imagination and philosophy....
Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2023 4:28 am
In another thread, I was, well assailed for using the word
imagination in a philosophy site... we can't have imagination in
philosophy, now can we? how is that in pursuit of the ''TRUTH?''
As if, philosophy has no use of any kind for imagination...
we must strictly use facts and ''TRUTHS" in philosophy...
and anyone who follows this ''advice" will never, NEVER be a
good philosopher, little less a great philosopher...
every single philosopher has access to almost all the information
all the other philosophers have... after 2500 years, you aren't going
to find much different information about say Plato or Socrates...
and we aren't going to discover much new about Aquinas or Augustine...
or even Kant or Hume... we have what we have about them now...
and there will be no new knowledge or information about them....
and what do philosophers use to create ''new'' information or knowledge
about philosophers or philosophy?
the answer is pretty clear... imagination..... we imagine new uses
for the philosophy we have now.... Walter Kaufmann had the same information
all other philosophers had about Nietzsche.. and yet, he found a new way
to present and inform us about Nietzsche... he took Nietzsche seriously..
and not insane or suffering from syphilis....Kaufmann had enough imagination
to take Nietzsche seriously and make us aware of these thoughts about
Nietzsche.... Now some might say, Kaufmann was "inspired" to discover new
truths about Nietzsche... but the fact is that inspired is just another word
for imagination....you can have facts and information up the yanhoo
but if you can't find a way to be inspire, to be imaginative about this information,
it won't do you a bit of good...
think about it this way... it took thousands of years for human beings to
''see'' zero... math, as we know it has been around for thousands of years..
recall building the pyramids was all about the math...in the years after
2800 BC or so...and the zero was introduced around 600BC give or take...
and it took imagination to create the zero... now it makes perfect sense,
but think about a world without a zero......do you have the imagination
to "imagine" the zero? I didn't think so....
and that is what separates the average philosophers from the great philosophers..
the imagination to see beyond the numbers and beyond the facts and beyond
what everyone else sees....
you see what has been there for thousands of years of years and you can
imagine a new take, a new way of thinking about it and that takes imagination....
and that is what creates great philosophers, great mathematicians, great
biologists, great Artists.... what Darwin did was to see beyond the facts
of animals and imagine something else happening.. and that something
else is evolution... that took a great deal of imagination to create...
or perhaps try this on for size...
what part of this equation is imagination?
1 + 1 = 2...
the fact is that the equal sign here is pure imagination.... for there is no
necessity for 1 + 1 to equal 2... for the equal sign is added from our imagination...
you have one stick and you have one stick.... there is nothing logically to tie
them together to create two sticks... it makes sense now, but there is really
no such thing as 1 + 1 = 2...for the equal sign is imagined in our minds...
it is created by imagination.... philosophy works the same way...
we see the facts and then connect them in some sort of logical way,
but most of the time, we can't find a logical path between two facts..
but if we use our imagination, we can create connections that aren't
obvious...or how do you think we came up with the idea of god?
there is no obvious connections between earthly matters and a god....
but by using our imagination, we have created a connection, between
earthly matters and god.. connections that aren't obvious unless you
mentally create them... which is the exact way we have
a little something called, "Idealism" which is a way of connecting dots
that aren't really obvious...
Kropotkin
imagination in a philosophy site... we can't have imagination in
philosophy, now can we? how is that in pursuit of the ''TRUTH?''
As if, philosophy has no use of any kind for imagination...
we must strictly use facts and ''TRUTHS" in philosophy...
and anyone who follows this ''advice" will never, NEVER be a
good philosopher, little less a great philosopher...
every single philosopher has access to almost all the information
all the other philosophers have... after 2500 years, you aren't going
to find much different information about say Plato or Socrates...
and we aren't going to discover much new about Aquinas or Augustine...
or even Kant or Hume... we have what we have about them now...
and there will be no new knowledge or information about them....
and what do philosophers use to create ''new'' information or knowledge
about philosophers or philosophy?
the answer is pretty clear... imagination..... we imagine new uses
for the philosophy we have now.... Walter Kaufmann had the same information
all other philosophers had about Nietzsche.. and yet, he found a new way
to present and inform us about Nietzsche... he took Nietzsche seriously..
and not insane or suffering from syphilis....Kaufmann had enough imagination
to take Nietzsche seriously and make us aware of these thoughts about
Nietzsche.... Now some might say, Kaufmann was "inspired" to discover new
truths about Nietzsche... but the fact is that inspired is just another word
for imagination....you can have facts and information up the yanhoo
but if you can't find a way to be inspire, to be imaginative about this information,
it won't do you a bit of good...
think about it this way... it took thousands of years for human beings to
''see'' zero... math, as we know it has been around for thousands of years..
recall building the pyramids was all about the math...in the years after
2800 BC or so...and the zero was introduced around 600BC give or take...
and it took imagination to create the zero... now it makes perfect sense,
but think about a world without a zero......do you have the imagination
to "imagine" the zero? I didn't think so....
and that is what separates the average philosophers from the great philosophers..
the imagination to see beyond the numbers and beyond the facts and beyond
what everyone else sees....
you see what has been there for thousands of years of years and you can
imagine a new take, a new way of thinking about it and that takes imagination....
and that is what creates great philosophers, great mathematicians, great
biologists, great Artists.... what Darwin did was to see beyond the facts
of animals and imagine something else happening.. and that something
else is evolution... that took a great deal of imagination to create...
or perhaps try this on for size...
what part of this equation is imagination?
1 + 1 = 2...
the fact is that the equal sign here is pure imagination.... for there is no
necessity for 1 + 1 to equal 2... for the equal sign is added from our imagination...
you have one stick and you have one stick.... there is nothing logically to tie
them together to create two sticks... it makes sense now, but there is really
no such thing as 1 + 1 = 2...for the equal sign is imagined in our minds...
it is created by imagination.... philosophy works the same way...
we see the facts and then connect them in some sort of logical way,
but most of the time, we can't find a logical path between two facts..
but if we use our imagination, we can create connections that aren't
obvious...or how do you think we came up with the idea of god?
there is no obvious connections between earthly matters and a god....
but by using our imagination, we have created a connection, between
earthly matters and god.. connections that aren't obvious unless you
mentally create them... which is the exact way we have
a little something called, "Idealism" which is a way of connecting dots
that aren't really obvious...
Kropotkin