We are effectively destroying ourselves by violence masquerading as love. I am a specialist, God help me, in events in inner space and time, in experiences called thoughts, images, reveries, dreams, visions, hallucinations, dreams of memories, memories of dreams, memories of visions, dreams of hallucinations, refractions of refractions of refractions of that original Alpha and Omega of experience and reality, that Reality on whose repression, denial, splitting, projection, falsification, and general desecration and profanation our civilisation as much as anything is based. — R. D. Laing
to say he was concerned with words as opposed to the world is a mistake. — Manuel
I’m interested in hearing other people’s thoughts on this. — T Clark
I don't know if you have read about them and you don't need them anymore or if you have never read anything about them. Whatever is the case, I agree that one does not need to stick to some philosopher and esp. quoting him every now and then in these pages and elsewhere. Unfortunately, this phenomenon is so widespread that it annoys me! I use to say to people "Think for yourself and let X [philosopher] think for himself!"I don’t need no stinking Kant, or Hegel, or Schopenhauer, or Kneechee, or any of those guys — T Clark
Yes, but listening to others discuss ideas, especially professional philosophers, I feel like I'm missing something. I'm trying to get a handle on that. — T Clark
Pragmatism — T Clark
jamalrob accused me of not being open minded. I wonder what he thinks about you. I've read Kant and Wittgenstein. They're fine I guess. To me, they're caught in the trap of many philosophers. They've mistaken words for reality.
What better way to justify believing what you're told to believe and not making up your own mind. — T Clark
I'm sure Kafka was well-read in philosophy, but in the end, is our own experience we have to understand and be aware of. — T Clark
Maybe this is my inner pragmatist speaking, but I see philosophy from a practical perspective. It helps me think and express myself better in a way that has an impact on the way I live my intellectual and everyday life. — T Clark
I wonder what I'm missing, but my understanding of the world doesn't feel like anything is missing. — T Clark
It is not necessary that you leave the house. Remain at your table and listen. Do not even listen, only wait. Do not even wait, be wholly still and alone. The world will present itself to you for its unmasking, it can do no other, in ecstasy it will writhe at your feet. — T Clark
Well, whatever one thinks of Kant specifically is one thing, but to say he was concerned with words as opposed to the world is a mistake. — Manuel
In order to improve, to grow, one needs to interact with people who know more than oneself. — baker
the autodidact just sets the bar very low, and cuts himself off of everything that supersedes his current abilities and current knowledge — baker
What you describe is not what most define as philosophy. It's sort of this Zen state of understanding and harmony you're trying to achieve as far as I can see. For example, how do you meaningfully respond to metaphysical, epistemological, or moral questions by just sitting back and absorbing? Do we just wait together all in silence in this Kafkaesque ideal, or do you listen to others and form your own thoughts internally without contribution? — Hanover
I also don't see these tacks as mutually exclusive. Why can't I spend time in silent contemplation, but also read philosophy? Is reading others' epiphanies corrupting of my own? Wouldn't learning from others advance my own progess?
To the extent you argue that some answers lie within and should be sought by contemplation, I do agree, but to the extent you argue that formal study is unnecessary or even inferior, I don't. — Hanover
That it doesn't work. I only said it hasn't worked for me. — T Clark
I had studied philosophy as an auxiliary subject in college and read quite a few philosophy books before I of thought of myself as someone who is "philosophizing". Until today I have read a couple of hundred philosophy books, I love philosophy (that's why I am here! :smile:) and all that, but I cannot call myself a "philosopher". I call myself a "philosophical thinker", as I think the majority of people in here are also. — Alkis Piskas
I don't know if you have read about them and you don't need them anymore of if you have never read anything about them. — Alkis Piskas
I believe that reading philosophy books and about a lot of philosophers is vital to be able to establish a strong reality and have an interesting if not powerful philosophical views in a lot of subjects. — Alkis Piskas
So, yeah, I get you've found the path to improvement, just be aware your method is ultimately inferior. — Hanover
I read what you said to be that you made a half assed effort, gathered minimal gains, then quit fully trying, and then declared your approach as valid as any other. — Hanover
I think he's right that his method is the true path to excellence, — Hanover
So, yeah, I get you've found the path to improvement, just be aware your method is ultimately inferior. — Hanover
Yes, you're missing the "big picture" of philosophy. — baker
The pragmatic thing to do, as far as the study of philosophy is concerned, is to take up a course of study in philosophy at a university, or something as similar to that as possible. With proper guidance and testing of the student's knowledge of the subject matter. — baker
The bolded parts are two mistaken ideas about philosophy that are common for people who have not had a formal education in philosophy. They are based on the assumption that philosophy is solely a matter of ideology. — baker
But the way you talk about your understanding of the world has things missing, — baker
IOW, rely in whatever infromation has collected in your mind up until this point (much of it is probably trash) and whatever is currently available to you (also probably trash), and hold this to be the highest, the most relevant there is. — baker
So, yeah, I get you've found the path to improvement, just be aware your method is ultimately inferior.
— Hanover
The problem with your tennis analogy is that there is no determinable criteria of excellence in philosophy. Even the so-called experts, the academics, are deeply divided on the values of, for example, on the one hand, Heidegger or Hegel and on the other, analytic philosophy. There is no Nobel Prize for philosophy and that is telling. Philosophy is, paradigmatically, a matter of taste. — Janus
That's not what Kafka said. Here's my way of seeing it - Awareness comes first, then philosophy. You have to know the world before you can use philosophy. — T Clark
Here's my way of seeing it - Awareness comes first, then philosophy. You have to know the world before you can use philosophy. — T Clark
The problem with your tennis analogy is that there is no determinable criteria of excellence in philosophy. Even the so-called experts, the academics, are deeply divided on the values of, for example, on the one hand, Heidegger or Hegel and on the other, analytic philosophy. There is no Nobel Prize for philosophy and that is telling. Philosophy is, paradigmatically, a matter of taste. — Janus
you can’t just go off into a solitary place alone and recover the true essence of things. You have to feel the need to go back to the time when and before philosophy was born, to recover a lost innocence, when men wondered...when they first became perplexed, or were amazed by the movement of the heavenly bodies, or recoiled against the rule of noblemen, etc. — Leghorn
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