It's not lost on me that in contemplating the value of philosophy, I'm doing philosophy. But it's also not lost on me that the moment that a toddler picks up a knick-knack and sticks it in its mouth, it's doing science. The question, as I as a solipsist see it, is that absent science, of what efficacy is philosophy to finding the truth? Of what value is what 'might be', if it doesn't begin with 'what is'?
Those are good questions, but philosophy by and large is adaptable and amendable to nearly any starting point of inquiry we might have, much like the toddler you've described. With it, and in tandem with our use of the sciences, we can identify and understand something of the nature of our own aesthetic choices which we all make each day. Our individual paths of inquiry can start with one's own preferences---but the trick in philosophy is not to our inquiry simply with looking at and contemplating our own preferences. Philosophy's core is to move us to its prime value of making a cogent "
evaluation" of some relevant sort about things in the world, or about ourselves.
And when I say that philosophy is adaptable and amendable, what I really mean is that philosophy is, itself, a 'warehouse' term, an umbrella identifier like "zoo" or "science" for all it holds within it. Philosophy is the Domain in which all the rest of its interior fields and disciplines reside.
Without science one can always do what
@RamiC just did, and proclaim that Goddidit. But of what value is that without empirical evidence to support it? Doesn't that make theism of no greater value than solipsism? Simply the byproduct of an imaginative mind.
If we come to the topic of Theism VS. Solipsism, philosophy can help us become aware of better questions and to discern differences in our categories of inquiry; sometimes it'll help us to tease out the ideas in our inquiries that we would really like to clarify. It can also help us realize when some topics or ideas may be too much for us to make prima facie, surface level, analyses (or evaluations).
For instance, in Philosophy we want to know what the uses, differences and limits are of certain forms of reasoning such as Deductive, Inductive, Abductive reasoning and/or logic. And that's just the tip of the ice-berg.
As a solipsist I've long had to accept the world for what it appears to be, and not for what it might be. But beyond that, it seems to me that the world would be a better place if theists would simply do the same. Accept the world for what it appears to be and not for what myths and legends suggest that it might be. Forget about Gods and demons, and heaven and hell, and simply accept life for what it is. We are what we are, and life will do what life will do. As for what happens after that... that's for Gods to decide.
What you're saying here is an evaluation about how you think folks such as theists should approach the world. I hope you see that your position is pregnant with additional inferences that can be questioned further, hopefully by you, yourself. One basic inference is that if theists followed what you're suggesting, they would have to essentially scrub out an entire legion of philosophical modes and discourses. So, in saying what you're saying, you're implying much more than simply "foh-get'a boud'it!" You're implying they should carve out about half their brain matter, and I'm going to go out on a limb and charitably assume that THAT is not what you're intended to imply.
Like I said, I know you have the brain power. If I can do it, You can do it.
See, I like philosophy. Mine just happens to be a lot less educated than yours. Still, you've gotta work with what you've got.
Oh, I haven't really had all that much to work with. What I do have took years to grow from a tiny seedling of utter ignorance and despair.
Here. Before I end this post, I'll just leave you with a short video featuring Greg Ganssle, with a little taste of the sort of things I'm referring to in all of this:
PHILOSOPHY - Epistemology: Argument and Evidence [HD] - Wireless Philosophy
Nevertheless I love philosophy. I'm just not as educated in it as most people are. So take everything that I say with a grain of salt... it's not meant to be taken seriously... well, not too seriously.
