/lit/ - Literature

>>5215561
momomomomomoomom

⇒philosophy
⇒improving anyone's life

Choose only one. Philosophy never answers questions and never solves problems, it only creates more and more problems which it fails to handle. In addition philosophy is opposed to science and progress. Philosophy will turn you into an autistic, socially isolated, depressed and bitter person who bases his self-worth on pseudo-intellectually quoting paraphrased versions of "u cannot know nuthin". Don't believe me? Take a look at the self-proclaimed philosotards of /lit/.

To improve your life all you need is 4 letters: YOLO

>>5215599
This.

Read a textbook, OP. A Formal or Natural Science one.

>>5215599
And you've read Stirner.

"How to deal with difficult people"

And also, sociology and that one book about the habits of rich people.

>>5215561
>I read If I simple want to improve my life?

You will never improve your life reading philosophy, this fad should stop in /lit/, every day some insecure kid comes and ask for the right philosophical bullshit to make his life better.

>>5215561
>should
You're not ready for philosophy. Stick with science until you're ready to break the rules.

Is that seriously Arrow? If so, that's maximum sperg.

Marcus Arelius

>>5215645

You almost sound like an adolescent comparing super-heroes's power levels...
Ah fuck it, this is 4chan who cares.

>>5215561
Philosophy is suffering. To listen to the Logos is to be tormented to a never-ending pain and doubt.

>>5215561 (OP)
Philosophy is suffering. To listen to the Logos is to be tormented by a never-ending pain and doubt.

>>5215599
You seem experienced ;)

>>5215654
Any why?

>>5215694
>;)

You seem a tumblr fag.

>>5215599
This

HOWEVER

One should not not study philosophy simply because of this. Instead, one should study philosophy AND science. Philosophy makes new problems more obvious BUT science can be used to solve those newly discovered problems.

You need to read a philosophy book to improve your quality of life? Doesn't that just come from being kind to yourself and showing compassion towards other people?

Philosophy -- and just imaginative writing in general -- has merit over science in that it touches upon that which is unassailable to science. Feelings, for example, aren't numbers, and thus can't be touched by numbers -- there's no adequate description of them, but a knowing of them internally is always necessary. Feely shit is healthy for society. God knows there's a mountain of solipsism that could really do with being dispensed with. As regards the shit that's not people oriented then -- well, that's science's playground.

>>5215561
>I really don´t want to read stuff just to think about life I want to read stuff that actually provides me with a better mindest towards life.

How do you get a better mindset towards life without thinking about it?

>>5215712

I'm just waiting for the atheists.

Read The Anatomy of Melancholy.

>>5215714
⇒Feelings, for example, aren't numbers, and thus can't be touched by numbers
⇒there's no adequate description of them

Emotions are neurotransmitters, hormones etc. Do you even biochemistry?

Oh, and one essential modern "philosopher" that's worth a listen. Sure, somewhat edgy underground rapper lol you can't even pretend to see me shit, but definitely fun to pick apart.

Besides, he starts to make sense after awhile, especially on acid, cuz, you know, he's permafried and stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7jorP5kNQQ

>>5215726
Maybe neurotransmitters, hormones, etc. are emotions? How a person feels is incorrigible, it has its own spot in infinity. Stop making crybaby annihilationist posts.

>>5215742
Arrow, trust me -- I shit you when it comes to how the mind works.

>>5215722
Who's that dumb looking white dude supposed to be?

>>5215745
How does the mind work?

>>5215747
"Your mother" seems to be the common consensus.

Start with the Greeks

T-thank you guys
at least some of you

>>5215751
For starters, it's sometimes asks dumb questions which put upon the answerer to be god, for in his failing to answer, the ego is secure. Have I become a personification of god for you, Arrow? You gonna go Rand-tier moralising?

>>5215769
God is dead.

>>5215779
Who killed him?

>>5215729
And to sum up the essence of philosophy

"The ritual goes same window different visual"

>>5215785
a big guy

>>5215801
named SuperGod.

>>5215785
We have killed him.

>>5215801
Not one of those dweeby fedora dudes though, right?

>>5215785
Satan

>>5215806
Pft, wasn't me dude, that shit was you.

>>5215801
For you.

>>5215814
Maybe.

>>5215801

The Nichomachean Ethics

>>5215561
Start with the greeks.

The stoics actually. Then continue on with whatever takes your fancy because there is value in the process, but always remember: nobody ever got it as right as Epictetus.

>>5216022
I read a lot of times that the greek and latin philosophers covered more or less everything you need to know, how true is that?

>>5216078
It's true if you want to ignore 2000 years of theoretical advances.

>>5216078
Greek philosphy is very practical, and I'd say it offers far more guidance on daily living than most philosophers after it. However, philosophy after greek philosophy is interesting in its own right, and if you find yourself enjoying philosophy, should be studied, if nothing else for your own enjoyment rather than any practical guidance it will offer.

Prometheus Rising

>>5216078
wth is this supposed to mean. philosophers arent fucking guaranteed to know the truth just because they're philosophers, sure they "covered" everything they could think of but that doesn't mean they're the be all and end all.

>this thread

>Ctrl+F: Bible
0 results

Filthy heathens...

>>5215561
Read Epictetus.

http://classics.mit.edu/Epictetus/epicench.html

>>5216129
>not every thread in which arrowcunt takes part

>people still operating under the "which book should I read to help with X" paradigm

Reading a book is not the same thing as pressing a button. You still have to do all of the work in your life.

>>5217313
But reading is work.

>>5215654
Puke

Okay, what the fuck, guys? The stoics are bland and shit and you all know it.

>>5215779
>>5215785
He's just asleep.

>>5215599
>Philosophy will turn you into an autistic, socially isolated, depressed and bitter person who bases his self-worth on pseudo-intellectually quoting paraphrased versions of "u cannot know nuthin".

bullshit, I was socially isolated, depressed and bitter BEFORE I read philosophy. The latter part is true though.

If "u cannnot know nuthin" is such a bad conclusion on its own, why do you always have to put it in that retarded spelling? Shouldn't the fact that it's a bad conclusion shine through even when you spell the words properly? It's almost as if you're relying on the bad spelling alone to elicit the negative reaction.

>>5217368
>he just realized 4chan's trick for denigrating everything

>>5215561

Machiavelli, Nietzsche.

Stop being so ascetic and start feeding your will to power; you are the lion and the fox.

(for real doe, don't be a little bitch, if you're an atheist read and be influenced by these two)

1. As soon as definite knowledge concerning any subject becomes possible, this subject ceases to be called philosophy, and becomes a separate science

2. The value of philosophy is, in fact, to be sought largely in its very uncertainty. The man who has no tincture of philosophy goes through life imprisoned in the prejudices derived from common sense, from the habitual beliefs of his age or his nation, and from convictions which have grown up in his mind without the co-operation or consent of his deliberate reason. To such a man the world tends to become definite, finite, obvious; common objects rouse no questions, and unfamiliar possibilities are contemptuously rejected. As soon as we begin to philosophize, on the contrary, we find, as we saw in our opening chapters, that even the most everyday things lead to problems to which only very incomplete answers can be given. Philosophy, though unable to tell us with certainty what is the true answer to the doubts which it raises, is able to suggest many possibilities which enlarge our thoughts and free them from the tyranny of custom. Thus, while diminishing our feeling of certainty as to what things are, it greatly increases our knowledge as to what they may be; it removes the somewhat arrogant dogmatism of those who have never travelled into the region of liberating doubt, and it keeps alive our sense of wonder by showing familiar things in an unfamiliar aspect.

3. Philosophy is to be studied, not for the sake of any definite answers to its questions since no definite answers can, as a rule, be known to be true, but rather for the sake of the questions themselves; because these questions enlarge our conception of what is possible, enrich our intellectual imagination and diminish the dogmatic assurance which closes the mind against speculation; but above all because, through the greatness of the universe which philosophy contemplates, the mind also is rendered great, and becomes capable of that union with the universe which constitutes its highest good.

>>5215636
>sociology
I tried to take a class in that once; it was such utter bullshit I dropped it

>>5215699

>>5217368
Knowing you know nothing is knowing something.

The God Delusion

It'll make you feel euphoric.

you could do worse than Illusions by Richard Bach

>>5217435
Holy shit there are two like this

The Little Prince

>>5215631
>2014
>still hating on arrow bro

Ethica by Spinoza
Anything by Schopenhauer

plutarch's parallel lives