology -> philosophy
Educational philosophy -> Dewey -> other philosophers
Critique of psychiatry -> psychology -> philosophy of mind, ethics/morality
Anomalous experiences -> comparative religion/spirituality/shamanism -> philosophy of religion, epistemology, phenomenology
Anomolous eperiences -> anthropology, cultural philosophy, ontology, metaphysics
Maia
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Re: What got you into philosophy?

Post by Maia »

Iwannaplato wrote: Wed May 31, 2023 6:52 am Here are some chains of interest that led to philosophy
Pedagogy -> psychology -> philosophy
Educational philosophy -> Dewey -> other philosophers
Critique of psychiatry -> psychology -> philosophy of mind, ethics/morality
Anomalous experiences -> comparative religion/spirituality/shamanism -> philosophy of religion, epistemology, phenomenology
Anomolous eperiences -> anthropology, cultural philosophy, ontology, metaphysics
The anomalous experiences one I can very much relate to, too. This is what led me to Paganism.
Skepdick
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Re: What got you into philosophy?

Post by Skepdick »

The distinct feeling that everyone's mostly guessing.
Last edited by Skepdick on Wed May 31, 2023 7:07 am, edited 2 times in total.
Maia
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Re: What got you into philosophy?

Post by Maia »

Skepdick wrote: Wed May 31, 2023 7:05 am The distinct feeling that everyone's mostly guessing.
That's the fun part.
Iwannaplato
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Re: What got you into philosophy?

Post by Iwannaplato »

Maia wrote: Wed May 31, 2023 6:59 am The anomalous experiences one I can very much relate to, too. This is what led me to Paganism.
I suppose in some ways dealing with anomalous experiences is taught. But really not in an openended way. It's an important way of interacting with reality. You see something that doesn't fit with whatever the official political, social, factual, ontological stories there are out there. What do you do? Mostly we are taught to think of a quick way to dismiss the anomaly as 'you didn't really see/experience that' 'its a coincidence' 'it's a very rare exception' 'you misinterpreted it'

IOW it is at most a very rare exception and the current political, sociological, psychological, ontological models are correct, period.
More likely you experienced it because of your emotions, emotional needs, possibly mental illness or delusions.

And, just to emphasize, this can be about noticing things in categories like politics or medicine or human nature, not just spiritual experiences.

We are taught to dismiss, and fast, and perhaps barely consciously, often by example and by the way others immediately dismiss things.

This pattern of immediate dismissal happens across groups: religious groups, scientific groups, political groups, govenment agencies, organizations, companies all tend to function with a conservative dismiss first attitude. If it doesn't fit with the models ignore it. Specific scientists are trained to deal with anomolies from models. So inside expersts sometimes are allowed to look into anomalies and are given the skills to do this. Generally this is much harder the more the anomalies challenge core ideas in the group. But yes, some experts do this.

But in general children and young adults are not taught to be curious about phenomena that don't fit the narratives and models and the social, school and professional punishments can be quite severe.

It would be great to have an ongoing discussion with children and young adults about the full range of approaches to exploring and investigating anomalies.
Maia
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Re: What got you into philosophy?

Post by Maia »

Iwannaplato wrote: Wed May 31, 2023 7:09 am
Maia wrote: Wed May 31, 2023 6:59 am The anomalous experiences one I can very much relate to, too. This is what led me to Paganism.
I suppose in some ways dealing with anomalous experiences is taught. But really not in an openended way. It's an important way of interacting with reality. You see something that doesn't fit with whatever the official political, social, factual, ontological stories there are out there. What do you do? Mostly we are taught to think of a quick way to dismiss the anomaly as 'you didn't really see/experience that' 'its a coincidence' 'it's a very rare exception' 'you misinterpreted it'

IOW it is at most a very rare exception and the current political, sociological, psychological, ontological models are correct, period.
More likely you experienced it because of your emotions, emotional needs, possibly mental illness of delusions.

And, just to emphasize, this can be about noticing things in categories like politics or medicine or human nature, not just spiritual experiences.

We are taught to dismiss, and fast, and perhaps barely consciously, often by example and by the way others immediately dismiss things.

This pattern of immediate dismissal happens across groups: religious groups, scientific groups, political groups, govenment agencies, organizations, companies all tend to function with a conservative dismiss first attitude. If it doesn't fit with the models ignore it. Specific scientists are trained to deal with anomolies from models. So inside expersts sometimes are allowed to look into anomalies and are given the skills to do this. Generally this is much harder the more the anomalies challenge core ideas in the group. But yes, some experts do this.

But in general children and young adults are not taught to be curious about phenomena that don't fit the narratives and models and the social, school and professional punishments can be quite severe.

It would be great to have an ongoing discussion with children and young adults about the full range of approaches to exploring and investigating anomalies.
Yes, the ridicule factor can be quite frustrating, but it can also be a spur to make you explore more, I think. I've had a few weird experiences, but these have been wholly positive, in the long run, though perhaps a little scary at the time.
Veritas Aequitas
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Re: What got you into philosophy?

Post by Veritas Aequitas »

Maia wrote: Wed May 31, 2023 5:49 am I came to it through an interest in Greek mythology, which led me to Atlantis, and then to Plato, which in turn led me to choose philosophy as one of my A-level subjects at school (that is, from age 16 to 18).
......
It is said, there are as many definitions of what is philosophy to as many people who attempt to define philosophy.
That is how we end up with one aspects of 'philosophy' as the bastardized version of academic philosophy which take 'philosophy' as an end rather as a means.
So we need to define what is philosophy-proper.

It is evident there are human practices worldwide [East, West, Middle-East and everywhere] re human nature of what they would claim to be philosophy. As such, the philosophical impulse must be generic and inherent in all humans.

ALL humans are programmed via evolution to survive as long as possible with optimal well being till the inevitable in contribution to the optimal well-being of groups and therefrom the human species.

To achieve the above, All human beings are programmed,
1. to know, i.e. epistemology, science, logic, etc.
2. to improve over existing state, i.e. evolve with wisdom, metaphysics
3. to know what to do to optimize well being - morality & Ethics
4. to hope for optimal well-being continuously.

From what I have researched the general impulse that support the above is what we would termed as philosophy-proper of which its main subjects are science [part of philosophy], logic, ethics, and metaphysics.

My definition of 'what is philosophy-proper' is,
philosophy-proper is that inherent drive accompanied by the relevant functional tools in the brain within all humans to facilitate the optimization of the well-being of the individual[s], the group[s] and therefrom the human species.

I don't know how, but I have been naturally driven to what I had termed as philosophy-proper and make it a point to align my activities to what is deemed philosophical so as to optimize my well being in contribution to the well-being of the human species in whatever quantum.
Wizard22
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Re: What got you into philosophy?

Post by Wizard22 »

I've always been a deep thinker. It wasn't until college that I learned what it was.

It wasn't until I met another real Philosopher, that I got to really test my metal.
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FlashDangerpants
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Re: What got you into philosophy?

Post by FlashDangerpants »

Wizard22 wrote: Wed May 31, 2023 8:19 am I've always been a deep thinker. It wasn't until college that I learned what it was.

It wasn't until I met another real Philosopher, that I got to really test my metal.
Oh poop, you really are delusional.
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FlashDangerpants
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Re: What got you into philosophy?

Post by FlashDangerpants »

Maia wrote: Wed May 31, 2023 5:49 am I came to it through an interest in Greek mythology, which led me to Atlantis, and then to Plato, which in turn led me to choose philosophy as one of my A-level subjects at school (that is, from age 16 to 18).

From a completely different angle I've also always been interested in how we perceive and interact with the world around us, but I didn't really connect these two strands for a long time, and my interest, in any case, has always been more practical than theoretical.

I would not describe myself as a philosopher, though. If I ever went to uni, which I still could I suppose, though I decided to get a job instead when I left school, I would study archaeology, which I also did at A-level. I'm very interested in history too, but archaeology involves actually doing things, such as digs, which I always enjoyed.
Not that different. I signed up for A Level philosophy because the teacher asked what I thought philosophy was and I answered something along the lines of thinking really deeply or shit like that, and then he told me that philosophy is really just an intellectual joyride for wankers, which is pretty accurate, and describes what I get up to perfectly. Then I massively failed all my A Levels after I discovered superior rock n roll, magic mushrooms, beer and girls.

But a few years later I started a history degree because once you are grown up they stop asking what grades you got at A level. Sadly I write essays more or less how I write here and that's not cool for history, but in philosophy they let you get away with it if you can construct an argument. So I switched to philosophy becasue it's the only academic field I am any good at.
Atla
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Re: What got you into philosophy?

Post by Atla »

I absorbed a large amount of scientific and psychological knowledge, which broke every way of thinking about reality, that I was familiar with. It put me into an unknown place, so I tried to figure out what the hell is going on. Turns out I was kicked from the entire Western philosophy mode of thought, turns out there is another one on this planet.
Wizard22
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Re: What got you into philosophy?

Post by Wizard22 »

FlashDangerpants wrote: Thu Jun 01, 2023 11:11 pmOh poop, you really are delusional.
Says the junkie with overflowing medicine cabinet.
Wizard22
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Re: What got you into philosophy?

Post by Wizard22 »

FlashDangerpants wrote: Thu Jun 01, 2023 11:22 pmSo I switched to philosophy becasue it's the only academic field I am any good at.
So...you're a complete failure then. Noted.
Maia
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Re: What got you into philosophy?

Post by Maia »

FlashDangerpants wrote: Thu Jun 01, 2023 11:22 pm
Maia wrote: Wed May 31, 2023 5:49 am I came to it through an interest in Greek mythology, which led me to Atlantis, and then to Plato, which in turn led me to choose philosophy as one of my A-level subjects at school (that is, from age 16 to 18).

From a completely different angle I've also always been interested in how we perceive and interact with the world around us, but I didn't really connect these two strands for a long time, and my interest, in any case, has always been more practical than theoretical.

I would not describe myself as a philosopher, though. If I ever went to uni, which I still could I suppose, though I decided to get a job instead when I left school, I would study archaeology, which I also did at A-level. I'm very interested in history too, but archaeology involves actually doing things, such as digs, which I always enjoyed.
Not that different. I signed up for A Level philosophy because the teacher asked what I thought philosophy was and I answered something along the lines of thinking really deeply or shit like that, and then he told me that philosophy is really just an intellectual joyride for wankers, which is pretty accurate, and describes what I get up to perfectly. Then I massively failed all my A Levels after I discovered superior rock n roll, magic mushrooms, beer and girls.

But a few years later I started a history degree because once you are grown up they stop asking what grades you got at A level. Sadly I write essays more or less how I write here and that's not cool for history, but in philosophy they let you get away with it if you can construct an argument. So I switched to philosophy becasue it's the only academic field I am any good at.
+++Then I massively failed all my A Levels after I discovered superior rock n roll, magic mushrooms, beer and girls.+++

We didn't have those at our school. Well, apart from the last one, obviously, but I suspect that's not quite what you meant. Certainly the middle two, at least, were definitely frowned on.

I wouldn't say I was any good at it but I can waffle, when required, and this seemed to get me through. I got A's and B's in everything.
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