^^ Pretty much the way I see it too. To my way of thinking, philosophy is about thinking your way into a set of problems where the way of it is not yet defined. As such, philosophy gives rise to fields with well defined methodologies. You shouldn't compare it to its 'children' however. Its scope is much wider but its objectives are always to-be-determined.

I actually like this wide open aspect of philosophy. It is philosophy seen as a history or body of literature which I'm not much interested in.

(August 31, 2014 at 3:33 am)BlackMason Wrote: What are the relevant areas of philosophy?

Obviously epistemology, jurisprudence and ethics are the most important areas of philosophy if you ask me.

Useless area would primarily be areas that come from ontology and metaphysics.

---

(August 31, 2014 at 8:49 am)bennyboy Wrote: In my view, you have it almost exactly wrong. Philosophy is a huge field, and scientific thinking is a subset based on certain core assumptions as well as goals.

I think what you really mean to say is, "Bullshit half-baked woo shouldn't be injected into the more rigorous field of science." With this, most would agree.

I mentioned this in my OP. Science grew out of philosophy. I am extremely aware of what philosophy has done although I am extremely aware of what it cannot do.
Philosophers love arguing about objectives claims or empiricism yet this is only done by science.

---

(August 31, 2014 at 10:47 am)whateverist Wrote: ^^ Pretty much the way I see it too. To my way of thinking, philosophy is about thinking your way into a set of problems where the way of it is not yet defined. As such, philosophy gives rise to fields with well defined methodologies. You shouldn't compare it to its 'children' however. Its scope is much wider but its objectives are always to-be-determined.

I actually like this wide open aspect of philosophy. It is philosophy seen as a history or body of literature which I'm not much interested in.

This is very true but a lot of this is rendered null when you see philosophers WAY overstate their case. Philosophical ideas tend to go into depth about matters way more than they should and enter the realms of self-help literature than analysis.

I sort of agree with previous posters in that philosophy is best applied as a simplistic mathematical method.

yes philosophy has over stepped its boundaries

it fucked me... in all holes... while i was sleeping

it just won't stop

halp

pls

oh no wait it's not a real thing okay sorry my bad

(August 31, 2014 at 12:13 pm)naimless Wrote: yes philosophy has over stepped its boundaries

it fucked me... in all holes... while i was sleeping

it just won't stop

halp

pls

oh no wait it's not a real thing okay sorry my bad

Hey don;t worry buddy. Descartes loves you

(August 31, 2014 at 12:22 pm)PhiloTech Wrote: Hey don;t worry buddy. Descartes loves you

that reminds me. there is one thing i do love about the over-hyped ancient philosophy. it is when people say things like...

'if i lived back then i'd be plato'...
'no, wait, i think i'd be socrates'...
etc., etc...

...as opposed to the begging peasant unrecognised slave they would have been in actual reality.

(August 31, 2014 at 3:33 am)BlackMason Wrote: What are the relevant areas of philosophy?

Mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, for starters.

---

(August 31, 2014 at 7:42 am)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote: I find it telling that in 5000+ years of trying, philosophy has not solved one problem of human existence.

Boru

The solutions got called 'science.'

(August 31, 2014 at 12:47 pm)Pickup_shonuff Wrote:

(August 31, 2014 at 3:33 am)BlackMason Wrote: What are the relevant areas of philosophy?

Mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, for starters.

---

(August 31, 2014 at 7:42 am)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote: I find it telling that in 5000+ years of trying, philosophy has not solved one problem of human existence.

Boru

The solutions got called 'science.'

ps makes a good point here

technically speaking everything is just a philosophy of something

people who studied at university should know this

everything you study is a philosophy

e.g. if you study physics you actually study the philosophy of physics

if you study history it is the philosophy of history, etc., etc.

but i like going around in circles so will stick with taking the piss out of how the op and the title of this thread personifies philosophy

i would hate to actually contribute to this thread as if it was a real or even possible hypothetical question

it isn't

(August 31, 2014 at 12:47 pm)Pickup_shonuff Wrote: Mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, for starters.

These things are no longer in the realm of philosophy but science. Although they do heavily stem from philosophy. Also Mathematics is 50/50 considering it is apart of logic although science is entirely reliant upon it.

(August 31, 2014 at 12:57 pm)PhiloTech Wrote:

(August 31, 2014 at 12:47 pm)Pickup_shonuff Wrote: Mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, for starters.

These things are no longer in the realm of philosophy but science. Although they do heavily stem from philosophy. Also Mathematics is 50/50 considering it is apart of logic although science is entirely reliant upon it.

The sciences are but specialized branches in what has always been known as "natural philosophy," itself but part of the trunk called "general philosophy." Empiricism and rationalism are still two philosophical approaches to questions about the nature of reality, or metaphysics, which is what I think most people have in mind when they hear the term "philosophy" nowadays.

---

The vicious abstractionism of the rationalists is to blame for the poor reception philosophy sometimes receives in the public mind.

I view our current perception of reality as a three-legged stool, with the legs being science, mathematics, and philosophy. Science gives us statements about the nature of the real, philosophy gives us the how of making such statements, and mathematics is the language of such statements.