First things first, this isn't a personal attack. I just noticed a few points...
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Originally posted by filtherton
Do you realize what is going on here? Unga starts a thread asking people's opinions on philosophy and i offer mine. Yay, someone is providing their input.
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Let's just examine this.
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Unga's post
So this may or may sound stupid but whatever
So i'm taking my first philosophy course in unisersity this semester. I'm currently reading Plato's "The Republic". It's interesting and all.. the arguements i've never thought of.. but does anyone else find it a big, long, long, long puzzle. Any hints on what I should really be focusing on throughout the book? Thank yas
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filtherton's response
I think philosophy generally amounts to an intellectually masturbatory exercise where no one really learns anything useful because everybody is too busy patting themselves on the back. I think most philosophical arguments can be ended with a simple "So what?" It is a good way to develop abstract reasoning skills though.
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By all means pat yourself on the back for contributing, but don't for a second pretend that response was even relevant to Unga's question.
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Now before you go completely proving my point about intellectual masturbation and the lack of desire for personal growth, let me point out that if not for your desire to be right you probably would have acknowldeged the fact that my opinion was not an attempt to claim that all of philosophy is useless, just that most of it was. But, alas, your whole argument rests upon my complete an utter rejection of all that is good and useful in civil/philosophical discussion. Did you come yet?
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I wish I could have popped out of my mother a fully formed filosofizin' machine, man, but unfortunately, I had this tiresome thing called immaturity to overcome. Good philosophy is the product of many years of study, argument and refinement. Sadly, most philosophers don't spend the time and energy they need to attain that level. In fact, most people who are new to philosophy are so taken with the fact that they're debating the biggest issues there are, it does turn into intellectual masturbation. So most philosophers suck. I know I do.
So does that instantly invalidate my opinion? Is it worthless to argue a point, because I'm not very good at it? To my mind, it takes an awful lot of dedication to reach the lucidity of argument that produces philosophical truth. I view the bad arguments and the intellectual masturbation and the personal attacks and the 'but that's a cop-out' rejoinders as a hurdle to be overcome on the path to philosophical mastery. So let 'em have their arguments.
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Whether you know it or not you agree with me to a certain extent. For example, you don't seem to be going out of your way to learn and refine your perspective by actively participating in even one-fourth of the threads currently going on in this philosophy forum?
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And with such scorching philosophical hot potatoes as 'If You Could Have Sex With God, Would You?' flying around, I have to say, man, I can't believe he hasn't participated more.
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Aren't you effectiveley ending your part of all of these arguments with a big fat implied SO WHAT?!?!? by not participating in them?
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That just doesn't make sense. So I don't have a post in EVERY SINGLE THREAD on the board. That means I don't have an opinon on the matters? I don't know about you, but I don't really have time to sit here 24/7.
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Most philosophical discussions that i have been exposed to fail on both counts. Either they aren't relevant to the way that i view the world or they aren't logical to my vulcan mind.
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And this is your picture of personal betterment? Something irrelevant to your view of the world is dismissed? Did it occur to you that once in a while your view of the world might need shifting? I wouldn't for a second suggest it in all cases. But what's the point in going into an argument thinking everything contrary is irrelevant to you?