Philosophy Now Forum

Hello everyone,

This is my first time ever using a forum or ever really making an attempt to discuss my philosophical opinions at all. I have recently changed my major to philosophy but usually keep my opinions to myself. I would like to develop my opinions on a range of philosophical topics so as to be more confident in discussing them openly. I am very interested in epistemology, metaphysics and virtue ethics. As of now I am still trying to sort through a lot of confusion I have and hope that this will be a good place to do just that. Any constructive criticism is much welcome.

Thanks

What about non-constructive criticism?

And welcome btw.

All criticisms welcome.

This confusion you need to work through... do you own it? If so, what did you pay for it (metaphorically at least)? What is its basic nature; clash of ideas? Too many ingredients? Too many words? Lack of relationship to thoughts you are presented?

My confusion seems (at least to me) to reside in my lack of understanding the implications that certain philosophical concepts and problems pose. This I believe to be due to my not yet having a good enough grasp on what philosophical terms are about. And because of this I'm unsure if my opinions about different philosophical issues are compatible with one another.

Sappho wrote:Hello everyone,

This is my first time ever using a forum or ever really making an attempt to discuss my philosophical opinions at all. I have recently changed my major to philosophy but usually keep my opinions to myself. I would like to develop my opinions on a range of philosophical topics so as to be more confident in discussing them openly. I am very interested in epistemology, metaphysics and virtue ethics. As of now I am still trying to sort through a lot of confusion I have and hope that this will be a good place to do just that. Any constructive criticism is much welcome.

Thanks

Welcome!

Follow us.

We will guide you in the correct direction.
We are the Righteous.

Brit Dems is joking... I think. Anyway Sappho, good luck with your philosophy major and welcome to the forum. Virtue ethics is a fascinating approach. I once had the pleasure of interviewing Philippa Foot, an amazing philosopher who wrote quite a bit on virtue ethics. If you haven't already read her "Virtues and Vices", I really recommend it!

Perhaps do a quick map of philosophical terms to get your bearings. Invent your own if you need to in order to keep it simple. Most philosophers will work with fewer terms than you'd think. The important thing is to have your bearings and be able to quickly ascertain necessary directions. Keep it to a dozen max. Just read or talk like mad without stopping too often to memorise terms - they are a dime a dozen except for the ones that bring you meaning

Imagine that we know nothing of what you know and teach us what you know.

Your ideas will become more clear on the way.

I can be your first student.

What is metaphysics ? Something that is above or beyond physics ? Something not accessible to physical experience ?

RickLewis wrote:Brit Dems is joking... I think. Anyway Sappho, good luck with your philosophy major and welcome to the forum. Virtue ethics is a fascinating approach. I once had the pleasure of interviewing Philippa Foot, an amazing philosopher who wrote quite a bit on virtue ethics. If you haven't already read her "Virtues and Vices", I really recommend it!

Thanks RickLewis. I've never heard of Philippa Foot but I'll definitely look into that text.

Bernard wrote:Perhaps do a quick map of philosophical terms to get your bearings. Invent your own if you need to in order to keep it simple. Most philosophers will work with fewer terms than you'd think. The important thing is to have your bearings and be able to quickly ascertain necessary directions. Keep it to a dozen max. Just read or talk like mad without stopping too often to memorise terms - they are a dime a dozen except for the ones that bring you meaning

This is actually something that I've been working on. The amount of philosophical terms can be very daunting, so I've decided to try and get an understanding of those that seem to be at the foundation of philosophical concepts. I'm trying to make sure that I have an understanding of those terms that I hear tossed around a lot when listening to others debate.

duszek wrote:Imagine that we know nothing of what you know and teach us what you know.

Your ideas will become more clear on the way.

I can be your first student.

What is metaphysics ? Something that is above or beyond physics ? Something not accessible to physical experience ?

Thanks duszek. Metaphysics is one of the most difficult things for me to wrap my mind around.

If I was attempting to define metaphysics, I would say that it is the study of what we know to be true independent of experience (what is known a priori) but is still applicable to all possible experiences. Say I tell you there is a box in the room I am in, though you cannot see this box, there are a few things that you could know about it because of certain metaphysical truths about human experiences. You would know that it is occupying some space, that it has a specific color and that it interacts with the world around it. All physical objects occupy space, have color and interact with the world around them. These are metaphysical truths because you need not experience the box, or any object, to know that its nature is such. There are common threads that run through all of human experience and these common threads are metaphysical truths.

Sappho wrote:All criticisms welcome.

good

Hello, and a couple words.
Duszek had good advice, you really learn some knowledge when you can teach it to others, Good Teachers really start learning when they start teaching, poor teachers start teaching thinking they know it all already.

Just start posting what you think you know and believe, and someone will disagree and try to correct you, then defending your ideas will help to crystallize them in your mind, or you abandon them.

Sappho wrote:

duszek wrote:Imagine that we know nothing of what you know and teach us what you know.

Your ideas will become more clear on the way.

I can be your first student.

What is metaphysics ? Something that is above or beyond physics ? Something not accessible to physical experience ?

Thanks duszek. Metaphysics is one of the most difficult things for me to wrap my mind around.

If I was attempting to define metaphysics, I would say that it is the study of what we know to be true independent of experience (what is known a priori) but is still applicable to all possible experiences. Say I tell you there is a box in the room I am in, though you cannot see this box, there are a few things that you could know about it because of certain metaphysical truths about human experiences. You would know that it is occupying some space, that it has a specific color and that it interacts with the world around it. All physical objects occupy space, have color and interact with the world around them. These are metaphysical truths because you need not experience the box, or any object, to know that its nature is such. There are common threads that run through all of human experience and these common threads are metaphysical truths.

I need not experience a particular box, but need I not experience some other boxes previously ?

Is not at least one physical experience of a box (or a physical object) necessary ?

Then I can generalize.