Laurentius

AVE


HOMO PHILOSOPHICUS
Eliade Radulescu’s “History of Religions” starts with the memorable picture of the presupposed primordial man leaving the all-four position (which had confined him to only four directions: left, right, back and fourth) and rising to his feet, which granted him two additional directions: down and up. Him looking up at the stars marked the birth of the religious man, infers Eliade Radulescu. I would rather say that it prefaced the birth of Homo Philosophicus.

THE WONDER
I’ve constantly had the sentiment that philosophy really is a Great Conversation, which transgresses eras and continents, and unifies our species in time and space. Knowing that it is more or less the same firmament that the primordial man must have contemplated, I always watch the starry sky with a thrill. And wonder what he wondered about.

THE MYRIAD
I’m a man of the city. From the height of my window I can study the circle of the apartment buildings of my neighborhood. In a single building there are more people living than there used to be in an ancient Greek city. Behind each bright window there are hopes and destinies that I love to muse about in the fresh air of the night. So many people – each one making a unique universe, and the whole embodying a vibrant Leibnizian perspective.


What does philosophy mean to you?
AVE

Wyrdsmyth

It's a way of looking at things.

a_j_ayer

Thoughts on language and how it is to be used, and what has meaning.

More than that, it is a study of what one hopes and fears for. A more comforting psychology.

Very special things you said. I could not match them in beauty for my heart speaks in pictures.

Ayer

Liquidrage

A hangover from the days before science

philechat

What sets one free. The Plato "Allegory of the Cave" spoke of the wonder of men leaving the shadows they have taken for granted as true...and in a moment they were bathed in blinding lights and no longer in shackles of fear about the tyrannies of the Others still chained in the cave of Conventions.

The instinct to simplify the phenomenon. Both myths and philosophies are attempt to grasp the mysteries of our existence. Philosophers and mythmakers give form to chaos, and become gods themselves through their interpretive powers. Unfortunately the masses swallow myths and philosophies like water. What blasphemy.

To rebel. Disatisfaction with the life as it is now, wishing to see the world in a different light. Suffering gives birth to both poetry and philosophy--through the play with forms and symbolisms one forgets about one's own suffering, leaving them objectified in thin air...observing it with refined amusement.

To distinguish oneself. Philosophers know their privilages of intellect. Why not use them to affirm themselves. We narcissists. We know we are "able" to have visions about our lives because of the strange angles we look from. Maybe it was because we could stand headaches caused by hanging upside-down.

thefugitivesaint

Philosophy n.- a game one engages in while drinking alcohol.

-theSaint

Ierrellus

Philosophy is an attempt to unite speculation with common sense. Its purpose is to mediate between views of reality posed by science and religion. It serves to clarify language, hence to clarify thought. Like science and religion, it also serves to assuage the painful perspective of personal isolation by portraying the many minds who have wondered about the same questions you and I have pondered.

It is not merely a province of intellectuals who seem unable to think without footnotes; it is a province also of dreamers who envisage what could be possible. At its best, it unites the mind's thought with the minds dream.

Ierrellus

snatchbalance

I started delving into philosophical literature as therapy for various mental/emotional malaise.

Now, I simply get pleasure from envisioning, capturing, and expressing various abstractions.

sb

emphryio

Hmmm pretty thoughts.

To me philosophy is the study of what are the correct actions to cause an individual or individuals the most happiness for ?? amount of time.

In order to do this perfectly, perfect knowledge must be obtained.

Laurentius

AVE


One’s philosophy – truism-like though this statement may seem – is closely related to one’s definition on philosophy.

_____Philosophy is a perspective on reality and the method to produce this perspective, a way of looking at things (Wyrdsmyth), and in spite of the fact that some may reject its practicality, philosophy is an attempt to unite speculation with common sense (Ierrellus) in a comprehensive theory about reality so that one can make the best of one’s life through the study of what are the correct actions to cause an individual or individuals the most happiness for ?? amount of time (emphryio).

_____Since science started describing reality through experiments and falsification philosophy has repeatedly been considered obsolete, a hangover from the days before science (Liquidrage) – positivism-oriented thinkers regarding it just as a game one engages in while drinking alcohol (thefugitivesaint).

_____Although parting with religion and superstition, philosophy has indeed kept a mythological propensity stemming in the pervasive human need for finding significance beyond all phenomena, which is why it sometimes appears that its purpose is to mediate between views of reality posed by science and religion (Ierrellus).

_____By doing so, philosophy resembles some instinct to simplify the phenomenon (philechat), more precisely a tendency to present a unified perspective on the reality and the principles underlining the general frame.

_____Thinking and language are twin faculties, and while philosophy helps figure out the reality, it serves to clarify language, hence to clarify thought (Ierrellus) – yet, philosophy is not to be mistaken for semantics and the additional disciplines producing thoughts on language and how it is to be used, and what has meaning (a_j_ayer).

_____The scope of philosophy exceeds the reality in that it craves for rigorous descriptions and ideal systems, unifying the mind’s thought with the mind’s dream because thinkers have always been dreamers, who envisage what could be possible (Ierrellus).

_____At the personal level, the urge to philosophize on the present quality of reality and its possible form derives from the discontent with some state of affairs, from the dissatisfaction with the life as it is now and the desire to see the world in a different light (philechat).

_____Philosophy thus can turn into what sets one free , a revolutionary creed or ideology against the inertia in thinking and institutions, while the others [remain] chained in the cave of Conventions (philechat).

_____Philosophy also serves to assuage the painful perspective of personal isolation by portraying the many minds who have wondered about the same questions you and I have pondered (Ierrellus), offering the ideological grounds for the rapports between the individual and other individuals, between the individual and the group, and between groups (philosophy can kill too).

_____Philosophy sublimates personal or collective frustrations, which makes human agony bearable through abstraction – I started delving into philosophical literature as therapy for various mental/emotional malaise ) (snatchbalance) – and which renders one’s inner turmoil noble through intellectualization, as an instrument to acquire power and distinguish oneself -- philosophers know their privileges of intellect (philechat).

_____Philosophy represents the reason’s most elaborate compensation for the unstable tumult of the emotional self, an analysis of what one lives for, a study of what one hopes and fears for […] a more comforting psychology (a_j_ayer), the serene and blissful control of the inner and outer universe through envisioning, capturing, and expressing various abstractions (snatchbalance).

AVE


[ June 08, 2002: Message edited by: Laurentius ]</p>