Philosophy As a Way of Life - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

lofhay · 06-24-2011, 11:40 AM

The early, so-called “great”, philosophers saw philosophy as a way of life, meaning not only a means of livelihood, but more especially a pattern of thinking, a way of perceiving oneself and the universe, and a guide to ethics and morality--a way of deciding how to live and relate to others. They searched, discussed, experimented and labored over trying to develop and teach a method for doing these things. They each sought what they called “truth”, but few ever felt that they were satisfied that they had found an unequivocal answer. Most of them, at various times in their lives, were popular and sought after by some and seen as dangerous heretics by others. Some met the fate of execution as was often the case with so-called heretics. They would rather die than to pretend to abandon their way of seeing life.
For me, philosophy is not so much a way of life as it is a journey, an adventure, an inquiry. Having been on this journey most of my life (I have only recently realized that this is what it was), I can now say that I have reached the conclusion that there are some questions that man will never answer with any degree of certainty: questions about who I am, about the origin of life, about purpose and destination, about infinity and the boundaries of space and time. Therefore, I believe that it behooves us all to learn to be comfortable, or even excited, with not knowing.
I also believe that man can, and does, form a workable and productive set of values (morals) which enhance his sociability and sense of community. Although we humans have not been able to live up to our own standards, we are continuously striving to do so, and this is part of what I call the journey of philosophy. I hope you are enjoying your trip as much as I am mine.

Ourcrazymodern? · 07-01-2011, 02:19 PM

um, yes. It seems as if we could talk. I hope you come back around to do so. I don't think there's any getting around philosophizing, even for those who don't couch it in those terms. Good luck to the species?

lofhay · 07-24-2011, 06:32 AM

On Faith and Reason

When we speak of an idea which can not be proven, we call it a theory. When we take such a theory and bundle it with dogma, we call it religion. The act of believing such unproven theory and dogma we call faith. In all aspects other than theism, we call this fantasy. Why should faith be any different?

We can debate questions of interpretation of ideas based on reason. It is not constructive to debate differences in fantasies because no fantasy can be disproved in the mind of the one who is creating it. Fantasies may do no harm as long as the believer respects the right of all others to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Why does mankind cling to concepts which can only be defined as fantasy when so much distrust, contention, injustice and violence is the consequence? The concept which contributes to such mayhem is theism--the insistence that (a) there is a God, (b) this God desires that we worship Him and pray for His influence over our lives, (c) each individual is worthless without His saving them, (d) what we believe is more important than what we do, and (e) ours is the correct way to see these things and all others are in error.

Any contradiction or criticism of one's particular version of this fantasy is seen as blasphemy.

Ourcrazymodern? · 07-24-2011, 10:40 AM

‪Steve Winwood - Dear Mr. Fantasy‬&rlm; - YouTube

We should maybe be thinking our individual ways of thinking are not the smallest part of the problem. Then maybe bend to the inevitable I am he? Of course, I hope to think I can change minds is never a mistake.

06-24-2011, 11:40 AM	#1 (permalink)
lofhay Tilted Location: Charleston, SC	Philosophy As a Way of Life The early, so-called “great”, philosophers saw philosophy as a way of life, meaning not only a means of livelihood, but more especially a pattern of thinking, a way of perceiving oneself and the universe, and a guide to ethics and morality--a way of deciding how to live and relate to others. They searched, discussed, experimented and labored over trying to develop and teach a method for doing these things. They each sought what they called “truth”, but few ever felt that they were satisfied that they had found an unequivocal answer. Most of them, at various times in their lives, were popular and sought after by some and seen as dangerous heretics by others. Some met the fate of execution as was often the case with so-called heretics. They would rather die than to pretend to abandon their way of seeing life. For me, philosophy is not so much a way of life as it is a journey, an adventure, an inquiry. Having been on this journey most of my life (I have only recently realized that this is what it was), I can now say that I have reached the conclusion that there are some questions that man will never answer with any degree of certainty: questions about who I am, about the origin of life, about purpose and destination, about infinity and the boundaries of space and time. Therefore, I believe that it behooves us all to learn to be comfortable, or even excited, with not knowing. I also believe that man can, and does, form a workable and productive set of values (morals) which enhance his sociability and sense of community. Although we humans have not been able to live up to our own standards, we are continuously striving to do so, and this is part of what I call the journey of philosophy. I hope you are enjoying your trip as much as I am mine.

07-01-2011, 02:19 PM	#2 (permalink)
Ourcrazymodern? still, wondering. Location: South Minneapolis, somewhere near the gorgeous gorge	um, yes. It seems as if we could talk. I hope you come back around to do so. I don't think there's any getting around philosophizing, even for those who don't couch it in those terms. Good luck to the species? __________________ BE JUST AND FEAR NOT

07-24-2011, 06:32 AM	#3 (permalink)
lofhay Tilted Location: Charleston, SC	Faith and Reason On Faith and Reason When we speak of an idea which can not be proven, we call it a theory. When we take such a theory and bundle it with dogma, we call it religion. The act of believing such unproven theory and dogma we call faith. In all aspects other than theism, we call this fantasy. Why should faith be any different? We can debate questions of interpretation of ideas based on reason. It is not constructive to debate differences in fantasies because no fantasy can be disproved in the mind of the one who is creating it. Fantasies may do no harm as long as the believer respects the right of all others to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Why does mankind cling to concepts which can only be defined as fantasy when so much distrust, contention, injustice and violence is the consequence? The concept which contributes to such mayhem is theism--the insistence that (a) there is a God, (b) this God desires that we worship Him and pray for His influence over our lives, (c) each individual is worthless without His saving them, (d) what we believe is more important than what we do, and (e) ours is the correct way to see these things and all others are in error. Any contradiction or criticism of one's particular version of this fantasy is seen as blasphemy.