Philosophy is . . . discuss

[AllTalkNoAction]

God declares and man later realises he was right all along

Philosophy is what you are left with when you ignore information given by God.
It is an attempt to give an explanation for what you don't know.

Philosophy is apologetics for agnostics.

Philosophy is the swansong of human failure.

 

[Wiccan_Child]

Philosophy is the love of knowledge. It is thinking about thinking. It is the deduction of what is possible, what is known, what can be known, etc. That, to me, is philosophy.

 

[Eudaimonist]

Philosophy is the swansong of human failure.

Philosophy is the love of wisdom, and when it lives up to its calling -- when it expresses a love of life -- it is one of the glories of humanity.

Philosophy is a way of life for me. And in a way it is life, for it is the life of the mind of rational beings.

Behold, you who do not know philosophy! You whose mind has not grown wings and taken flight. This is philosophy!

eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[MorkandMindy]

God declares and man later realises he was right all along

Can I assume the 'he' refers not to man but to God?

If so then one problem is working out what the revelation actually is. There are a multitude of Christian theologies differing on every issue:

some consider obedience essential to salvation others that this is heresy because all of a man's works are but dross

some believe all things are foreordained while others that they are not

some believe scripture to be the sole authority and others consider the Church and apostolic succession to also be necessary.

some believe we should follow Jesus as the primary example of God's will to man, and others that Jesus came to the Jews and was the ultimate the law would ever achieve and killed the law so we are now under grace which is the dispensation Paul spoke to, as apostle to the Gentiles.

If you can work out a summary of the Bible then you can go and sort out the disputes between the dispensationalists and covenant theology advocates here in CF where each occasionally accuses the other of bringing the message of Satan. And you can answer the recurring question in QA of 'What is Christianity?'

 

[MorkandMindy]

God declares and man later realises God was right all along. Philosophy is what you are left with when you ignore information given by God. It is an attempt to give an explanation for what you don't know.

Many good Christians have spent many years attempting to make sense of what are claimed to be the words of God. One very large Church has managed over the course of many centuries to produce a consistent, though many claim non-Biblical, theology. The problem with Biblical Theologies is there are so many of them.

Philosophy is apologetics for agnostics.

There is a lot of Christian philosophy, in fact there was little else for a long time.

Philosophy is the swansong of human failure.

The swansong of human failure would be something more like: 'America is great! we can never run out of oil!'

Philosophy is the process of evaluating the more fundamental aspects of our World: epistemology, ethics, logic and metaphysics. Plenty has been discovered on these topics as big sections in book stores should indicate.

In ethics for example questions are addressed over when the individual will choose his own gain even to the detriment of those around him, and I would suggest this is a question you may one day need some familiarity with.

It has a direct bearing on situations such as a woman deciding to divorce her husband before she inherits a lot of money.

 

[Helvetius]

1. Love and pursuit of wisdom by intellectual means and moral self-discipline.
2. Investigation of the nature, causes, or principles of reality, knowledge, or values, based on logical reasoning rather than empirical methods.
3. A system of thought based on or involving such inquiry: the philosophy of Hume.
4. The critical analysis of fundamental assumptions or beliefs.
5. The disciplines presented in university curriculums of science and the liberal arts, except medicine, law, and theology.
6. The discipline comprising logic, ethics, aesthetics, metaphysics, and epistemology.
7. A set of ideas or beliefs relating to a particular field or activity; an underlying theory: an original philosophy of advertising.
8. A system of values by which one lives: has an unusual philosophy of life.

 

[Wiccan_Child]

There is a lot of Christian philosophy, in fact there was little else for a long time.

I think the Ancient Greeks would beg to differ. As would Confucious, Gautama Buddha, and pretty much every Eastern philosopher.

It has a direct bearing on situations such as a woman deciding to divorce her husband before she inherits a lot of money.

I don't think a gold-digger needs a Masters in Philosophy to ply her trade.

 

[MorkandMindy]

I think the Ancient Greeks would beg to differ. As would Confucious, Gautama Buddha, and pretty much every Eastern philosopher.

Very true but I phrased it 'for a long time' rather than 'up until fairly recently'. Yes I could have phrased it more clearly.

I agree philosophy existed before Christianity, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics and the Epicureans, Thales, the naked philosophers, all pre-date the advent of Christianity.

I don't think a gold-digger needs a Masters in Philosophy to ply her trade.

Unfortunately that's true, nor do jellyfish need to understand digestion to do it. But understanding what is happening is in this case part of a quest in the realm of philosophy.

 

[peterrobin]

God declares and man later realises he was right all along

Philosophy is what you are left with when you ignore information given by God.
It is an attempt to give an explanation for what you don't know.

Philosophy is apologetics for agnostics.

Philosophy is the swansong of human failure.

Look, if God wants to contact me and give me some information I would certainly not ignore it.

If he wanted even to tell me which one of those contradictory texts that claim to be information given by God are, in fact, information given by God (if any) I will be glad to know it.

But until then I guess I will have to make do with philosophy!

 

[acropolis]

philosophy is a mere novelty outside academia. it's interesting, but far less so than science.

 

[Eudaimonist]

philosophy is a mere novelty outside academia. it's interesting, but far less so than science.

To you, perhaps. But not to me.

Philosophy can be very interesting, and even practical, outside of academia. Just consider that ethics is a major branch of philosophy, and discussion of ethical issues hasn't gone out of style. Consider bioethics. Philosophy also underlies many scientific issues, for instance in philosophy of mind.

I'll agree with you that science happens to be more popular.


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[Madcoil]

Philosophy. It's for the slaveowner who doesn't have to spend all day pulling grass out of the ground.

 

[quatona]

Philosophy is the attempt to hide the fact that your conclusion has been your premise, typically by juggling with a lot of abstract terms that you have taken out any frame of reference within which they could be meaningful.

How´s that for a polemic?
(It´s a first shot - I suspect it needs a little finetuning.)

 

[BAFRIEND]

God declares and man later realises he was right all along

Philosophy is what you are left with when you ignore information given by God.
It is an attempt to give an explanation for what you don't know.

Philosophy is apologetics for agnostics.

Philosophy is the swansong of human failure.

I have a degree in philosophy, and none of what you state is philosophy.

 

[BAFRIEND]

Philosophy is the attempt to hide the fact that your conclusion has been your premise, typically by juggling with a lot of abstract terms that you have taken out any frame of reference within which they could be meaningful.

How´s that for a polemic?
(It´s a first shot - I suspect it needs a little finetuning.)

nope...

 

[BAFRIEND]

Philosophy. It's for the slaveowner who doesn't have to spend all day pulling grass out of the ground.

warmer..

 

[MorkandMindy]

God declares and man later realises he was right all along

Philosophy is what you are left with when you ignore information given by God.
It is an attempt to give an explanation for what you don't know.

Philosophy is apologetics for agnostics.

Philosophy is the swansong of human failure.

I hope that is a poe.

The philosophy of anything is understanding it at a profound level. The philosophy of money for example wouldn't include actual coins or bills but what role it should play as a medium of exchange or reserve and whether it is better to have local, national and World currencies or ideally just one global currency.

Any time a person thinks at a basic level about the aims of something, such as money or religion, he is philosophising. The only alternative to engaging in philosophy is to fail to have a profound understanding of anything.

 

[Wiccan_Child]

I have a degree in philosophy, and none of what you state is philosophy.

nope...

warmer..

Hah, you so funny.

 

[WorldIsMine]

Anyone who doubts the validity of analytic reasoning of abstract concepts clearly does not understand the nature of reasoning and human action. A chair is an abstract concept. To rject philosophy because some philosophers or philosophies are disguises for other things is to put oneself at the mercy of any bit of nonsense. Logical distinction is the only valid method of gaining knowledge. It is definitional to knowledge.

 

[Vigilante]

God declares and man later realises he was right all along

Philosophy is what you are left with when you ignore information given by God.
It is an attempt to give an explanation for what you don't know.

Philosophy is apologetics for agnostics.

Philosophy is the swansong of human failure.

Allow me to humbly burn your flag down to the ground.

Philosophy, as a discipline, contains four branches: logic, metaphysics, axiology, and epistemology. We'll key in on the first.

Logic is nowhere discussed in the Bible. Yet you have utilized logic in making your post. Your argument breaks down as follows:

1. God has not given us philosophy
2. All that is useful in life is given by God
3. Therefore, philosophy is useless

Funny how you used philosophy (in this case, the branch of logic) to make your case. Actually, in condemning philosophy as a whole--and therefore logic implicitly along with it--you have committed yourself to what we philosophers call a "performative contradiction."

A performative contradiction would be something like me telling you that fire is useless at the same time that I set your flag ablaze.

I smell smoke.