Who are your favourite philosophers?
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mixed_biscuits
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In one's labours, necessity comes before sanity.
Where Helios falls, Priapus rises.
The sole consolation of man's mistakes is that man makes them.
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
I just felt like droid saying something nice about me should be commemorated, like a blue plaque on a building to show that Queen Victoria once nipped inside to have a wee in 1846.
padraig (u.s.)
a monkey that will go ape
I read about half of Ethics as part of a philosophy club I + some co-workers started
I wouldn't say I "like" him - the Euclidean style makes it extremely dry - but I found it very interesting, and I'd like to finish it someday
his metaphysics basically, as I understand them: God is synonymous with the universe (or "nature" if you want), or to put in more modern scientific terms God is synonymous with the infinite potentialities of the expression of matter by the fundamental forces of the universe (gravity, electromagnetic). there's only one substance, which is God (the universe) and which alone can cause itself to be. everything in the universe is a "mode" - one of those infinite potentialities, which is still part of God (the universe) but differentiated (expressed, in the biological sense) by God (fundamental forces). as you can tell, it's difficult to sum up, let alone understand, especially as much of what he said is ambiguous, possibly to avoid accusations of heresy, which was unsuccessful it was the case as we as denounced inaccurately as an atheist.
he is quite a fascinating figure for a number of reasons beyond just his philosophy. part of his reputation lies in his rare achievement of living an actually virtuous life, or at least one in line with his philosophy, turning down worldly honors. his bitter expulsion from Judaism is also a pretty amazing and I believe unique historical episode.
padraig (u.s.)
a monkey that will go ape
my favorite philosopher is by a wide margin Camus
as I don't have any formal training, I find him much easier to read than abstruse theorists (something Sartre mocked him for after they fell out)
and he was the very rare philosopher with great style. wrote his philosophy like literature and vice versa
and unlike many philosophers, his positions on almost everything stand up well in the light of history
the big sticking point there is his ambiguous relationship with French colonialism in Algeria, having grown up there as a pied-noir
otoh, his WWII record is leaps and bounds ahead of Sartre. not quite Xenakis-level heroism, but the next tier down.
as I don't have any formal training, I find him much easier to read than abstruse theorists (something Sartre mocked him for after they fell out)
and he was the very rare philosopher with great style. wrote his philosophy like literature and vice versa
and unlike many philosophers, his positions on almost everything stand up well in the light of history
the big sticking point there is his ambiguous relationship with French colonialism in Algeria, having grown up there as a pied-noir
otoh, his WWII record is leaps and bounds ahead of Sartre. not quite Xenakis-level heroism, but the next tier down.
padraig (u.s.)
a monkey that will go ape
also the rare philosopher who was a cool dude and not a sadsack, or a hateful goblin like Schopenhauer
padraig (u.s.)
a monkey that will go ape
I like the pithiness of this, but it definitely isn't true
padraig (u.s.)
a monkey that will go ape
also on philosophy on general - easiest thing in the world to mock, no doubt
an extremely worthwhile pursuit if one has time, I strongly feel
as all politics is downstream from culture, so all culture is downstream from belief
and belief is shaped by philosophy (including theology), tho more indirectly and over a longer period of time so that it's harder to recognize
before philosophy, myth (and theology) performed the same function - what is the world? why are we here? how should we live? etc
I was never much interested in philosophy and then a few years ago I became extremely interested it
an extremely worthwhile pursuit if one has time, I strongly feel
as all politics is downstream from culture, so all culture is downstream from belief
and belief is shaped by philosophy (including theology), tho more indirectly and over a longer period of time so that it's harder to recognize
before philosophy, myth (and theology) performed the same function - what is the world? why are we here? how should we live? etc
I was never much interested in philosophy and then a few years ago I became extremely interested it
padraig (u.s.)
a monkey that will go ape
another favorite is Kierkegaard, another philosopher's philosopher, and possibly the most emo person in all of human history
he broke off his marriage because he thought it would take too much time away from doing philosophy (one can only imagine his fiancee's reaction)
but jokes aside his philosophy is pretty amazing. what if laughter were really tears, indeed?
he broke off his marriage because he thought it would take too much time away from doing philosophy (one can only imagine his fiancee's reaction)
but jokes aside his philosophy is pretty amazing. what if laughter were really tears, indeed?
A.J. Ayer
When asked to imagine Paris all he could conjur up in his mind was a road sign with the word "Paris" on it. The Mike Tyson/Naomi Campbell story is good though.
Genius.
padraig (u.s.)
a monkey that will go ape
anything to do with logical positivism
idk if it's fair to call Derrida a "philosopher" but Derrida