Philosophy for noobs, a passionate outburst for the rest of us

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If you could explain philosophy and what it means for you to someone who understands nothing of it, what would you say?
 
Zundrah said:
If you could explain philosophy and what it means for you to someone who understands nothing of it, what would you say?
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Philosophy the the science of the “why?”.
When you say “why?” something, you are into philosophy.
Listen: I am doing philosophy when I asked WHY did you call yourself noob and WHY is it so that you said that you understand nothing when it is obvious that you asked this question a million times, since you were 5 years old…???
Kids are natural philosophers: “Why is it the table square?”; “Why do you have wrinkles in the forehead ?”, usually questions that no one is able to answer. Unwillingly to give up it all ends in a “shut up and eat your muesli!”
That is when people give up being philosophers and start giving pre-programmed answers: “The sun is shinning! What a gorgeous day!”. “There are clouds and rain! Awful weather!”

But the British are as they are, archaic an creative at the same time. So, one British Philosopher put the question no one thought: “Why must we find the sunny days gorgeous and the rainy days awful?” and created a Society that watches clouds, you may find it in the Internet.

Me, as I find the British the most funny people on Earth (since i first went to London in the 60ties and say in Waterloo Station all kinds of vestments and specially a guy with trousers, each leg of a different color), I went with watching clouds which I advise to everybody, as well as to appreciate the awful weather days.

And go to the site: you find photos of pilots in airplanes … beautiful clouds…
 
Pfaffenhoffen said:
Philosophy the the science of the “why?”.
When you say “why?” something, you are into philosophy.
Listen: I am doing philosophy when I asked WHY did you call yourself noob and WHY is it so that you said that you understand nothing when it is obvious that you asked this question a million times, since you were 5 years old…???
Kids are natural philosophers: “Why is it the table square?”; “Why do you have wrinkles in the forehead ?”, usually questions that no one is able to answer. Unwillingly to give up it all ends in a “shut up and eat your muesli!”
That is when people give up being philosophers and start giving pre-programmed answers: “The sun is shinning! What a gorgeous day!”. “There are clouds and rain! Awful weather!”

But the British are as they are, archaic an creative at the same time. So, one British Philosopher put the question no one thought: “Why must we find the sunny days gorgeous and the rainy days awful?” and created a Society that watches clouds, you may find it in the Internet.

Me, as I find the British the most funny people on Earth (since i first went to London in the 60ties and say in Waterloo Station all kinds of vestments and specially a guy with trousers, each leg of a different color), I went with watching clouds which I advise to everybody, as well as to appreciate the awful weather days.

And go to the site: you find photos of pilots in airplanes … beautiful clouds…
Click to expand...
The cloud appreciation society? I just found this;

cloudappreciationsociety.org/

And yes kids do end up having their questions ignored and they give up asking or even thinking about “why”.
 
Philosophy is the attempt to reduce Cartesian anxiety through speculation.
 
Zundrah said:
If you could explain philosophy and what it means for you to someone who understands nothing of it, what would you say?
Click to expand...
Philosophy in basic terms, has come to mean '‘thinking a little to much’ on everything, from existence to time, from politics and economics to creation and the basic principles of our earthly life. It is a beautiful academic discipline for those that wonder ‘why?’ and ‘if’, and for those that enjoy a very interesting (and actually very constructive) conversation between academics, and academics in a pub.

I personally love discussing my disciplines (Theology and Philosophy) with everyone who has even a basic understanding of philosophy in antiquity, up until just before the ‘enlightenment’ (I add quotation marks because I believe Philosophical & Theological knowledge took a nose dive during this period, especially compared to the Ancient Greeks such as many of the Pre-Socratics, also the great minds of Antiquity, Plato and Aristotle).
 
I think philosophy is our attempts to find complex answers to simple observations. I go with the child. My husband, who wears hearing aids was under close observation by a little girl about 3-4. She would walk back and forth before him looking at him closely. He walked away and she approached me and asked, “what is in that man’s ears.” I said, “they are hearing aids. The help him because he cannot hear very well so they make sounds louder” She looked perplexed, patted her own ears and said,“I don’t have any in my ears?!” “No”, I sad. “That’s because you hear very well”. Satisfied, she walked away. So there you have it, observation, question, seeking answer, got it, end of story.

Oh wait, philosophers might discuss ad infinitum, write five books, and debate with others.
 
Ohana said:
I think philosophy is our attempts to find complex answers to simple observations. I go with the child. My husband, who wears hearing aids was under close observation by a little girl about 3-4. She would walk back and forth before him looking at him closely. He walked away and she approached me and asked, “what is in that man’s ears.” I said, “they are hearing aids. The help him because he cannot hear very well so they make sounds louder” She looked perplexed, patted her own ears and said,“I don’t have any in my ears?!” “No”, I sad. “That’s because you hear very well”. Satisfied, she walked away. So there you have it, observation, question, seeking answer, got it, end of story.

Oh wait, philosophers might discuss ad infinitum, write five books, and debate with others.
Click to expand...
I can just imagine how far a discussion on observing technology helping us live throughout life would go in one of my Philosophy Seminars, we would be there for hours! (One example is, we had a two hour long debate on the meaning of Heraclitus’ statement ‘we step and do not step into the same rivers, we are, and are not’ (I got this quote from Heraclitus’ article on the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, if you wish to confirm I quoted this proper, as it is off my head), I have no idea how that simple quote caused a room full of Philosophers to debate for two hours!
 
A philosophy is a personal interpretation of reality which everyone has but not everyone recognises! It is revealed more by the way people live than by what they claim to believe… 🙂
 
Skeptic92 said:
I can just imagine how far a discussion on observing technology helping us live throughout life would go in one of my Philosophy Seminars, we would be there for hours! (One example is, we had a two hour long debate on the meaning of Heraclitus’ statement ‘we step and do not step into the same rivers, we are, and are not’ (I got this quote from Heraclitus’ article on the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, if you wish to confirm I quoted this proper, as it is off my head), I have no idea how that simple quote caused a room full of Philosophers to debate for two hours!
Click to expand...
One thing leads to another! Ultimately all subjects are related…
 
Philosophy is a particular language game- the meta-game perhaps into which others are sublated. Terms used (such essence/substance, necessary/contingent, etc.) are ‘toys’ or markers within the game. The object is to try to make interesting, suprising or aesthetically pleasing moves.

It is a diversion from reality, but ‘reality’ itself is only another verbal marker in this essentially self-referential word game. By philosophy, we create a new reality.
 
Zundrah said:
If you could explain philosophy and what it means for you to someone who understands nothing of it, what would you say?
Click to expand...
Philosophy is where anyone and everyone puts in their two cents regarding the question “why”.

:twocents:
 
Skeptic92 said:
I can just imagine how far a discussion on observing technology helping us live throughout life would go in one of my Philosophy Seminars, we would be there for hours! (One example is, we had a two hour long debate on the meaning of Heraclitus’ statement ‘we step and do not step into the same rivers, we are, and are not’ (I got this quote from Heraclitus’ article on the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, if you wish to confirm I quoted this proper, as it is off my head), I have no idea how that simple quote caused a room full of Philosophers to debate for two hours!
Click to expand...
Sorry, I learnt thee beautiful quote as follows: “The water does not flow twice under the same bridge!”

Awesome !!!

Sorry, the orthographic correcter says learnt is a mistake. Is it a mistake and it is learned, which pleases the corrector?

thanks.
 
Skeptic92 said:
Philosophy in basic terms, has come to mean '‘thinking a little to much’ on everything, from existence to time, from politics and economics to creation and the basic principles of our earthly life. It is a beautiful academic discipline for those that wonder ‘why?’ and ‘if’, and for those that enjoy a very interesting (and actually very constructive) conversation between academics, and academics in a pub.

I personally love discussing my disciplines (Theology and Philosophy) with everyone who has even a basic understanding of philosophy in antiquity, up until just before the ‘enlightenment’ (I add quotation marks because I believe Philosophical & Theological knowledge took a nose dive during this period, especially compared to the Ancient Greeks such as many of the Pre-Socratics, also the great minds of Antiquity, Plato and Aristotle).
Click to expand...
I have the same formation a you, but I go all the way, even when I do not know.
With such formation, why are you skeptical?
You should be like a solid ground where the others may walk in.
Or the lighthouse so others may see the safe way out…
 
tonyrey said:
A philosophy is a personal interpretation of reality which everyone has but not everyone recognises! It is revealed more by the way people live than by what they claim to believe… 🙂
Click to expand...
Do not forget theory.
 
Qoeleth said:
Philosophy is a particular language game- the meta-game perhaps into which others are sublated. Terms used (such essence/substance, necessary/contingent, etc.) are ‘toys’ or markers within the game. The object is to try to make interesting, suprising or aesthetically pleasing moves.

It is a diversion from reality, but ‘reality’ itself is only another verbal marker in this essentially self-referential word game. By philosophy, we create a new reality.
Click to expand...
Plato.
I did not understand what you said but it sounded beautiful…
 
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