I think we have fundamentally different structures of experience. — Noble Dust
maybe you're just more well-adjusted while my neuroses dictate my philosophical thinking more than you. — Noble Dust
Which is interesting, actually. I wonder to what extent people's interest in self-help correlates to their psychological states or conditions. And whether those interested in philosophy proper are in any better shape. — Noble Dust
And whether those interested in philosophy proper are in any better shape. — Noble Dust
Being curious is a reason, and the purpose is to learn something, or understand, or "see," etc. — Mikie
I never bought the claim that we do some things for no purpose whatsoever. We're pushing into a future, and while we may not consciously have a goal in mind, there's certainly a purpose to be found in everything we do. I don't see a way around it. Happy to have my mind changed though. — Mikie
to say there's no purpose in itself is contradictory. — Mikie
While I don't deny there have been some strong philosophers who earn their bread in schools, it does seem dangerous to make philosophy so respectable. The prototype was poor and eventually executed. Maybe the 'spiritual' function of philosophy moved into literature, art, politics. — green flag
The academics are those who dedicate their professional life to it -- which is important! ... Without academics I wouldn't be thinking what I think today. I owe an intellectual debt to the institution. — Moliere
I agree. Having been in academia for many years I have some criticisms of it, but learned to separate the good from the bad. — Fooloso4
It's not contradictory and it's not wrong, not for me at least. — T Clark
You wouldn’t say that your philosophizing is an uncaused action, right? It has its causes and reasons. I would say it has even (non-theoretical) goals— like everything else. Despite how it may feel. Its a but teleological, but nevertheless true — in my view. — Mikie
I agree. It brings up the psychology of philosophical investigation and self-examination, which, ironically, seems often unexamined. With respect T Clark, it might not "feel inside" as if you're doing philosophy for any purpose, but that doesn't mean there isn't an underlying purpose or goal. — Noble Dust
I accept your description of your personal experience in that I trust you're being honest about it. But are you not of the persuasion that there are often unconscious drives that cause us to do or pursue certain things? — Noble Dust
I suppose I just feel the need to stick up for the institution of philosophy, and the work of academics. — Moliere
It serves them on both ends, paying students who become exploited as TA's and adjuncts. — Fooloso4
Yes, I do think there are uncaused actions, both in the world at large and in my personal behavior. In Taoism, the philosophy I feel most at home in, the idea of "wu wei," acting without acting, without intention, without purpose, is central to the teachings. — T Clark
Yeah, if wu wei requires that we abandon the law of causality, it really is woowoo. I don’t interpret it that way— I see it as a kind of “flow” situation.
But yes, if you think there are actions which have “no cause,” then I don’t see how we can continue. — Mikie
In the following paper I wish, first, to maintain that the word is so inextricably bound up with misleading associations as to make its complete extrusion from the philosophical vocabulary desirable; secondly, to inquire what principle, if any, is employed in science in place of the supposed "law of causality" which philosophers imagine to be employed; thirdly, to exhibit certain confusions, especially in regard to teleology and determinism, which appear to me to be connected with erroneous notions as to causality. — Bertrand Russell - On the Notion of Cause
To put things in perspective, there are Taoist teachers and authors. There is certainly intention and purpose in what they do. — Fooloso4
A good traveler has no fixed plans
and is not intent upon arriving.
A good artist lets his intuition
lead him wherever it wants.
A good scientist has freed himself of concepts
and keeps his mind open to what is. — The Tao Te Ching, Verse 27 - Stephen Mitchell version
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