I don't think it's clear that there is 'a' purpose of philosophy although it certainly has been put to uses. — StreetlightX
And moreover I think there's an autonomy of philosophy that ought to be upheld, one that affirms it's absolute indifference to any 'use'. — StreetlightX
So I think there's something deeply impersonal about philosophy, and while it's entirely possible to use it as a psychological crutch or whathave you, there's nothing about it that necessitates that use. — StreetlightX
That said, there's nothing quite like wonder at that which exhibits indifference, and some of the strongest feelings are aroused precisely by incomprehension. — StreetlightX
We are all philosophers. — Monitor
why is 'use' so important to you? I don't demand that you ought to have a 'use' - which would be a vulgar effacement of your autonomy - and I don't see why philosophy 'ought' to have a 'use', which has the brass tang of a ugly utilitarian approach to a subject which I think ought to exceed all such considerations — StreetlightX
Fine.
Would it be uncharitable to say that philosophy has already served its purpose? All the unrealized potential that people had, driven by wonder, curiosity, and the like, have been realized throughout the span of more than two millennia in the form of all the various fields that have sprung up from philosophy.
In other words, what more does philosophy have to offer, or am I being uncharitable now? — Posty McPostface
It's not at all clear what you're asking. — StreetlightX
I don't think it's clear that there is 'a' purpose of philosophy although it certainly has been put to uses — StreetlightX
I don't see why philosophy 'ought' to have a 'use', which has the brass tang of an ugly utilitarian approach to a subject which I think ought to exceed all such considerations. — StreetlightX
and I don't see why philosophy 'ought' to have a 'use' — StreetlightX
Spinoza could not help but to examine what was before him. We all do by degree.
We're getting hung up on the trappings — Monitor
I would like to clarify any ambiguity about my attitude towards philosophy. I am not proposing that philosophy serve as a utilitarian purpose here, since what utility does the Mona Lisa serve? It's quite clear from what I've read about the dropout rates of grad school philosophy, that the people who make it through it are motivated by reasons apart from material gain or financial wellbeing. So, hence I return back to my original premise, that philosophy serves an affectual need to be fulfilled in some intellectual sense.. — Posty McPostface
But this is also a typical philosophical move that ties us up in knots. — Ilyosha
Our opening salvo is to distinguish the material, the base, the bodily, the pleasurable, from the intellectual, the noble, the spiritual, and sublime. And I would like to suggest that this is not the best way to approach anything human. — Ilyosha
Heidegger rushed Being & Time in order to gain tenure, Hegel was motivated by bitterness towards his Tübingen classmates, Dostoevsky wrote to pay off his gambling debts, etc. etc. — Ilyosha
We can certainly accept that there are "reasons apart from material gain" for philosophy and still be skeptical about how philosophy plays into the full gamut of human goals, desires, inclinations, wills to power; a crude reductionism to "material gain" is not our only alternative. — Ilyosha
Is it just me or does this limit the scope of potential purposes/applications of philosophy to a single aspect?
Perhaps asking what's a purpose of philosophy would be a better question as it rids the question of the bias of central purpose? — Mayor of Simpleton
If you think that philosophy ought not to have any use apart from standing as some independent 'entity' of some sorts... — Posty McPostface
There is an expression "doing something for its own sake". Perhaps philosophy is one of those things that is, in many cases, done for its own sake. — MetaphysicsNow
Philosophy is a discipline and a practice like any other - metallurgy say. — StreetlightX
How so? Genuinely interested. — Posty McPostface
What alternative do you propose? The Nietzschean will to power? — Posty McPostface
But, what does that prove? — Posty McPostface
Sure, there are differing motives for doing philosophy. My primary question that I just stumbled upon in making this thread through my response to you is, "What affective need does philosophy fulfill?" — Posty McPostface
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