Philosophy Now Forum

Hello to all and congratulations on an excellent forum.

I thought a few words about my (current) philosophical views would be an appropriate introduction.

We begin with experience. All our thoughts, feelings and knowledge are a result of our experiences. Experience comes before language. Language describes experience, and may be a part of our experience, but it is not our experience. We use language to try and share our experience with others. The efficacy of this sharing, or communication, is highly variable. I have trouble understanding how people debate ideas like the existence of God, or the morallity of actions without first attempting to clarify the terms in question. God, or good, means something different to each person at each time. In light of this, that we may indulge in communication of philosophical speculation is indeed something magical in itself.

Our experience is not reality (or is it?). We experience a reflection of reality filtered first through our senses. Our senses are limited. We percieve only a small range of the electro-magnetic spectrum through our eyes, only a small range of sonic frequencies through our ears, etc. The information that travels through our sense organs is then further filtered by our brains. Our expectiations and attitudes colour our perception. We cannot experience everything. Perhaps not everything is experiencable. Because we do not know things as they are, but only as they seem, I wonder how much we know about anything.

We use language, mathematical, scientific, spoken or writen, etc., to communicate our experience. Our words are not the things they describe. An equation is not the event it describes. A number is not an state of being. We communicate via analogue, symbol or metaphor. It is easy to mistake our analogues for things. It is easy to mistake the use of symbols as utterances of falsehoods. Yet, the truth of a statement is in it's ability to communicate analogous experience with another.

I believe that it is important to the philosopher to remind themself constantly of these ideas. Relativity and subjectivity are excedingly important to remember when attempting to communicate with others or ourselves.

I don't know what Truth is. But I take solace in the idea that no one else does either.

Thats probably enough for now. Peace and love, AP

Welcome to the forum.

What philosopher has been the primary influence upon you and your philosophy?

I have trouble determining which philosophers' thoughts have influenced me most. I rather enjoy reading Nietzsche, particularly the poetic wisdom of Thus Spoke Zarathustra. I don't feel that all readers try and see the world through a Nietzschean lens before judging him, that some infer the wrong emphasis. Attempting Russel has helped me realize how much trouble we have logically orienting ourselves in our world (or trouble I have had). The psychologist Ronald Laing has shaped my understanding of communication and experience. My social philosophy has been shaped by Marx and Rousseau, feeling the Social Contract to be one of the most important political works I've read. My ethical values are derivative of my love of "eastern philosophy." I find works like the Upanishads, Baghvad Gita, and Tao Te Ching, to contain considerable insight.

Other authors too have helped form the lens through which I see the world, providing models and analogies to help me relate to it. Joseph Campbell and Carl Jung have left me with an appreciation and understanding of myth and the application of myth in our lives. I have lately been enjoying Aldous Huxley's the Perennial Philosophy, further adding to my appreciation of the mystics' world view. Novelist Herman Hesse has encouraged a sense of balance between thought and action. Orwell has stimulated thought about power struggles, politics and propaganda, as has Noam Chomsky. I will always feel fond of Albert Einstein, his piercing mind and love for our beautiful universe.

I like to think that most of what I have read has left a little impression (otherwise what's the point?). The thinkers and thoughts that find prominence in my mind change, as does my philosophy. I see no shame in changing your mind. In fact it is quite the point of these exercises: to expand our consciousness, to provide us with greater insight. I have no qualms about currently contradicting a past opinion, it means I have grown (or perhaps shrunk, once in a while?). None of this really answers your question though, which philosopher most shaped my philosophy. Oops. AP

Welcome! Pull up a chair and make yourself at home.