Current Events > Has anyone studied philosophy?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I wouldn't mind having a philosophy thread, or even a discord server with voice chats where we discuss philosophy!

I majored in it, and I'm really craving someone to discuss philosophy with

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Do you want Objectivism?

Cause this is how you get Objectivism.

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I post, therefore I am

What do you think about hedonism? It seems like the best philosophy to me

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Don't know much about philosophy
Don't know much botany
Don't know much about a being shook
Don't know much about the shit I took

But I do know that I love you
And I know that if you love me, too
What a wonderful world this would be

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I withdrew from philosophy window-shopping after all my friends in college adopted extremist ideologies and started arguing about whether Noam Chomsky ripped off Michael Parenti

I enjoy stuff like Plato's Euthyphro where he challenges people's foundational assumptions

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@MedeaLysistrata

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I didn't major in philosophy or anything like that but I took a few classes.

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I have a philosophical question for anyone who's interested in answering. After you answer, I'll reply to you and possibly pose a challenge to your definition (as one does in philosophy). At the end of it, maybe we'll have a really good comprehensive definition!

Q: What is a person's nature? Ie, if someone said, "It's in their nature", what exactly does that mean?

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DuranOfForcena posted...

a few of us tried to get together a philosophy discussion and reading group here and on discord, but it didn't go anywhere lol.......

Sounds like what I'd expect from a philosophy group.

Joker98 posted...

I have a philosophical question for anyone who's interested in answering:

Q: What is a person's nature? Ie, if someone said, "It's in their nature", what exactly does that mean?

its part of their essence and who they are. It is inherent to them and they wouldnt be themselves without it.


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I enjoyed philosophy in high school, and then when I put philosophy as a minor in university I discovered that literally every single person who goes to university to study philosophy is insufferable


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Heres a Q: what is philosophy? I am serious.

all I learned in classes was ok, this one school of thought says this thing, and these guys were their top representatives, now let me tell you about what each one of them thought. Now lets move on to this other school


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Joker98 posted...

Q: What is a person's nature? Ie, if someone said, "It's in their nature", what exactly does that mean?

A "person's nature" does not necessarily exist in an exact, computable way just because it is stated in a figure of speech. People use that term to talk about how somebody has been observed to act and is thus expected to act.

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Godnorgosh posted...

:(

BA in philosophy, magna cum laude, ama

A'ight but didn't you notice there were a lot of chodes in first year

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Godnorgosh posted...

:(

BA in philosophy, magna cum laude, ama

whats your job?

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Godnorgosh posted...

BA in philosophy, magna cum laude, ama

How did you feel about the other people in your program. Were any of them stereotypically insufferable

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pinky0926 posted...

A'ight but didn't you notice there were a lot of chodes in first year

Lmao.

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Joker98 posted...

I have a philosophical question for anyone who's interested in answering. After you answer, I'll reply to you and possibly pose a challenge to your definition (as one does in philosophy). At the end of it, maybe we'll have a really good comprehensive definition!

Q: What is a person's nature? Ie, if someone said, "It's in their nature", what exactly does that mean?

I'm not into philosophy, so instead I'm going to look at this question more like a game developer.

Every person has the same variables, however the base values in those variables differ.
For example, fight or flight.
Some are near 100% flight, while others are near 100% fight, but most probably range in the 60% flight area.

Kinda like the Sims.

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SPE posted...

its part of their essence and who they are. It is inherent to them and they wouldnt be themselves without it.

If nature is part of the essence, what is the essence then?
Is the nature inherent to someone and they wouldn't be themselves without it, would you say a traumatic brain injury that changes someone's personality changes the person?
Can a person's nature change?

SPE posted...

Heres a Q: what is philosophy? I am serious.

all I learned in classes was ok, this one school of thought says this thing, and these guys were their top representatives, now let me tell you about what each one of them thought. Now lets move on to this other school

Philosophy means "The love of knowledge" Philo = love. Sophia = knowledge. From wikipedia: :"Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about reason, existence, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. The term was probably coined by Pythagoras"
Furthermore, philosophical questions are ones without an objective answer. "What is the capital of CA?" is not a philosophical question because it has an answer, but "Why do humans organize into states?" Is a philosophical question because there is no 1 objectively correct answer.

Doe posted...

A "person's nature" does not necessarily exist in an exact, computable way just because it is stated in a figure of speech. People use that term to talk about how somebody has been observed to act and is thus expected to act.

I agree that a person's nature is not computable. Would you define a person's nature as a collection of their past actions that can be used to predict how they will act in the future? If so, would their nature change as they perform additional actions that change how you would expect them to act in the future? For instance, if Bob has always done greedy things and you expect him to continue, but then he suddenly starts doing generous actions and this makes you think he will continue to do generous actions now, has his nature changed?


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I took a few classes, but I feel like I'm too down to Earth to ever actively subscribe to anything. I like the ideas, even if I don't take any of it to heart.

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kirbyakaZ posted...

I'm not into philosophy, so instead I'm going to look at this question more like a game developer.

Every person has the same variables, however the base values in those variables differ.
For example, fight or flight.
Some are near 100% flight, while others are near 100% fight, but most probably range in the 60% flight area.

Kinda like the Sims.

I like your approach. Can their nature change over time?

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Joker98 posted...

I have a philosophical question for anyone who's interested in answering. After you answer, I'll reply to you and possibly pose a challenge to your definition (as one does in philosophy). At the end of it, maybe we'll have a really good comprehensive definition!

Q: What is a person's nature? Ie, if someone said, "It's in their nature", what exactly does that mean?

In a philosophical way, I would argue that stating that something is in "their nature" that this person's actions are attributed to an innate part of their character rather than it being a learned action or trait. Obviously this is the result (most likely) of how they were raised (nature and nurture) but it is used as a catch-all to suggest it is something more biological than learned.

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Joker98 posted...

I like your approach. Can their nature change over time?

Not in my thought process.
I used the wording "base values" intentionally, as these are simply where the person starts. That's nature.

Can the values change? Yes! You can train someone/yourself to grow in a different way, but it may be easier or harder depending on where their base values started. That's nurture.

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I have some (and by some I mean better than the layman but nothing at all compared to actual philosophy people) knowledge of Foucault, Habermas, Lyotar-d (really gamefaqs? You think thats a slur?) from rhet-comp studies but thats about it really

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I believe a person's "nature" is the result of their focused thoughts/desires, when they become a part of their disposition.

like, you can see someone you know, and be like, "it must be her nature to be positive", and that might be true, but it's likely that some conscious effort, reinforcement from others, etc. went into it before it got to point.

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g0ldie posted...

I believe a person's "nature" is the result of their focused thoughts/desires, when they become a part of their disposition.

like, you can see someone you know, and be like, "it must be her nature to be positive", and that might be true, but it's likely that some conscious effort, reinforcement from others, etc. went into it before it got to point.

Wouldn't that be nurture?

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I guess.

I think then I'd say, a person's nature is conscious/unconscious self-nurturing.

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Joker98 posted...

would you say a traumatic brain injury that changes someone's personality changes the person?
Can a person's nature change?

this has been a concept I struggle with, especially if it relates to a soul.

if you get some brain disease and you dont act like yourself now, did your essence/soul change? If there is an afterlife, what versin of yourself would be there?

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Sure, I'd join a philosophy discord. There was one before but we didn't do much, like has been mentioned. If you have time to be active, TC, I do too.


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Why?

Took a 101 class some years ago. Read some Platonic dialogues.

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Verdekal posted...

Took a 101 class some years ago. Read some Platonic dialogues.

Great now I can't even compete

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i like alan watts philosophy the most but he's misunderstood by a lot of new age followers...ive noticed some real whiffs from people thinking that he is explaining how to "win the game of life" by "not caring", not understanding his whole philosophy is based on eastern philosophy and that life itself is the game of gods playing with lego blocks, not a game with a secret formula to win. it's more just you can choose to live modestly and with love, you can choose to get ahead and hurt everyone in your path, or you can choose to kill yourself...none of those have any real restrictions, it's more about your nature and your identity. And your role in the drama will play its part no matter which you pick but you're not going to be rewarded or punished for it, other than losing friends and feeling guilt by picking the 2 latter. and there is a certain grimness in the third option because it doesn't mean to just kill yourself on the spot but to live life in your nature and just waste the time away out of uncertainty. which is how pretty much 99% of us live...slowly killing ourselves through work stress, through food, through alcohol, through drugs, etc we try to be decent according to our nature but not taking time to actually observe the game that's being played. and if we do observe that game, through psychedelics, near death experiences, mentors, meditation, etc we can end up living the way that is in our nature. and eventually we realize our nature is the nature of how we want to be treated/live idealistically

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To be or not to be. That is the question.

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Took a beginning philosophy course once for shits and giggles as a college freshman, first semester. It was pretty terrible. It was a regular class setup (everyone just in chairs straight facing a board) but was in practice almost a seminar since the prof just kept on asking people in the class for their opinions. Obviously, a couple of people liked to talk way more than others...especially since most of the people were newly minted freshman not used to the college dynamic yet.

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What is a website?

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@Godnorgosh

Should barbers shave themselves?

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I took a bit of philosophy of science and a bit of ethics as a mandatory part of my degree but no general philosophy sadly.

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Joker98 posted...

What is a person's nature? Ie, if someone said, "It's in their nature", what exactly does that mean?

I usually think of that as the base mixture of man ranging between ages 0-5. The cultural belief systems and values imposed that mix in with impulses that are later expressed in more complicated entanglements with morality. Usually if someone referenced me for example and said its in his nature I assume that reference would be to an exterior self presented in the time I knew that particular person.

I tend to believe that beyond mental ailments and our physical appearances our genes are capeable of carrying historical markers of some sort.. entire instances not of memory, but literal genes and chromosomes that have been shaken in someone elses bodies and obviously contains innate properties that lead some people to certain dispositions and character.

Not quite sure honestly, I just really wanted to know what sorta response youd give to my malarkey - Im really interested in the subject and enjoyed the one class I took in it so Id love to learn more with people that know >_>

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The only philosophy that interests me these days is philosophy geared towards dealing with ontological questions and the nature of individuation

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scar the 1 posted...

I took a bit of ethics as a mandatory part of my degree but no general philosophy sadly.

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I suppose some of the logic that I took in various math/comp-sci/AI classes would overlap a bit with logic taught in philosophy as well. But it's obviously a bit of a different angle.

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RedJackson posted...

I usually think of that as the base mixture of man ranging between ages 0-5. The cultural belief systems and values imposed that mix in with impulses that are later expressed in more complicated entanglements with morality. Usually if someone referenced me for example and said its in his nature I assume that reference would be to an exterior self presented in the time I knew that particular person.

I tend to believe that beyond mental ailments and our physical appearances our genes are capeable of carrying historical markers of some sort.. entire instances not of memory, but literal genes and chromosomes that have been shaken in someone elses bodies and obviously contains innate properties that lead some people to certain dispositions and character.

Not quite sure honestly, I just really wanted to know what sorta response youd give to my malarkey - Im really interested in the subject and enjoyed the one class I took in it so Id love to learn more with people that know >_>

It's interesting that you mentioned personality traits being passed down in DNA because I do know that trauma specifically is passed down through DNA, for instance in the children and grandchildren of holocaust survivors. (see Epigenetic marks of trauma).

You mentioned that if someone said something is in your nature that it would be a reference to an external self (versus your internal self) in the time you've known the person. Do you think that if each person's experience of another person's nature is subjective (since it's based on how long they've known them, and the version you choose to present), then claims about another person's nature are inaccurate?

David1988 posted...

The only philosophy that interests me these days is philosophy geared towards dealing with ontological questions and the nature of individuation

What is your working definition of an individual?

MedeaLysistrata posted...

Sure, I'd join a philosophy discord. There was one before but we didn't do much, like has been mentioned. If you have time to be active, TC, I do too.

Awesome! Lets see if this topic gets traction and if there's general interest then we can set one up

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