/lit/ - Literature

Marcus Aurelius barely counts as a philosopher. Philosopher kings are part of a separate canon.

Also I was 19

>>6289327
Piety and faith in God are virtues though, so everything he said was meaningless.

>>6289327
>re-interpretation
fuck off back to r/atheism

I know a guy who say's that philosophy is stupid all the time in his class, thinks its the most useless subject in the world. He hates it, and makes fun of other people who read philosophy.

>went into his room
>there is basically nothing but philosophy books
>more philosophy books than clothes

>>6289343
Sounds like your average self-hating humanities student

>>6289325

Wait a few more existential crises until you fiip your stance a couple of times on this point. Alain de botton is an ugly guy who needed all the help he can get and now helps people plateau into the same stoicism is a good enough mindset. Truth aint always pretty.

You're also in for a shock when you flip from thinking that writing clearly is the be all and end all of learning and start thinking that maybe hegel took the right approach.

>>6289343
>>6289349
or /lit/ user

22, man I was dumb.

>>6289349
He tells me he hates it and loves it. He hates it with all of his being, but loves it even more. It's like a love hate relationship for him. Sometimes he wants to just tear the books in half with his hands, sometimes he wants to just sit at home at his mom's place and read them all day.

I feel kinda bad for the guy. He's really depressed, existentially angry, but also can be very happy and energetic at the same time. And he's only twenty.

>>6289368
Has he been tested for autism?

>>6289368
Tell him to get over existentialism, it's for plebs

>>6289368
Tell him his real struggle is over the metaphysical problem of universals and the vague nominalism of literally every single famed philosopher since Descartes his spreading doubt and confusion in his intellect. Tell him to read a book on the 3 positions on the problem of universals and then tell him that he must read the posterior analytics and metaphysics of Aristotle and the works of St Thomas Aquinas.
This will restore a sense of clarity, structure, order and truth to his mind, rescue him from the abyss of nominalist metaphysics the modern world is sunk in, and eventually rescue his soul.
Better yet, tell him to read this post.

>>6289351
Alain de botton came from an extremely rich family, he didnt need any help at all

"Better life" presupposes a normative dichotomy, which is ultimately based on nothing but your feelings on the matter. Claiming a life is good/better has no explanatory power beyond describing one's emotional state so the whole notion can be thrown into the trash.

>>6289428
Socially and sexually, he still needs much help. And not disclosing his otherwise cushy-life in every stoic sentence deceives his followers greatly - same goes for Emperor Maximus.

>>6289440
and this here is the end result of nominalist metaphysics

>>6289471
This is why Epictetus is the best stoic

>>6289409
He is ;(

>>6289383
It really is. Pure unadulterated ambivalence is the only tranquility.

It's always interesting to ponder, therefore it isn't useless.

>something is only useful if it has direct utility

>>6289488
It helps to form better opinions and just the act of having one is basically philosophy unless you pull your opinions right of your own ass. Everybody does philosophy all the time but it's just bad philosophy mostly. Should be obvious how having more high quality opinions has practical effect considering opinions are what comes before actions.

>>6289488
There is no practice more directly useful than right philosophy, which teaches us the distinction between the useful and uselesd to begin with. Without correct philosophy, life would be useless.

>>6289440
NORMATIIIIIIIVES
GET OOOOOOOUT

>>6289368
"Can an ass be tragic? To perish under a burden one can neither bear nor throw off? The case of the philosopher." -- Neechee

>>6289488
Depends on what one means by utility, usually it's the "helps us design and/or manufacture more/"better" iPhones and selfie sticks".

>>6289522
>mfw a daemonically possessed romantic poet calls himself a philosopher

>>6289507
There are really guys out there who think it's useless. I thought it's all just trolling but I talked to guys who took it seriously. The frighting part is that some of them are supposed to be scientist and whatnot, but in their view there's nothing to gain from philoshophy. It's weird considering how asspained they tend to get when you ask what they expect to get out of their particular field and why they bother in the first place. Not to say that fundamental research for example isn't really meant to be useful, or rather you don't expect it do be on principle, because it would imply you would know the results of your research in advance. Personally I think it's just their personal bias where they assume they are proficient in one field they'd be competent by default regarding other fields.

>>6289325
i was nineteen. my friend was studying philosophy and made a bunch of friends in his philosophy class. so one day i'm over at his house and all these philosophy students cunts are, too, and they're just talking nonsense and being dickheads. even though i was kind of drunk at the time, i was able to realize that these people were idiots who were endlessly discussing nothing.

>>6289531
>mfw people other than himself also call him a philosopher

>>6289538
The only method suitable for face to face dialogue is the Socratic method which most people don't have the patience for. Discursive philosophy is better as a lecture or paper.

>>6289538
Funny, I had the same experience with mathematicians. They just talk nonsense all the time that didn't change a thing. Meanwhile I have to work everyday and my actions directly influence the world.

>>6289551
burguer flipper > mathematician

>>6289565
I'm sure though calculus is effective for burger flipping in terms of calculating which side the burger will land.

>>6289538
Would you also think literature sucks because 90% of literature students are insufferable idiots?

You got trolled

>>6289591
U do realize math majors are one of the most in-demand majors right

Math guys are useful to people, more so than civil engineers

>>6289598
I never did anything where I thought "I'd really need a mathematician right now." Check, fucking mate.

>>6289325
16

>>6289605
People see maths PhD's make loadsa money and think it means their undergrad means anything still means more than any liberal arts degree though ;)

>>6289325
Wouldn't you have to use philosophy to help you figure out what a "better life" is though?