Philosophy Now Forum

Walker wrote: ↑Fri Nov 10, 2023 9:58 am

simplicity wrote: ↑Thu Nov 09, 2023 9:28 pm

Dontaskme wrote: ↑Thu Nov 09, 2023 11:09 am Say it with pictures, or words.

I have a better idea...why don't we make it compelling instead.

The pursuit of pleasure [in all its insidious forms] almost always ends badly [relationships, obesity, drugs and alcohol, electronic devices, social media, etc.]. THIS is why [until recently] fun was the business of children, not adults. Something seemed to happen in the 80's and many decided that growing up and acting responsibly was not part of the basic program anymore.

Instead of the need to constantly push your pleasure buttons, perhaps doing things because they will improve the overall quality of your life [and the lives of those around you] might be a path that will actually result in contentment [the best you can hope for as an adult].

Dontaskme wrote: ↑Thu Nov 09, 2023 11:09 amI think an important question to consider is whether or not philosophy is a pathway for seeking the truth, or if philosophy is an intellectual method to express the truths that seeking has already found, and applying those truths to what's-happening-now, via the common reference point of a topic, whether the topic be current events, history, or predictions.

Actually, you have hit upon the most important issue in philosophy, i.e., where does truth lie?

I believe if you study the truly transcendent over time, you will find that they were able to tap into the truth by attenuating the effects of their intellect. It has been known since the beginning that the human intellect is not capable of understanding Reality [or much of anything, for that matter], so methods were cultivated to discover how we might appreciate what exists in and of itself.

The truth is not something knowable, it is something you can exist within. The intellect can only point the way. If there was something to "figure out," this would have been accomplished long ago. The complexity of Reality is so vast that we cannot even come close to understanding how to understand it. Doesn't matter, though. We don't need to understand...

The reason I said what I did about pleasure is that when we try to escape from the way things are, we pay a price. Things are just the way they are for an infinite number of reasons that we cannot understand. If we would like to "enhance" our experience by tainting it with stimuli [internal or external] which elevate our mood, then we will experience just the opposite when actual reality re-appears. It is this up and down of human emotion that characterizes most people's lives [to the point now where many need a third or forth drug to lessen the affects of the others [the initial stimulus and the dopamine].

Philosophy is very similar to mathematics. It's a system that uses what we think we know and applies it to a reality which is always changing, and things intellectual are ALWAYS changing, this we know. Things non-intellectual are permanent [as they can never be known]. "Permanence," is not accurate, only intellectual pointing towards...

attofishpi wrote: ↑Fri Nov 10, 2023 9:14 pm How many lightbulbs does it take to change a philosopher?

Lacewing wrote: ↑Fri Nov 10, 2023 9:28 pm

attofishpi wrote: ↑Fri Nov 10, 2023 9:14 pm How many lightbulbs does it take to change a philosopher?

Depends on what you mean by 'lightbulb' and it depends on the philosopher because some refuse to change.

Dontaskme wrote: ↑Fri Nov 10, 2023 7:29 pm If two witches watched two watches.
Which witch would watch which watch.

simplicity wrote: ↑Thu Nov 09, 2023 9:28 pm
Instead of the need to constantly push your pleasure buttons, perhaps doing things because they will improve the overall quality of your life [and the lives of those around you] might be a path that will actually result in contentment [the best you can hope for as an adult].

Simplicity wrote:
The reason I said what I did about pleasure is that when we try to escape from the way things are, we pay a price.

simplicity wrote: ↑Fri Nov 10, 2023 7:12 pm The reason I said what I did about pleasure is that when we try to escape from the way things are, we pay a price.

simplicity wrote: ↑Fri Nov 10, 2023 7:12 pm Things are just the way they are for an infinite number of reasons that we cannot understand.

simplicity wrote: ↑Fri Nov 10, 2023 7:12 pm If we would like to "enhance" our experience by tainting it with stimuli [internal or external] which elevate our mood, then we will experience just the opposite when actual reality re-appears.

simplicity wrote: ↑Fri Nov 10, 2023 7:12 pm It is this up and down of human emotion that characterizes most people's lives [to the point now where many need a third or forth drug to lessen the affects of the others [the initial stimulus and the dopamine].

simplicity wrote: ↑Fri Nov 10, 2023 7:12 pm The reason I said what I did about pleasure is that when we try to escape from the way things are, we pay a price. Things are just the way they are for an infinite number of reasons that we cannot understand. If we would like to "enhance" our experience by tainting it with stimuli [internal or external] which elevate our mood, then we will experience just the opposite when actual reality re-appears. It is this up and down of human emotion that characterizes most people's lives [to the point now where many need a third or forth drug to lessen the affects of the others [the initial stimulus and the