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RE: Never judge a philosophy by its abuse
September 17, 2015 at 12:51 pm
(September 17, 2015 at 11:09 am)Napoléon Wrote: (September 16, 2015 at 2:07 pm)Rhondazvous Wrote: Some of you may recognize this title from the signature of Kingphil. I think it's an interesting concept with the potential to generate interesting thoughts and discussion.
For starters, there is precious little created by humans that somebody, somewhere has not figured out a way to abuse. So if we judge a philosophy by its abuse we might as well throw everything out the window. How then do we judge the value of anything?
Who is the judge of what is abuse or not?
That would be me, but I've had some time off. I assume everything in the world is still just dandy!
You can fix ignorance, you can't fix stupid.
Tinkety Tonk and down with the Nazis.
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RE: Never judge a philosophy by its abuse
September 18, 2015 at 10:11 pm
KingPin, have you seen this thread??
You need to comment! I am interested in reading what you have to say on this. 
"Of course, everyone will claim they respect someone who tries to speak the truth, but in reality, this is a rare quality. Most respect those who speak truths they agree with, and their respect for the speaking only extends as far as their realm of personal agreement. It is less common, almost to the point of becoming a saintly virtue, that someone truly respects and loves the truth seeker, even when their conclusions differ wildly."
-walsh
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RE: Never judge a philosophy by its abuse
October 2, 2015 at 4:52 pm
I think that it is wise advice.
Essentially, it is isolating the individual from the philosophy, and that a failure to execute the concept is not a failure of the philosophy. It is also saying that you cannot judge the philosophy by someone who is not adhering to it.
I think there is another concept, which goes along well with this, I see often not followed in discussions. I wasn't familiar with it by name, until this recent year.
Principle_of_charity
Quote:In philosophy and rhetoric, the principle of charity requires interpreting a speaker's statements to be rational and, in the case of any argument, considering its best, strongest possible interpretation.[1] In its narrowest sense, the goal of this methodological principle is to avoid attributing irrationality, logical fallacies or falsehoods to the others' statements, when a coherent, rational interpretation of the statements is available. According to Simon Blackburn[2] "it constrains the interpreter to maximize the truth or rationality in the subject's sayings."
Neil L. Wilson gave the principle its name in 1958–59.
In a debate, the goal is to win, but ultimately the goal is truth. I think that this is a good philosophy in that regards (even if I don't always successfully fulfill it.)
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RE: Never judge a philosophy by its abuse
October 2, 2015 at 5:49 pm
Can we have one example to illustrate what is meant by the "abuse" of a philosophy?
The fool hath said in his heart, There is a God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psalm 14, KJV revised edition
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RE: Never judge a philosophy by its abuse
October 2, 2015 at 5:55 pm
(This post was last modified: October 2, 2015 at 6:59 pm by ApeNotKillApe.)
(October 2, 2015 at 5:49 pm)Alex K Wrote: Can we have one example to illustrate what is meant by the "abuse" of a philosophy?
Never judge a philosophy by its abuse = The truth is always right.
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RE: Never judge a philosophy by its abuse
October 2, 2015 at 6:51 pm
How did I miss this thread? I have a response but won't get to it until later but I wanted to reply so I don't lose the thread again
We are not made happy by what we acquire but by what we appreciate.
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RE: Never judge a philosophy by its abuse
October 2, 2015 at 6:54 pm
(October 2, 2015 at 5:55 pm)ApeNotKillApe Wrote: (October 2, 2015 at 5:49 pm)Alex K Wrote: Can we have one example to illustrate what is meant by the "abuse" of a philosophy?
Never judge a philosophy by its abuse = The truth is always right
The truth is right? You don't say!
The fool hath said in his heart, There is a God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psalm 14, KJV revised edition
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RE: Never judge a philosophy by its abuse
October 2, 2015 at 6:58 pm
If the philosophy only contains what most of us would assess to be good , then there is a much lesser probability to misapply the philosophy, without dishonestly using it to justify yourself. If your philosophy goes by something like the bible, then obviously it can be abused to no end. The bible is contradictory, and I wouldn’t attach the word philosophy to something like that. You can patently abuse the bible, because it teaches, what most of us would consider, highly immoral behavior, along with moral behavior. So, that’s a philosophy that is easily abused. If a philosophy necessitates only something like: treat others with genuine kindness, then, that is something that is less likely to be abused. However, something like kindness, caring, etc can be manipulated to have subjective meanings. Even ideas, such as the golden rule, can be exploited in fraudulent types of ways to people that I would deem to be sick or immoral.
A more concrete example would be: rape is wrong, and one should ever do it under any circumstance.
There still may be lingering stipulations in some people’s minds what rape is, but that would be a philosophy that would be difficult to abuse. If we defined rape in every aspect imaginable, everyone agreed on it, then you couldn't abuse that.
Also, abusing something like the bible would be completely subjective, because what is abuse to someone, isn't to someone else. Hypocrisy, also comes into play when talking about a subject like this. Some people will vindicate genocide in the bible (they don't think they are abusing the bible, others would disagree), but when Hitler does it, it's completely wrong.
Almost anything can be abused, unless it's scrupulously defined.
Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.' -Isaac Asimov-
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RE: Never judge a philosophy by its abuse
October 2, 2015 at 7:07 pm
(This post was last modified: October 2, 2015 at 7:14 pm by ApeNotKillApe.)
(October 2, 2015 at 6:54 pm)Alex K Wrote: (October 2, 2015 at 5:55 pm)ApeNotKillApe Wrote: Never judge a philosophy by its abuse = The truth is always right
The truth is right? You don't say!
If you know the truth you're a priest, not a philosopher.
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RE: Never judge a philosophy by its abuse
October 2, 2015 at 7:08 pm
Um...define truth pls? ._.
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