/lit/ - Literature

>>11735591
> I support nothing but the now
I suppose there is were we differ. One should be interested in the future as well.

>>11735557
Try me, anon. I will try to be receptive. Is it a religious path? Because I don't doubt such a path exists. I just don't know how to follow it.

>>11735525
The TSA already does this. The Boston Globe exposed a program that actually follows people who are on no watchlist or anything--just ordinary people who didn't something awkward in the airport. And I don't think we need to go back in time to restore privacy. Reasonable policy measures could do that.

Like I said, I don't have many arguments. I think it is a value judgement to make

But I throw it back at you: do you support the loss of privacy?

>>11735491
Really all I mean is that once you start looking at what things are made up of, once you really take the atomist view seriously, and once reason/science has had some success in that it can make complicated predictions and such, then what naturally happens is that reason runs riot over the mind. Actually, I guess it has more to do with the Socratic way of life than Newton. Anyways, once reason gets a bit confident it sets out looking everywhere, overturning every stone. And, lo and behold, it doesn't like what it finds; "values" are entirely arbitrary! And so on. I think too much reason, in short, leads to nihilism, at least at first. It remains to be seen if nihilism can ever be escaped.

>>11735468
calm down there bud. I'm not trying to impress anyone

>>11735432
> You're argueing with emotions and not logic.
Well we're speaking of values and not facts, haha. But that gets into a whole other discussion!

> This is an extreme - but sharing is caring.
Sharing is caring. But how much should one share of oneself? Everything?

>>11735416
Thanks for your advice. I understand where your coming from. Ideally I would write in the modern way, a la Bertrand Russell or somebody, but for whatever reason whenever I set out to, say, write like I talk, I just fall flat on my face. I end up reading a lot of older philosophy (call it poetical philosophy) so this just comes more naturally. But I'll be the first to admit that this wouldn't sway many people. Most would probably give it up or think its satire, as you pointed out. Thanks again, anon

>>11735355
I would say privacy is in part dignity, and dignity, I suppose, would be fundamental. Privacy from corporations and governments is the sheltering and security against becoming some numerical caricature, a simple consumer, or reduced to [threat] or [no threat]. There's not much in way of argument, it's mostly a sentiment. If someone followed you around with a camera you would be anxious and even become angry. You instinctively know something is wrong.

>>11735367
I've tried "leaping into it". I have generally "flopped" to the floor in injury. Thats why, for now at least, all I can hope for is to gain some insight.

It's like when I was a child. I couldn't swallow pills. I would put them in my mouth, take a sip of water, and then...nothing. I couldn't do it. I was physically incapable of it. Of course, I grew up, and lo and behold I can do it (thank God for that, because antidepressants saved my life).

There's a saying from medieval philosophy: "faith seeking understanding". I know this is the only way, as you suggest, but my disposition has always tried to invert this to "understanding seeking faith". That's just how I work. I don't know how to be otherwise. And so I attempt this and fail. What do you make of this approach?

>>11735321
>>11735308
I'll check these out

>>11735315
I'm trying to gain as much wisdom from the Bible as I can. I'm currently reading John.

>>11733545
Mickey says knowledge is based on the unprovable (as if to discredit it) yet makes a positive claim that passes as knowledge (i.e., X is not a trustworthy evaluator of X, where in this case X = chemicals).

>>11735224
> do not complicate what it takes to be a Man. It is simple and it is sound, it as rock
I don't think it's simple. Though I will admit that it may be simpler for some. I don't know dude. You know, people have to confront what they pull out of deep dark recesses of their minds. It's not about purposefully complicating things, as if life weren't hard enough.

As for God. I've tried to commit to faith, but it has never worked before. I'm still trying. Right now I'm reading the Gospel according to John.

>>11735208
If I'm understanding correctly, this is what I do right now too. I do something I don't like (call it X), and then feel down about myself and repent and whatnot.

I might even go a few days without doing X, but undoubtedly I do something else I don't like, and it goes on like this. The thing that I cant smother inside of me is the ambition to live a perfect life. Every time I reflect and look at myself: I see a worthless runt of a thing, useless and hypocritical beyond measure.

Have you given up the urge to "better yourself"? If not, how strong is this urge? I love and covet this urge in me yet I know it'll be the death of me.

>>11735124
I am not educated enough to know what people mean by the "postmodern perspective." I know it has something to do with rejecting metanarratives. Obviously it is a somewhat rejection of modernism, but this itself was never a term I had fully understood.
...so reading wikipedia makes things a bit more clear. Does postmodernism have to do with the distinction between "is" and "ought"? I'm firmly in the camp that thinks the two are all together separate concepts. And that surely complicates things quite a bit.
I guess my question for you is, how do you choose to confront these problems? Would you be willing to open up about what you deal with?

>>11735131
Thanks anon. I hope so too.

>>11735129
For example, I think this thread was pretty good and should be a model for philosophy discussion:
>>11719692

to link threads, just post the URL

>>11734557
I agree with your sentiment.

That being said, I think there should be more philosophy (as in, "true" philosophy). There are certainly a lot of threads here that seem as if someone from /sci/ is having a giggle. But I encourage true debate, and philosophy underpins the rest of literature (at least I think so).

>>11735058
> Are you nihilistic though?
I don't seem to have any choice. I mean I tried not to be. I've willed it not to be, but it doesn't work. However, as I convalesce from an all too long depression, I've been searching frantically for a way out. You see, I'm worried my depression could return at any minute.

> i hold the hopeful belief that culture is self correcting and 'the cream will rise to the top'
Unfortunately I don't see this as happening. Perhaps its possible for a small group to develop some new thoughts but there is simply too much inertia to the culture for it to change. I think we're still feeling the consequences of Newton, to be honest. I see it becoming more fractured, for sure. I think it'll remain fundamentally nihilistic. People will become relativists while secretly abhorring that position... I think there'll be another political movement, eventually at least, that takes advantage of the widespread angst. Somewhat like Trumpism. I dislike Trump, but he's certainly no evil. I fear that there'll be something more sinister.

Does anyone else feel that the problems in their life are ones which people have always dealt with? Does anyone have a problem that they think is purely (post)modern?

>>11734938
The thread the other anon had mentioned. Its gone now, I believe. It was about the mind body problem (at least that is what it turned into).

>>11734646
Sounds interesting, anon. I'll check out the Theses of the Philosophy of History and the others. Thanks for the recommendation. Also, I just bought a collection of Emerson essays. Is there any interest in Emerson?

>>11734633
But how can we create a culture that educates the young? The question I am trying to raise is not so much about combatting addiction (though your thoughts are helpful) but about why we have addiction in the 21st century. It seems to me that culture has given up trying and that it waits for science to solve all its problems (like, to develop some anti-addiction pill). There is no longer any urgency to the culture. There is no pressing will to solve these deeply personal yet old problems.

As for buddhism, I have never studied the subject myself (and so ought to keep my mouth shut) but I'll reiterate what I have heard: isn't it nihilistic? Doesn't it despise life and wants to go against it?

>>11734452
There was certainly a lot of passion in that other thread. How could this thread have been better? I'm gonna have one about art next weekend and would like to know? Do I just sound too stupid? Be honest

This will also be a thread to discuss culture and education. You know, I recently was dumb-founded at how seldom I heard the word "virtue" growing up. Seriously, reading Plato was sort of an epiphany: no one (that I was around either in or out of school) discussed virtue. Why is that? Is the government too afraid to take a side? Do we not trust public schools to do it right?

But even outside of schools. I was raised by a "weak" family, one which never discussed anything regarding how to live. To the extent anything was ever discussed, it was simply my mom saying
> I just want you to be happy
There was never any guidance. Has anyone else come from a family like this? How do you end up?

>>11734444
I am expecting an answer along the lines of "because its in our nature." My question, properly understood, is why has nothing arisen that combats and strangles this degenerate side of our nature?