problems and questions...
Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2022 6:29 pm
One of the working definitions of a human being is
"one who solves problems"
and one of the things that is lost in all the noise of existence,
is the fact that in front of us, lays several problems/questions,
and the point is to, if we can't answer those questions/problems,
then at least to make sense of the problem/question facing us...
so us "philosophers, in the midst of the creating noise, at least pretend to be
solving a problem/question and if you are not working on a solution,
then make the problem/question to more understandable, clarify
problems and questions to the point that maybe if you can't solve it,
but others with a different skill set might be able to solve that
problem/question....
I think part of the problem in "modern philosophy" especially on philosophy websites,
is forgetting that our engagement is to solve problems/questions of existence
and not as many here and on most philosophy websites, which is to engage with
scoring points, and trying to prove "OUR POINT" is the point worth pursuing...
(I have been guilty of this) where proving my point was more important than
solving the problem/question...
in our creation of noise, we forget the point of philosophy, the solving of
problems and questions...
one of the problems/questions, I focus on is the problem/question of
the ethically/moral problem of the modern times...
which is to say, we no longer have any ethical/moral basis upon to
make such ethical/moral decisions...
and to make this clear requires a bit of the past...
during the rise of and perhaps the reason for the modern world,
comes several revolutions in we viewed the universe.. we had a
"scientific" revolution, Newton and the like, we had a revolution of the
expansion of the universe... and that is the explorations of the universe,
lead by explorers who went everywhere, who measure, times, weighed
and touched everything they could get their hands on.. Think Darwin...
and we discovered that millions of people thought differently, prayed
differently, viewed government differently, and even had a different
math, writing and numbering systems then the west did...
another revolution that came about was the political revolution,
think the American/French revolution...
and in discovering that people had vastly different spiritual differences..
which created the problem of which spiritual system was actually the "best'',
we human beings found out that in the midst of hundreds of possibilities of
religions, we can't point out why our system is the best one of all...
and if our spiritual system isn't the best, then why do we need to "bend the knee?"
and eventually came Nietzsche who simply pointed out the obvious...
and came the realization that indeed, 'god is dead" and we have killed him...
and then came the point I am bringing up, if indeed ''god is dead",
on what basis do we justify our moral/ethical beliefs?
If " god is dead" then how do we know "what is right and wrong?"
The ethical/moral basis upon which we base our moral/ethical systems upon
have no validity.. we have no way of knowing what is ethical/moral anymore...
and that has been the entire point of philosophy since before Nietzsche...
indeed both Wittgenstein and Heidegger and Sartre all thought of themselves
as moral/ethical thinkers... trying to recover what ethical/moral means when
''god is dead" and you can think of the last 150 years of philosophy as an attempt
to define what is ethical/moral beliefs...
"What is being ethical/moral and how do we make that judgement?"
On what grounds can we say we are being "ethical/moral?" and that question
has haunted modern philosophy.... since before Nietzsche..."what is the ethical/moral
standard we can use to judge what is right and wrong?''
answer that problem/question and philosophy is back...
and that is one example of seeking out the problems/questions of our
modern times...
Kropotkin
"one who solves problems"
and one of the things that is lost in all the noise of existence,
is the fact that in front of us, lays several problems/questions,
and the point is to, if we can't answer those questions/problems,
then at least to make sense of the problem/question facing us...
so us "philosophers, in the midst of the creating noise, at least pretend to be
solving a problem/question and if you are not working on a solution,
then make the problem/question to more understandable, clarify
problems and questions to the point that maybe if you can't solve it,
but others with a different skill set might be able to solve that
problem/question....
I think part of the problem in "modern philosophy" especially on philosophy websites,
is forgetting that our engagement is to solve problems/questions of existence
and not as many here and on most philosophy websites, which is to engage with
scoring points, and trying to prove "OUR POINT" is the point worth pursuing...
(I have been guilty of this) where proving my point was more important than
solving the problem/question...
in our creation of noise, we forget the point of philosophy, the solving of
problems and questions...
one of the problems/questions, I focus on is the problem/question of
the ethically/moral problem of the modern times...
which is to say, we no longer have any ethical/moral basis upon to
make such ethical/moral decisions...
and to make this clear requires a bit of the past...
during the rise of and perhaps the reason for the modern world,
comes several revolutions in we viewed the universe.. we had a
"scientific" revolution, Newton and the like, we had a revolution of the
expansion of the universe... and that is the explorations of the universe,
lead by explorers who went everywhere, who measure, times, weighed
and touched everything they could get their hands on.. Think Darwin...
and we discovered that millions of people thought differently, prayed
differently, viewed government differently, and even had a different
math, writing and numbering systems then the west did...
another revolution that came about was the political revolution,
think the American/French revolution...
and in discovering that people had vastly different spiritual differences..
which created the problem of which spiritual system was actually the "best'',
we human beings found out that in the midst of hundreds of possibilities of
religions, we can't point out why our system is the best one of all...
and if our spiritual system isn't the best, then why do we need to "bend the knee?"
and eventually came Nietzsche who simply pointed out the obvious...
and came the realization that indeed, 'god is dead" and we have killed him...
and then came the point I am bringing up, if indeed ''god is dead",
on what basis do we justify our moral/ethical beliefs?
If " god is dead" then how do we know "what is right and wrong?"
The ethical/moral basis upon which we base our moral/ethical systems upon
have no validity.. we have no way of knowing what is ethical/moral anymore...
and that has been the entire point of philosophy since before Nietzsche...
indeed both Wittgenstein and Heidegger and Sartre all thought of themselves
as moral/ethical thinkers... trying to recover what ethical/moral means when
''god is dead" and you can think of the last 150 years of philosophy as an attempt
to define what is ethical/moral beliefs...
"What is being ethical/moral and how do we make that judgement?"
On what grounds can we say we are being "ethical/moral?" and that question
has haunted modern philosophy.... since before Nietzsche..."what is the ethical/moral
standard we can use to judge what is right and wrong?''
answer that problem/question and philosophy is back...
and that is one example of seeking out the problems/questions of our
modern times...
Kropotkin