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7873667 No.7873667 [Reply] [Original]

Is philosophy an intellectual form of self help-- of coming to terms with death?

>> No.7873685

Is philosophy?

>> No.7873694

Maybe some existential stuff or really old premodern "philosophy". Philosophy today is in the analytic tradition which focuses on argument structure, language, and applying logic to a variety of subjects outside of logic.

>> No.7873697
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7873697

It isn't, you hedonist faggot.

>> No.7873696

>>7873667
It can be I guess

philosophy is pretty much just the exploration of ideas. A lot of philosophy is pretty antithetical to happiness, or at least is "neutral" to it. A lot of philosophers aren't interested in being happy but instead deserving of happiness.

It's a complex field, pal. Lots of interpretations. Lots of butt spanks. Lots of ball twists. Lots of hugs, some kissing, maybe you get figged a little.

>> No.7873776

>>7873697
not at all?

>> No.7873802

>>7873697
Every person is a hedonist

>> No.7873929

>>7873667
Philosophy and Religion are primitive forms of PUA

>> No.7873930

>>7873667
Philosophy is an investigation of the deepest structural aspects of reality - space, time, ontology, causation, modality, etc.

It has nothing to do with "self help" - you embarrassing moron.

>> No.7873995

Defining philosophy leads us to clichés... even its literal definition is tedious. I wouldn't term it as merely "coming to terms with death" -- that's too dull a generalisation. It is an intellectual activity. Modern science is a philosophy -- does that help us come to terms with death? I wouldn't say so. It (modern science) is a useful method or perspective by which the world is categorised, understood.

>> No.7874019

I'd say philosophies that can be seen as helping a person "come to terms with death" tend to be classical, such as Stoicism, Epicureanism, et al., or religious. More modern "existentialist" philosophers such as Nietzsche (with his whole amor fati thing), Sartre, or Camus can be classed similarly.

>> No.7874045

Only ideological garbage philosophy. But that belongs in the trash and is hardly a step above new age self help books. True philosophy is only useful for the construction of logical system, deconstruction ideologies, and explaining phenomena

>> No.7874052
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7874052

I started reading pic related, cause a self help nigga recommended it. I think there is some definite overlap.

>> No.7874057

I doubt the classical concern with the "good life" and dealing with life's finitude can be so easily dismissed. Indeed, even if it were, it's only one facet of such thinkers.

>> No.7874061
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7874061

>>7873802
>

>> No.7874074

>>7874052
That's because Marcus Aurelius actually *was* a self-help author. He is not taken seriously in academic philosophy.

>> No.7874079

Yes. Cicero said so.

>> No.7874082

>>7874074
>>>7874052
Someone such as Martha Nussbaum might disagree.

>> No.7874084

>>7874082
I heard shes a huge pothead

>> No.7874087

>>7874084
Who isn't these days?

>> No.7874091

>>7874087
Non-degenerates. Something a namefag wouldn't know much about.

>> No.7874095

>>7874087
A lot of philosophers are pretty heavy drug users. At my school (top10 phil department) had one younger professor (not tenured) show up to a party coked out and he punched a hole in the wall. Had another professor who was like sixty something and admitted to the class that he took lsd on a weekly basis.

>> No.7874100

>>7874091
Walter Benjamin loved his hashish.

>> No.7874107

>>7874095
See, philosophy is degenerate.

>> No.7874112

>>7874082
The exceptions are few and far between. Here are all the citations for Marcus Aurelius:

http://philpapers.org/asearch.pl?showCategories=on&freeOnly=&sqc=&searchStr=Aurelius%2C+M.&proOnly=on&publishedOnly=&hideAbstracts=&filterMode=authors&langFilter=&onlineOnly=&filterByAreas=&newWindow=off&sort=impact&year=&categorizerOn=&format=html&start=&limit=&jlist=&ap_c1=&ap_c2=

>> No.7874123

>>7874100
This thread is about philosophers.

>> No.7874139

>>7874112
The classical philosophers are associated with political philosophy, I'd guess, such as Arendt. Stoicism, a "philosophy of life" of which Aurelius was a member, is one example of that.

I'd say that demonstrates the importance of such schools to modern philosophy, albeit not the so-called "analytical" schools.

>>7874123
Cruel! Poor Benjamin was a philosopher.

>> No.7874178

>>7874112
>19 matches
Oh yeah well how many does ur name have

>> No.7874193

Philosophy is a means to elucidate thought.

That's it.

>> No.7874243

>>7873694
philosophy is always fundamentally the same thing, it's borders have just expanded mainly due to the wild divergence of politics and religion

>> No.7874247 [DELETED] 
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7874247

I'm definitely a case of self-help. Saying "heuristics" and "evo psych" doesn't do it for me anymore. I want to figure myself out, honestly this time. Philosophy is helping me accomplish that. Yet I have so many ideas for which I can't find a direct answer in philosophy. I wonder how the big boys did it. Didn't they ever feel like something fundamental was missing to the philosopher's approach to "knowing thyself"? I wonder how much time I should dedicate as an autodidact to studying the greats vs developing my own thoughts. Only been at it for a few months. I know your replies will be that my thoughts aren't as deep as I think and I should just stay on the grind or that it depends on my goals. Mind telling me what my goals are while you're at it? ..

>> No.7874274

>>7873930
Why investigate reality if not to appease your anxiety and be at peace? Self help is such a ridiculous term though. If you're not helping yourself you're probably a hedonist and more deeply mired in philosophy than any clean-living self help faggot.

>> No.7874283

>>7874274
>Why investigate reality
Because it's interesting

>> No.7874284

>>7873667
I'm inclined to agree with Wittgenstein that philosophy is therapy.

>> No.7874312

>>7874274
The definition of an activity is independent of the motives a particular person may have in pursuing it.

For example, someone might pursue Ornithology in order to meet girls, but that doesn't make "Ornithology" the study of meeting girls.

Beyond that, if you have an anxiety disorder you are better off talking to a medical professional than, e.g., contemplating whether spacetime is relational or absolute.

>> No.7874316

I usually philosophize to feel superior to others. If not i tend to do it for purely scientific reasons. Then maybe i'll do it as a way to blame myself for being a shitty human being that has fallen for sociological threats that reduce the worth of human life, like consumerism, for example; or i do it to justify my hedonism or nihilism.

>> No.7874421

>>7874283
reassess your motives

>>7874312
An activity as a concept is as much defined by motive as by the formal definition, and philosophy is no science so motive is if anything more important.

>better off talking to a medical professional
>better on drugs than facing a universal emotion
Anxiety disorders are a modern quirk in medical terminology. They are invariably characterised by heavily skewed views of realty. In other words heavy philosophical lifting is exactly the thing anxiety sufferers should be doing.

Spacetime is for physicists btw and it is both relational and absolute

>> No.7874433

>>7874421
the sets of scientists and of physicists are subsets of that of philosophers bub

>> No.7874445

>>7874316
Excuse me while I boke on my keyboard

This is exactly the angry emasculated man/lit/ type that has taken the circlejerk to blackholejerk proportions.

About 0.001% of the population gives a fuck about schopenhauer, you just look like a desperate, lonely man.

>> No.7874450

Boethius certainly is, and there is a tradition is literature of Boethian consolation philosophy.
But in general no.

>> No.7874467

>>7874433
Call me when your sets and subsets teach you the oneness of the universe

>> No.7874485

>>7874421
>philosophy is no science so motive is if anything more important.
Science is natural philosophy. They constitute the same Wissenschaft. One subset focuses more on the observational, predictive, and practical, while the other emphasizes the foundational, theoretical, and explanatory.


>Anxiety disorders are a modern quirk in medical terminology.

You're the one who brought up "anxiety". It is a medical condition that has zero bearing on this discussion.


>heavy philosophical lifting is exactly the thing anxiety sufferers should be doing.

Utter nonsense.


>Spacetime is for physicists btw and it is both relational and absolute

Wow, try trolling less blatantly next time.

>> No.7874489

>>7874445
Im just honest, i realize that some people want to sweeten their inclinations through self deceit and that is fine. You all have the right to freedom, and the prosecution of happiness.

>> No.7874495

>>7874467
Here you go: http://www.jonathanschaffer.org/monism.pdf

>> No.7874501

>>7874421
>Anxiety disorders are a modern quirk in medical terminology.

Usually the term "disorder" is reserved for people who continue to exhibit a certain behavior even after being repeatedly proven that their motivations are flawed, or who in general want to stop a given behavior but can't. People with a disorder are not rational thinkers when it comes to certain aspects of their life, even if they're rational thinkers in other domains. That break in rationality makes the disorder... a disorder.

>> No.7874517

>>7874485
Anxiety - distress or unease of mind, experienced by most or all people at some point. Why do you continue bringing meme mental disorders into this?

>utter nonsense
Have you been in a looney bin? Why isn't nonsense?

>Wow, try trolling less blatantly next time.
You're just being an obstinate pest now

>> No.7874529

>>7874495
and yet the buddha could prove it by crossing his legs under a fig tree. Proof you can drag anything across 46 pages.

>> No.7874532

>>7874529
>Prove it by dragging it across 46 pages
>Prove it by literally spending all your time, your whole life, becoming a perfect living example
Yeah let's talk about brevity.

>> No.7874548

>>7874501
>not rational thinkers when it comes to certain aspects of their life
There are myriad "rational" reasons for anxiety disorders though (particularly overbearing and conflicting social/societal pressure, etc) that are rarely acknowledged in traditional psychiatric treatment. I will repeat that anxiety disorder did not exist prior to the modern period

>> No.7874572

>>7874529
Bullshit. Leg-crossing is equally compatible with pluralism.

>> No.7874573

>>7874548
Yes, but even when proven that their insecurities are unfounded, a person with anxiety disorder will maintain the urge. They may even admit that they are acting irrationally.

> I will repeat that anxiety disorder did not exist prior to the modern period
That's like saying if you close your eyes, X will stop existing. I feel an extreme urge to ridicule you for this comment.

>> No.7874686

>>7874061
I'm not even trolling.
Even strictly religious people are hedonists in the end, because they want to achieve the most pleasure by getting in heaven.

>> No.7874813

>>7874074
How can you say shit like that? It's incredibly important historically for philosophie.