Sure, you can go off into a cave and avoid all this....now. But you carry with you the thoughts and tools and heurististics of other minds. — Coben
I don't think it's simple, at all. But none of what you write changes the fact that ideas have been pouring into you for years from others. That you modify, translate, falsely interpret these ideas, reconfigure them, misunderstand them, in addition to taking in reasonably close approximations doesn't change the fact that your mind has been constructed with tremendous input from other minds and this is still going on if you are not isolated from communicating with the others. And the language we get also carries with it all sorts of implicit and explicit ideas and makes it harder to have certain ideas and models of reality. Then all the things that one DOES to achieve various goals, which we learn through imitating others - often forced to use these heuristics - also imply a lot about reality, what other people are and how they are motivated, what 'works' in the world.I'm sorry, it is just not that simple. — Merkwurdichliebe
But all this is a long way from 'insanity'. — Coben
Further I think some of the big questions can be resolved for individual thinkers. — Coben
IOW they can find a position that makes their life work better for them in the context of their values. Beyond that once they choose certain axioms, philosophy can help them draw conclusions and develop positions that work for them. — Coben
I can't convince everyone else what they should believe, but perhaps that is not possible or necessary. — Coben
We cannot resolve conflicts around big issues so doing philosophy is insane. — Coben
To me it seems like some humbler goals and a sense of a spectrum of possible use is a healthier attitude about philosophy. — Coben
But none of what you write changes the fact that ideas have been pouring into you for years from others. That you modify, translate, falsely interpret these ideas, reconfigure them, misunderstand them, in addition to taking in reasonably close approximations doesn't change the fact that your mind has been constructed with tremendous input from other minds and this is still going on if you are not isolated from communicating with the others. — Coben
we realize all sorts of assumptions we have been making. And we did not choose to make these assumptions. Those assumptions entered us via the culture. — Coben
while criticizing a position of mine I don't really have, — Coben
However, the individual does not need to remove oneself from society, nor avoid human contact in order to isolate, or enter the cave — Merkwurdichliebe
Ah, ok, no worries, thanks for explaining.No offense meant. I was simply being facetious in implying you held that position, I didn't really think you held it. Consider it a bad attempt at a bad joke. — Merkwurdichliebe
I agree, and the fact that you came up with something like REddy's critique of how language works means that you managed to get around a cultural bias. One can use other people, books, movies, great art often undercuts assumptions, science, meditation, relationships with people from other cultures, relationships with animals and so on to undermine biases and also, first, to make them visible. I am not saying we cannot change. — Coben
MathematicalPhysicist
38
↪Pinprick Insanity is an ill-defined notion anyway.
Anyway here is an interesting sentence to be amused.
Every genius is necessarily insane, but not every insane person is a genius. — MathematicalPhysicist
Get involved in philosophical discussions about knowledge, truth, language, consciousness, science, politics, religion, logic and mathematics, art, history, and lots more. No ads, no clutter, and very little agreement — just fascinating conversations.