What's the point of philosophy any more?

[Edwardo Piet]

People have been declaring philosophy useless for a long time. Socrates' contemporaries couldn't find any use in it, and that was before it birthed the sciences.

/thread

Philosophy is the grandfather of civilization.

[Brian37]

People have been declaring philosophy useless for a long time. Socrates' contemporaries couldn't find any use in it, and that was before it birthed the sciences.

/thread

Philosophy is the grandfather of civilization.

And the old guy screaming at the youngsters to get off their lawn.

[Edwardo Piet]

I have often ranted about philosophy in the past, more so about people who think that they are doing philosophy because they string along some arbitrary premises to reach a specific conclusion without ever applying it to the real world.

What makes something 'real'?

IMO science deals with experiential reality. What we call the "real world" which is ironically, subjective rather than objective

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One could say that philosophy is the illusion of knowledge.

One could also say that all chipmunks smell strongly of acid.

Philosophy is not the illusion of knowledge any more than green is the illusion of an umbrella.

Epistemology which deals with what is and isn't knowledge, is a subfield of philosophy for christ sake lol.

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It's the ground floor in the funhouse...at least, and everything contained therein may not be entirely true but you'll have no way of telling up from down once you're in it....lol. 

Why is it that people who view philosophy in low light tend to regularly show themselves to be buffoons?

[The Grand Nudger]

People have been declaring philosophy useless for a long time. Socrates' contemporaries couldn't find any use in it, and that was before it birthed the sciences.

/thread

Philosophy is the grandfather of civilization.

-not even remotely.  For all of the civil utility of philosophy..it had nothing to do with the establishment of civilization.  That was a pre-existing condition.

Why is it that people who view philosophy in low light tend to regularly show themselves to be buffoons?

My opinion..because buffoons call their silly beliefs "philosophy"....and it gets ridiculed by association.  Case example above..when you call "experiential reality".... "subjective".  

(you know I love you ham...don't be salty, lol)

[Edwardo Piet]

/thread

Philosophy is the grandfather of civilization.

And the old guy screaming at the youngsters to get off their lawn.

No, you're confusing "philosophy" with "grumpy old bastard".

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-not even remotely.  For all of the civil utility of philosophy..it had nothing to do with the establishment of civilization.  That was a pre-existing condition.

Depends how you define "civilization". In many ways we're still far from civilization even today. There's a difference between civilization and technology.

If a bunch of barbarians invent farming before sitting down to think about stuff is that civilization? I can't think of anything that has civilized us more than philosophy.

My opinion..because buffoons call their silly beliefs "philosophy"....and it gets ridiculed by association.

So as per usual, you strawman a position before you attack it.

[vulcanlogician]

I suppose I'm just slightly cynical that what pure Philosophers get up to (especially after a few )

Guilty as charged (at least sometimes). You gotta cut philo-nerds a little slack, though. Some stuff is discussed just for fun, and when people do it they don't take themselves too seriously.

I could write an essay about how lost contemporary philosophy is... your example with the vegetarian videogame lecture really exemplifies what I don't like about it. Much of it is insipid and pointless. I really like the old stuff. Plato's Republic, for example. I wish that everyone would read this book. It is simply brilliant, and just as relevant today as when it was penned. Well... that might be overstating it, but still: it's relevant.

My perception has often been of philosophers arguing amongst themselves and never coming to a conclusion because whatever anyone decides can't be verified. If the issue doesn't originally stem from what we learn from reality then how are we ever going to apply our reasoning back to it?

Metaphysics is bad for this. At a certain point even I find metaphysics discussions exhausting because of the lack of workable conclusions. One of my professors said when he was in grad school, one of the philosophy students used to carry a card in his pocket with an "M" on it. The M stood for metaphysics. And when the conversation started to drift into metaphysics he would take the card out of his pocket and hold it up. It was his way of saying "this conversation will lead nowhere, so lets stop talking metaphysics and focus on something from which a conclusion might actually be discerned." I get where he's coming from. Metaphysics can be a real headache.

But you know what helps?

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[I_am_not_mafia]

I suppose I'm just slightly cynical that what pure Philosophers get up to (especially after a few )

Guilty as charged (at least sometimes). You gotta cut philo-nerds a little slack, though. Some stuff is discussed just for fun, and when people do it they don't take themselves too seriously.

I've started vaping it for my MS. I have to say though, it has done absolute wonders for my ideas in AI. I've had some real inspiration whilst high that actually works well in practice when I come to implement it the next day.

I think I have also figured out how it actually has the effects that it does, which is really interesting.

[Minimalist]

We need philosophers.




Someone has to flip the burgers.

[Whateverist]

Or is my view jaded by all the religionists I see bastardising obsolete philosophy in order to spread their parasitic infection?

It's this one.  Those fuckers ruin everything.

Yup, no nice things for us, obviously.

[vulcanlogician]

I think I have also figured out how it actually has the effects that it does, which is really interesting.

Do tell...