Does Philosophy Have a Purpose?

reply to post by Itisnowagain


My point was that teachers and philosophers consider everythink, regardless of the context in which it was thunk.. life is serious business, unless you're a clown

I have a second degree in Philosophy, for what it is worth (after Architecture).

If I had to think of a use for Philosophy, I would say its greatest accomplishment that it never gets credit for is the codification of basic argument structures. In a word, philosophy helped us develop the rules for knowing when we are being blatantly lied to, and why. Philosophy equips us with the tools to reject vacuous religious dogmas and half-truths.

Philosophy gave us Science.

Philosophy advises us in reasoning areas that Science cannot help us, such as ethics. There is no scientific or objective basis for ethical norms such as killing only when necessary, or making sure other's needs are met, or not defrauding other's out of what is "rightfully" theirs, but philosophy has ventured into these waters, showing what the results of assuming various premises will be. For instance, what are the consequences of accepting the premise, "All human lives are worth more than all other animal lives"? Well, there isn't much Science can do here, but Philosophy can do a good deal; and premises like that need to be engaged, because things like medical ethics boards grapple with those problems daily, and they need someone to provide reasoning and literature to help them.

Originally posted by tachyonmind
reply to post by Itisnowagain

 

My point was that teachers and philosophers consider everythink, regardless of the context in which it was thunk.. life is serious business, unless you're a clown

edit on 6-8-2013 by tachyonmind because: (no reason given)

Life seems serious when you are in fear.
Life is art when the fear drops away.

Life is a mystery but the mind seeks security.

However, the study of philosophy is not necessarily about discovering all of the answers to life’s toughest questions. Skepticism lies at the heart of philosophy. Therefore, asking a question is more fundamentally important than answering one. In philosophy, questioning a deeply held belief or social practice sets one onto the path of true understanding, and it’s this understanding that leads to meaningful personal and social change. A good philosopher recognizes the danger of accepting knowledge at face value. Social or scientific theories may be untested or contain personal bias; trusting them immediately could result in terrible consequences.

www.whatisphilosophy.net...
I found this to be interesting. Philosophy is basically the 'Socratic Method'.
A good philosopher will keep asking questions to remove belief. When all false belief has been lifted away only truth will remain.

Originally posted by Itisnowagain
Does the world hate philosophers??? How did you come to that conclusion?

It is being spouted by more and more scientists who think that they have a stranglehold on the truth and that philosophy (particularly the philosophy of science) is a dead waste of time.

Philosophy is a field that, unfortunately, reminds me of that old Woody Allen joke, ‘those that can’t do, teach, and those that can’t teach, teach gym.' And the worst part of philosophy is the philosophy of science; the only people, as far as I can tell, that read work by philosophers of science are other philosophers of science. It has no impact on physics what so ever. ... they have every right to feel threatened, because science progresses and philosophy doesn’t.

-- Lawrence Krauss, author of A Universe from Nothing (Source)

Krauss, of course, was mad that a philosopher of physics, David Albert, thoroughly trashed Krauss' book and theories, though time has shown that Albert was closer to the truth than Krauss was.

Originally posted by ImaFungi
reply to post by Bluesma

 

Professor of philosophy really? I would love to talk to that guy, would be cool if he made a thread on the board in the philosophy section to ask him questions...though he probably thinks we are all petty and he's superior and the best.

LOL- No I doubt he thinks anyone is petty and he is superior... I've watched him invest himself deeply in discussion with a psychiatric patient on the best way to send messages to the mothership.

One of the hardest thing about having a father philosopher is that everytime you ask a question it is met with all these varying possibilities- "Well... some think this... others think this.... and some even think...."

When you ask, "yes but, which one is true??!!"

He'd always answer, "Oh! I don't know!"
I appreciate it now, but when young and hoping for answers, it is rather frustrating......

I don't know if he would like forum discussion, I should probably ask him one day.

reply to post by LesMisanthrope

Friends, this marks LesMisanthrope’s final thread and departure from ATS.

I believe philosophy is as important as anything we do to try and understand the human condition,adding more pieces to the puzzle, however there are to many puzzle pieces missing.

reply to post by LesMisanthrope


I major in philosophy. Why? < That's why. But seriously, it's so I can ask people why they want fries with that.

Anyway, every time someone uses a question mark, they are answering why philosophy is needed. The answer that you seek, is in the questions that you ask. If you have to ask, then you already know why philosophy is important. Because it's that thing making you ask why! Why is philosophy important? Because I am still asking why.

At the end of the day, after exercising philosophical questions for hours, even if you haven't come to any clear conclusions or answers, it does not mean that you haven't made progress. That is the point.

Also, I love how you say that what philosophy destroys is more important than what it creates. That is beautiful actually, although I don't know if it can be taken quite so literally. It is, however, in accordance with the socratic method. Socrates, the first philosopher that they teach of in school, developed a way to eliminate what is not truth, so that we may eventually arrive closer to the objective truth by process of elimination. So by this means, the destruction of non-truth is what is most important. Like the sculptor who chizzles away chunks of stone, big chunks at first, then minute detailed pieces with smaller and more exact tools later, so is the philosopher with the truth as his sculpture. You don't start by adding pieces of what you think is the truth, you start by chipping away what is not the truth, and eventually, a form takes shape.

reply to post by LesMisanthrope


What's your rush Les? You just got here

But, if you must go - know that you were a very good addition to ATS

And be careful out there - try not to deconstruct your entire universe - we all need solid ground

Even if it's imaginary solid ground

:-)

P. S. hopefully you'll be back - the world needs philosophy, just as it needs its philosophers

(no - that's not a dig - you may not value it, but I do)

Philosophy definitely has a purpose and it will always have one. It will have a purpose as much as wisdom has a purpose. Wisdom is not intelligent, nor intelligence a bit wise, but without one of these something terribly lacks in our life, equilibrium and balance could be a great solution.



Thruthseek3r

See the first part of my signature. I came up with it spontaneously in conversation before a concert, when asked "What is Philosophy anyway?"

reply to post by LesMisanthrope

Does Philosophy Have a Purpose?

Yes, it's purpose is to produce heat and change by the friction produced by the action of the dialectic as it works upon the hearts and minds of those daring enough to become philosophers.

If you go, you swipe the sand-paper out from underneath a considerable constituency of these boards.

Now, what else you got that ain't like shooting fish in a barrel?



P.S.

The Greek mathematician Apollonius of Perga was asked about the usefulness of some of his theorems in Book IV of Conics to which he proudly asserted...

"They are worthy of acceptance for the sake of the demonstrations themselves, in the same way as we accept many other things in mathematics for this and for no other reason.

en.wikipedia.org...

Originally posted by tachyonmind

of course it was a joke xD

Seriously though, i am a philosophy professor, although i also teach physics and chemistry.. My interests include everything, nuthink is beyond investigation when you dedicate your life to education..

edit on 6-8-2013 by tachyonmind because: (no reason given)

wow interesting. My favorite academic topics are Philosophy and Physics. Whats your view of the universe, from a philosophical standpoint and a physics standpoint?

Tell me if im wrong but it seems that you are somewhat of a kid, who is posing as a professor, therefore actually a troll?

In my opinion Philosophy is the totality of human thought. The analysis of everything that can be analyzed. Who,what,when,where,why, how is all philosophy is. Doing experiments and gathering data in biology will never tell you what you should do with that data and knowledge. Thinking is philosophy. Philosophy is much grander then I see people realize, whenever someone tries to pigeon hole philosophy and then proudly look at the biasedly broken image they themselves created in their own image and ability, of course it will seem as though philosophy is nothing special, after all they understand what they think philosophy is and they understand that what they think philosophy is, appears to be nothing special, fortunately, or rather indifferently, they can be wrong.

reply to post by LesMisanthrope


yes it does or did you miss the intro lesson of phil 101?

reply to post by LesMisanthrope

Does Philosophy Have a Purpose?,

" 42,The Answers of Life,in Life for Life."

42

42 (forty-two) is the natural number immediately following 41 and directly preceding 43. The number has received considerable attention in popular culture as a result of its central appearance in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as the "Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything".

en.wikipedia.org...

42 splited by 2 is 21...days from 4 days ago.

This reminds me of the speech by Rand to the West Point graduates of 1974.

Now some of you might say, as many people do: "Aw, I never think in such abstract terms — I want to deal with concrete, particular, real-life problems — what do I need philosophy for?" My answer is: In order to be able to deal with concrete, particular, real-life problems — i.e., in order to be able to live on earth.

I do not know if you and I were ever properly introduced. But I have followed several of your threads as of late. I will notice the loss of your presence in the future.

In Humanity,
Daniel

I've read a lot of philosophy books and they are great entertainment, most of them. A lot of philosophy nowadays seems very convoluted. But saying philosophy has no purpose is like saying literature in general has no purpose. We need these things to stop ourselves from going insane.

The need for real philosophy has never been greater. At its heart, real philosophy is about critical thinking--about asking questions with the intent of learning more, rather than just accepting the status quo or lashing out at questionable ideas. Today we need a Socrates on every corner...and maybe a few Walt Whitmans.

Unfortunately, our culture has turned philosophy and poetry into Deepak Chopra's personal productivity mantra and Kanye West's moon-june-spoon rap.