[ 3 / biz / cgl / ck / diy / fa / ic / jp / lit / sci / vr / vt ] [ index / top / reports ] [ become a patron ] [ status ]
2023-11: Warosu is now out of extended maintenance.

/lit/ - Literature

View post   
File: 59 KB, 640x560, 1490223222051.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
9450602 No.9450602 [Reply] [Original]

Does philosophy have to be useful? Is it the purpose of philosophy to be useful

>> No.9450619

>>9450602
no. No

>> No.9450631

>>9450602
Useful and purposeful are relative concepts defined by each individual. The things I find useful may be useless to another.

Philosophy is purposed to question the ontological, epistemological and metaphysical aspects of human existence. It's up to the individual and/or society at large to deem the results of this effort as 'useful'.

>> No.9450760

>>9450631
There you go OP

>> No.9450890

philosophy is useless without utility
read some Ayn Rand and get back to me, bub

>> No.9450901

>>9450631

>relative concepts

This is a philosophy thread. Go back masturbating to deconstructionism

>> No.9450917

>>9450602

It is 'useful' in the sense that it is supposed to teach you how to live. It is a way of living.
Pierre Hadot explains how this was true for ancient philosophy way better than anyone could do in a 4chan thread, read some of his books (I would suggest What is Ancient Philosophy? and Philosophy as a Way of Life)

>> No.9450947

>>9450901
Those concepts are in relation to specific tasks. Clear?

>> No.9450962

>>9450901
If they are't relative, than give me the objective definition of useful and purposeful? Oh wait, you can't because each individual defines it for himself.

>> No.9450972

>>9450962
'Useful' is the language we speak to ourselves, and what others demand of us - never receiving. Standards are useful, you see.

>> No.9451020

>>9450917
> it is supposed to teach you how to live

wrong

>> No.9451038

>>9450602
The purpose of philosophy is finding the truth. You say if that is useful.

>> No.9451107

>>9450602
No, it can have instances of being useless. Yes, it should be of use in some way.

It is definitely of use today in America. People are always complaining that post-modern nihilism has left us without meaning and religion can't save them from it. Philosophy is the answer to this. Period. People say that society at large in America is a consumer mob who at large cannot fix their democracy because they can't think and can't care. Philosophy is the answer to this. Period.

Beyond those lofty goals philosophy does work. Some examples are in AI and cognitive science.

You could also argue that philosophy is supposed to try out things that have a much higher chance of failing because no one else is considering it. That is until something works, then it becomes its own field, all the while people not noticing the work philosophy has done. They only pay attention to the failures or the stagnation.

>> No.9451290

Think of philosophy as self-therapy. You're a stupid evolutionary branch of monkeys that had the misfortune of developing self-awareness, your life is a conflicted and neurotic search for noumenon that doesn't exist. Philosophy is a noble lie that helps you to deceive yourself into calmness.

>> No.9453005

Philosophy is alternatively composed of Logic or Aesthetic, or a synthesis of the two in portions. The former is essentially utilitarian, the latter born out of familiarity with utilitarianism.

>> No.9453013

>>9450890
>useless without utility