A humble reccomendation

[bearcat22]

You may know people who abhor the topic of philosophy, or regard philosophy as impractical.

Whether or not you agree with this writer's particular philosophy, I think you might be hard pressed to
find a more succinct expression of these premises:

Philosophy deals with practical, 'real world' issues

Everyone uses philosophy every day, whether they realize it or not

The essay is entitled "Philosophy: Who Needs It".  

As of this posting, a Google search under "pdf philosophy who needs it" will lead you to it directly.

[studiot]

Please explain why we should search for this and why you have not included a tasty summary to temp us.

 

As a matter of interest, what does Plato have to say about it ?

https://plato.stanford.edu/

[LuckyR]

Well it is true that everyone uses their personal moral code and the community ethical standard to help make decisions every single day. But that's like saying that since we all breathe oxygen every day that we all have an interest in atmospheric chemistry.

[exchemist]

On 2/27/2025 at 11:27 PM, bearcat22 said:

You may know people who abhor the topic of philosophy, or regard philosophy as impractical.

Whether or not you agree with this writer's particular philosophy, I think you might be hard pressed to
find a more succinct expression of these premises:

Philosophy deals with practical, 'real world' issues

Everyone uses philosophy every day, whether they realize it or not

The essay is entitled "Philosophy: Who Needs It".  

As of this posting, a Google search under "pdf philosophy who needs it" will lead you to it directly.

Who is the writer and what are his or her credentials on the subject?

[Phi for All]

7 hours ago, exchemist said:

Who is the writer and what are his or her credentials on the subject?

The OP's sockpuppet account claimed that if you have to ask, you're a "mental infant". Tells me all I need to know about the thread.

[Sensei]

I get the Wikipedia article about the book. The author died in 1982, so there is no concern that it is our OP simply advertising his/her book.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy:_Who_Needs_It

 

 

There is only one wise philosophical phrase worth remembering:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_know_that_I_know_nothing

Edited Monday at 04:38 PM by Sensei

[exchemist]

4 minutes ago, Sensei said:

I get the Wikipedia article about the book. The author died in 1982, so there is no concern that it is our OP. simply advertising his book.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy:_Who_Needs_It

 

Oooh, so it’s that ghastly Ayn Rand woman! Now why does that not surprise me?😉

She’s the one who advocated a philosophy of personal selfishness, thought millionaires were heroes and social welfare was an abomination…..and then spent her declining years living on, er, state social welfare benefits.

So a thoroughly poisonous individual  - and a hypocrite to boot. 

Oddly enough, I don’t feel motivated to read her effusions. But then, I was brought up with a Christian ethical system, of which Ayn Rand’s ideas are the absolute antithesis.

[dimreepr]

19 hours ago, Sensei said:

There is only one wise philosophical phrase worth remembering:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_know_that_I_know_nothing

That too has it's nuances, which is worth remembering... 😉 

[John Cuthber]

On 2/27/2025 at 11:27 PM, bearcat22 said:

Philosophy deals with practical, 'real world' issues

Like how many angels can dance on teh head of a pin.

[dimreepr]

45 minutes ago, John Cuthber said:

Like how many angels can dance on teh head of a pin.

Is there a number you'd be happy to validate???

[npts2020]

13 hours ago, John Cuthber said:

Like how many angels can dance on teh head of a pin.

Only if you consider theology to be philosophy. 

[iNow]

13 hours ago, dimreepr said:

Is there a number you'd be happy to validate???

Zero. Angels are fictional. 

[Eise]

On 2/28/2025 at 12:27 AM, bearcat22 said:

You may know people who abhor the topic of philosophy, or regard philosophy as impractical.

Whether or not you agree with this writer's particular philosophy, I think you might be hard pressed to
find a more succinct expression of these premises:

Philosophy deals with practical, 'real world' issues

Everyone uses philosophy every day, whether they realize it or not

There is a reason that Ayn Rand is not taught in academic philosophy. @exchemist said it very well:

On 3/3/2025 at 5:43 PM, exchemist said:

She’s the one who advocated a philosophy of personal selfishness, thought millionaires were heroes and social welfare was an abomination…..and then spent her declining years living on, er, state social welfare benefits.

So a thoroughly poisonous individual  - and a hypocrite to boot. 

And there is a discipline in philosophy that often is called 'practical philosophy': ethics. For the rest the main goal of philosophy is to understand our own thinking about different subjects in the world. That is not directly practical, but it can have practical impact, indirectly. 

[John Cuthber]

22 hours ago, dimreepr said:

Is there a number you'd be happy to validate???

All of them, but not necessarily at the same time.

[dimreepr]

10 hours ago, npts2020 said:

Only if you consider theology to be philosophy. 

What makes you think it's not ?

For a very large number of years, it's been a very effective and practicle philosophy for large swathes of the populous in every society on earth; what do you consider theology to be?

1 hour ago, John Cuthber said:

All of them, but not necessarily at the same time.

Indeed, we all need a little magic from time too time. 😉

[TheVat]

2 hours ago, dimreepr said:

What makes you think it's not ?

Because it presumes in advance that which a philosopher would question.  I.e. theology assumes it has an object of study: God.  Whereas philosophy, spec. metaphysics and epistemology, would question if such a being existed and if so, how it could be known by humans.

[dimreepr]

20 hours ago, TheVat said:

Because it presumes in advance that which a philosopher would question.  I.e. theology assumes it has an object of study: God.  Whereas philosophy, spec. metaphysics and epistemology, would question if such a being existed and if so, how it could be known by humans.

Maimonides, Aquinas, Spinoza etc. do you question their philosophical credential's?

You're conflating the student and the teacher, theologies object of study is the bible, which contains a god, but is widely assumed to be written by people...

[TheVat]

2 hours ago, dimreepr said:

Maimonides, Aquinas, Spinoza etc. do you question their philosophical credential's?

You're conflating the student and the teacher, theologies object of study is the bible, which contains a god, but is widely assumed to be written by people...

Not really, just distinguishing between western analytic philosophy and theology as they currently are done.  Not saying that someone like Spinoza didn't do both, in his day.  

[dimreepr]

5 minutes ago, TheVat said:

Not really, just distinguishing between western analytic philosophy and theology as they currently are done.  Not saying that someone like Spinoza didn't do both, in his day.  

Which direction, is correct???

[npts2020]

On 3/5/2025 at 8:20 AM, dimreepr said:

What makes you think it's not ?

Well, theology is certainly not any part of scientific philosophy.

[dimreepr]

7 hours ago, npts2020 said:

Well, theology is certainly not any part of scientific philosophy.

Science is a product of philosophy, in fact I think it could be argued that science has become anti-philosophy (edit. which is just another philosophical POV).

Philosophy is just a way of thinking, that seeks to eliminate our own biased perception's in order to seek the truth of humanity, science seeks to eliminate humanity from the equation.

Edited Friday at 11:56 AM by dimreepr