No.25265[Reply][Last 50 Posts]
Despite our Wizard Unity, Wizchan is far from a hugbox. And maybe on a topic like philosophy some of that rhetorical, logical, dialectical debating skill can be put to good use. Instead of just discussing philosophy, lets actually do philosophy. This is the modern socratic dialogue.
I'll just get us started with some unsolved questions in philosophical debates, with a preference for topics which might be of reference to Wizards.
http://plato.stanford.edu/published.htmlhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unsolved_problems_in_philosophyFree Will vs Determinism
Qualia: How do I know that my color green is the same for you?
Materialism vs Idealism
Does God exist?
What is the meaning of life?
Is sexual reproduction immoral?
Post too long. Click here to view the full text. No.48487
Wizzies, I've never thought I'd say this, but where should one start studying philosophy? As in, what books, and in what order should you read to get a decent grasp on both the history of Western philosophy and on various teachings and schools of thought that appeared throughout the years? Another thing, in what way should philosophy be studied? Should I take notes, apply the many principles different philosophers put forward, debate about and discuss the things I read in Internet communities? What if I will find myself biased, positively or negatively, towards what the philosophers write? If I end up reading two philosophers works of which contradict or criticize each other, what should I do in such case? And finally, would it be wrong to use different insights from different philosophers in my life?
No.48488
>>48487You can discuss the contradictions with others, but you have to choose for yourself who and what to believe. Philosophy is difficult and huge and confusing at times. Start by reading whatever interests you first, but you should know the classics (like Plato) and the Bible. Most of philosophy is chronological, so just read the oldest to newest. Taking notes helps me when I study, but you have to decide for yourself if you're going to apply any principles.
No.48490
>>48487if you're a total 101, I would just skim this for topics you're interested in
https://plato.stanford.edu/published.html No.48491
>>48487https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X72ELQFnjYUThis video might be useful, always start with Plato.
No.51247
>Keep the faculty of effort alive in you by a little gratuitous exercise every day. That is, be systematically heroic in little unnecessary points, do every day or two something for no other reason than its difficulty, so that, when the hour of dire need draws nigh, it may find you not unnerved and untrained to stand the test. Asceticism of this sort is like the insurance which a man pays on his house and goods. The tax does him no good at the time, and possibly may never bring him a return. But, if the fire does come, his having paid it will be his salvation from ruin. So with the man who has daily inured himself to habits of concentrated attention, energetic volition, and self-denial in unnecessary things. He will stand like a tower when everything rocks around him, and his softer fellow-mortals are winnowed like chaff in the blast.
>We are spinning our own fates, good or evil, and never to be undone. Every smallest stroke of virtue or of vice leaves its never-so-little scar. The drunken Rip Van Winkle, in Jefferson's play, excuses himself for every fresh dereliction by saying, "I won't count this time!" Well, he may not count it, and a kind Heaven may not count it; but it is being counted none the less. Down among his nerve-cells and fibres the molecules are counting it, registering and storing it up to be used against him when the next temptation comes.