(September 18, 2014 at 5:53 am)Dissily Mordentroge Wrote: …" as many different perspectives as a person cares to put on it" And what if the entire set of perspectives a person cares to put on it are beside the point or worse still, irrational?Then the idea which they are challenging will easily stand.
Quote: "Battle tested strongman, worthy of transmission to the next set of ears"? Putting ideas to the test within a purely acadmic environment without reference to any practical application in the world is from my perspective at the very heart of why philosophy is vanishing up it's own backside at this point in time, and more tragically, regarded by the general public as no more than an obscure academic party game with no relevance to the real world. (Let's not get into a debate about 'real' for now.)I must resist the urge to respond with witty memes. I must resist the urge to respond with witty memes.
Logic is vanishing? Moral systems? Ideas about cosmology like the Big Bang? Ideas about artistic and musical beauty?
See, the problem is that you don't know what philosophy is. You think it's French guys sitting in cafes talking about the existential absurdity of some character in an old opera. But that you think this is not philosophy's problem-- it's yours.
Quote:I'm tempted to quote Ayn Rand's epistemology here but since she's regarded as a non-philosopher by the 'wise' I'll desist.Because snobbery generally involves a kind of academic dogma-- "Ewwww. . . you don't even know THAT?"
I don't see how dogma came into this or why you've introduced the concept in this context so I'll avoid commenting on it.
Quote:Must they? Haven't you noticed how so many philosophers use particular words with a meaning unique to their own writings?Have you noticed how even rhetorical questions usually have points?
Quote:If physics comes to mind, then I would argue again that you have an incomplete view of philosophy.
As to the origin of the word philosophy, so what? The origins of any term used to denote a particular discipline can't bind or limit the scope, meaning and purpose of that discipline for all eternity. Take for instance the simple difference between, say, the medieval use of the term to include a vast array of intellectual pursuits many of which today are not regarded as within the scope of philosophy proper. Physics, for instance, comes to mind.