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/lit/ - Literature

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16168322 No.16168322 [Reply] [Original]

What do people who really dig deep into philosophy get out of it?

When I try to read philosophical texts I often feel like I'm just adding extra layers of impractical befuddlement and pointless systems of thought to my brain, when I would be better off investing my energies (supposedly the average human brain only has about fours a day in which it can engage in serious focus) into something that improves my long-term lot in life, or increases my competence in creative/artistic pursuits. Philosophy when read by non-philosophers is basically a consumptive hobby, when the most meaningful hobbies are ones in which you create something lasting.

I think a lot of it has to do with people trying to find "one weird trick" to living, or the socially/sexually/economically ostracised feeling better about themselves by cultivating the ability to engage in intellectual one-upmanship in lieu of living a good life.

t. brainlet

>> No.16168332

>>16168322
I often feel the same way, maybe philosophy is really just one big cope?

>> No.16168335

>>16168322
>or increases my competence in creative/artistic pursuits
Philosophy has always served as creative fuel for artists. Even when they completely misunderstand it, doesn't really matter. So long as it gets the noggin joggin

>> No.16168337

>meaningful hobbies are the ones where you create something lasting
Explain and justify

>> No.16168349

>>16168322
>I think a lot of it has to do with people trying to find "one weird trick" to living, or the socially/sexually/economically ostracised feeling better about themselves by cultivating the ability to engage in intellectual one-upmanship in lieu of living a good life.
I think the same. Philosophy only has any value if it has a positive impact on your reality.

>> No.16168359

>>16168322
Personal enjoyment most of the time.
But what you say it's true for people who don't want their current beliefs to be challenged.

>> No.16168365

>>16168332
Maybe it's copes all the way down.

>> No.16168401

>>16168337
It feels amazing to give birth to something that you're not disgusted with. I feel better when I compose a song or build a nice piece of furniture than when I'm trying to consoom philosophy.

>> No.16168416

>>16168349
Based American pragmatist. I think they had the right idea all along.

>> No.16168423

>>16168401
Why is a song or a piece of furniture more meaningful or long lasting than a well-structured metaphysical system?

>> No.16168427

Philosophers are artists. A handful will be timeless, most are mediocre and wasting their time

>> No.16168437
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16168437

The joy of dialectics as Socrates points out, is a pleasure in itself.
The Endless Discourse of Philebus.
The inaccessibility of gnostic certainty for the highest truth—in Theaetetus.
Only faith, hope, and love, can reach beyond Olympus

>> No.16168658
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16168658

>>16168322
>When I try to read philosophical texts I often feel like I'm just adding extra layers of impractical befuddlement and pointless systems of thought to my brain, when I would be better off investing my energies (supposedly the average human brain only has about fours a day in which it can engage in serious focus) into something that improves my long-term lot in life, or increases my competence in creative/artistic pursuits. Philosophy when read by non-philosophers is basically a consumptive hobby, when the most meaningful hobbies are ones in which you create something lasting.
I am a philosophy PhD student and refine my skills in drawing on the side. Usually the people on /lit/ who think they can spend their time doing something creative instead of reading don't do even that.

>> No.16168723

>>16168423
I can gain pleasure from listening to the song and using the furniture. The well-structured metaphysical system is useless to me unless it's something totally mind-blowing and revolutionary.

>> No.16169985

>>16168423
I can't dance to Kant and I can't sit on categories.

>> No.16170026

>>16168322
Philosophy I think is something like self help books before they existed, or like the Bible, guidance for morality, life, potential answers to questions for all these things, and existence, for thinkers