I have a nietsche plushie! HAHAH (Correction, NEE CHEE 
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also A calendar at home, but it's packed!
)also A calendar at home, but it's packed!
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The Esoteric Philosophy Thread
- Thread starter sashacat421
- Start Date
My favorite philosopher is George Carlin.
"The purpose in life is to get up, go to work, eat three good meals, take one good (bowel movement) and go to sleep."
And I've always been quite impressed by the writing of Bruce Lee.
Social Contract Theory has always made a lot of sense to me, but only if you dont' read everything the philosophers wrote. The idea is a great one, the application falls very very short.
I find anyone who things they can come up with the Grand Unified Rule Of Morality is really just preaching whatever they themselves believe. It all makes a good mental exercise, and good papers and class discussions, but the practical applications are heavily limited by the fact that no two people in the planet have the same moral background, and none of us can really agree on what is "right".
"The purpose in life is to get up, go to work, eat three good meals, take one good (bowel movement) and go to sleep."
And I've always been quite impressed by the writing of Bruce Lee.
Social Contract Theory has always made a lot of sense to me, but only if you dont' read everything the philosophers wrote. The idea is a great one, the application falls very very short.
I find anyone who things they can come up with the Grand Unified Rule Of Morality is really just preaching whatever they themselves believe. It all makes a good mental exercise, and good papers and class discussions, but the practical applications are heavily limited by the fact that no two people in the planet have the same moral background, and none of us can really agree on what is "right".
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #23
Excellent points, but can we all agree on what is the highest good?
you and I? possibly.
You and I and... say... Fwan? less likely. (more people)
You and I and Fwan and... my garbage man? Even less likely
The entire country? absolutly not.
The entire world? don't make me laugh...
Consider this. We pretty much all agree that "murder" is wrong. But very few people have the same definition of "murder", and thus really don't agree. If I'm attacked on the street, and kill my attacker, MY family thinks I did right, the attacker's family thinks I committed "murder". same word, different definition, no agreement.
You and I and... say... Fwan? less likely. (more people)
You and I and Fwan and... my garbage man? Even less likely
The entire country? absolutly not.
The entire world? don't make me laugh...
Consider this. We pretty much all agree that "murder" is wrong. But very few people have the same definition of "murder", and thus really don't agree. If I'm attacked on the street, and kill my attacker, MY family thinks I did right, the attacker's family thinks I committed "murder". same word, different definition, no agreement.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #25
Exactly! I see your point very well.....almost like polluting a gene pool, in an analogistic way. But as far as agreeing on the higest good, what is "good"? And who can agree? That is was Aristotle tried to ponder. If you toss out all religious and spiritual dogma, and just debate the intellectual, then what is the Greastest Good?
The Greatest Good is whatever does the most powerful person the most good. (or at least does the most good for whomever has the best Public Relations department.)
or, as another great philosopher (Ash from Army Of Darkness) put it:
"Good? Bad? I'm the guy with the gun."
or, as another great philosopher (Ash from Army Of Darkness) put it:
"Good? Bad? I'm the guy with the gun."
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #27
A good idea, but everyone is different..what that means to one person may be a ridiculous idea to another. We can never agree. Maybe compromise..
I don't believe in required reading. I believe in watching people & nature, taking knowledge where I can find it & coming to my own conclusions.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #29
Heavens! Required reading --YUK! I graduated second to last in my high school because I never went. I preferred to "experience life" at age 17 instead of a classroom. I didn't go to gollege until I was 31! But.....having said that (there IS a category for you, did you see?
A book that is a great primer on philosophy is a novel, called Sophie's World (get it) It's a fun book, and the only novel that I know of that has an index! Can't recall the author offhand, and I'm too lazy right now to look it up..I believe the author is Norwegian.
Yeah, it is a fun book!
I would certainly recommend it as a far less intimidating introduction to esoteric philosophy!
My man Karl is kicking ASS in the poll!
Nietzsche.
Heinlein is good too. (http://www.geocities.com/fleembit/qu...arus_Long.html)
My boyfriend is a Philosophy Grad Student - the house is FULL of Philosophy books. Right now, his classes are focused on Nietzsche and C.S. Peirce.
Heinlein is good too. (http://www.geocities.com/fleembit/qu...arus_Long.html)
My boyfriend is a Philosophy Grad Student - the house is FULL of Philosophy books. Right now, his classes are focused on Nietzsche and C.S. Peirce.
Robert A. Heinlein... the extemely prolific sci-fi genius.
I bet you just like him because he obviously displays a fondness for the feline purrsuasion.
Originally Posted by Sylent Rayne
Nietzsche.
Heinlein is good too. (http://www.geocities.com/fleembit/qu...arus_Long.html)
My boyfriend is a Philosophy Grad Student - the house is FULL of Philosophy books. Right now, his classes are focused on Nietzsche and C.S. Peirce.
*laughing* To be quite honest I don't know much about him. I've read a little, those quotes, and that's about it. I do like what I have read so far.
I am actually new to the Philosophy scene though I'm very Philosophical. I just have never truly been inspired to read Philosophers.
I am actually new to the Philosophy scene though I'm very Philosophical. I just have never truly been inspired to read Philosophers.
Do you like Poe?
Originally Posted by Sylent Rayne
*laughing* To be quite honest I don't know much about him. I've read a little, those quotes, and that's about it. I do like what I have read so far.
I am actually new to the Philosophy scene though I'm very Philosophical. I just have never truly been inspired to read Philosophers.
Some of his works. Speaking of authors -- I am actually partial to Herr Hesse. He's influenced by Nietzsche and I find his writings to be quite remarkable.
Yes, I've been meaning to pick up something by Hermann Hesse... someone who knows me well thinks I would like his stuff. Thanks for the reminder.
Though if he's strongly influenced by Nietzsche, I don't know how much he would appeal to me. Though I certainly give him a shot. As you may or may not have read earlier in the thread, I'm not big on Existentialism.
In fact, the only author I truly appreciate who smacks of Existentialim is De Beauvoir, and I'm pissed because she is a fantastic philospher/writer whose ideas should have been able to stand on their own merit, rather than continuously being paired with J.P. Sartre's. Infuriating!
Though if he's strongly influenced by Nietzsche, I don't know how much he would appeal to me. Though I certainly give him a shot. As you may or may not have read earlier in the thread, I'm not big on Existentialism.
In fact, the only author I truly appreciate who smacks of Existentialim is De Beauvoir, and I'm pissed because she is a fantastic philospher/writer whose ideas should have been able to stand on their own merit, rather than continuously being paired with J.P. Sartre's. Infuriating!
I wouldn't say he's strongly influenced, no. He does subscribe to the theory of Self and it is through Self that we can live. Siddhartha, Demian, Steppenwolf all have that aspect to it...Suffering to achieve Self. Out of those three, I prefered Steppenwolf, then Siddhartha, then Demian being last. I really want to read (the title is eluding me) but the one about the Priests...
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You don't necessarily have to be goth to get a lot out of Nietzche. I got into Nietzche because an ex-girlfriend liked him (weird, I know) and I wanted to have something to talk to her about. I think it's passage 122 in Beyond Good and Evil that made me a better photographer.
The Big Three, of course, but Plato's my favorite of them. I'm only slightly dissapointed that I'm not in Cincinnati at the moment because my favorite professor in the philosophy department is teaching a class on Plato for spring quarter. Oh well, I'll just have to make do with being in Italy.
Rousseau is by far my favorite 'social' philosopher (Sociology hadn't been "invented" yet). I love Emile. I saw a first run copy of his Discourse on the Origin of Inequality at a rare book shop here in town, and if the book next to it wouldn't have been two thousand Euro, then I would have at least asked how much it cost.
I changed my major about four and a half years into an engineering program (aerospace = rocket science) to a dual sociology and philosophy major. I'm gonna be a Sociphosipher!
The Big Three, of course, but Plato's my favorite of them. I'm only slightly dissapointed that I'm not in Cincinnati at the moment because my favorite professor in the philosophy department is teaching a class on Plato for spring quarter. Oh well, I'll just have to make do with being in Italy.
Rousseau is by far my favorite 'social' philosopher (Sociology hadn't been "invented" yet). I love Emile. I saw a first run copy of his Discourse on the Origin of Inequality at a rare book shop here in town, and if the book next to it wouldn't have been two thousand Euro, then I would have at least asked how much it cost.
I changed my major about four and a half years into an engineering program (aerospace = rocket science) to a dual sociology and philosophy major. I'm gonna be a Sociphosipher!
