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Old 02-03-2004, 01:46 PM   #2 (permalink)
pyraxis
Tilted
 
Location: Somewhere between Arborea and Bytopia
Just because many philosophical debates fall apart into personal attacks is no reason to condemn the philosophy, just the debaters. Now granted that may be what you intended all along, but with lines like "my opinion was not an attempt to claim that all of philosophy is useless, just that most of it was", I have to ask.

The thing is, philosophy is what shapes our ethics, and ethics influence almost every action. It may be unproveable whether a supreme being exists (for example), but many people who believe it have adopted a certain set of values with it, and that's changed how they try to live their lives.

And as for whether debate can really lead to new ideas, if you agree that philosophy must follow logical standards, it's quite possible to prove or disprove theories that people have come up with in the past. Even if you think logic's got nothing to do with it, discussion can still give you a new perspective on ideas... ideas that could easily have a major impact on your life. Abortion, euthanasia, and other "hot topics" like that are all philosophical issues in the end.
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