From: ed@somewhere.in.the.uk   
      
   D wrote:   
   >   
   >   
   > On Fri, 24 Jan 2025, Ed Cryer wrote:   
   >   
   >> D wrote:   
   >>>   
   >>>   
   >>> On Fri, 24 Jan 2025, Ed Cryer wrote:   
   >>>   
   >>>> D wrote:   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>> On Thu, 23 Jan 2025, Ed Cryer wrote:   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>>> The word is Greek; it means "love of wisdom".   
   >>>>>> Ancient philosophers pursued knowledge and understanding. They   
   >>>>>> included what we'd call "science", but over the ages such things   
   >>>>>> have been stripped off and rebranded as the "empirical sciences".   
   >>>>>> Philosophy is left with not much more than an inquiry into the   
   >>>>>> very tools of understanding. Reason itself.   
   >>>>>>   
   >>>>>> Ed   
   >>>>>>   
   >>>>>   
   >>>>> Would you say there can ever be progress in philosophy?   
   >>>>   
   >>>> I think not. It gets added unto over the ages; e.g. philosophy of   
   >>>> science, linguistic analysis. But I agree with your underlying   
   >>>> supposition.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> Even so, I think it has its uses. It makes you aware of the limits   
   >>>> of human understanding; of how much that we accept as truth is   
   >>>> fundamentally flawed.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> Ed   
   >>>   
   >>> So you would not say that the fact that philosophers no longer debate   
   >>> how many angels fit on the head of a pin is progress? Or perhaps it   
   >>> is more due to progress in science?   
   >>   
   >> British philosophers love using foreign words; especially German ones.   
   >> Let's try a "Gedankenexperiment".   
   >   
   > I am fluent in german but I find it strange that philosophers love to   
   > mix in german and latin.   
   >   
   >> A university has three departments side by side; philosophy, theology,   
   >> physics.   
   >> A notice appears on a signboard outside, saying "Tonight's speaker   
   >> will talk about how many angels ..... etc.   
   >>   
   >> In which dept would you take a seat?   
   >   
   > Physics! I would be very interested to hear what physicists have to say   
   > about the subject.   
   >   
   > At the risk of showing my hand, I didn't think theology departments   
   > still existed in serious universities.   
   >   
   >>   
   >>   
   >> Ed   
   >>   
   >>   
      
   In his book "Confessions of a Philosopher: A Journey Through Western   
   Philosophy" Bryan Magee claims that all the major questions of western   
   main-stream philosophy occurred to him in his lived childhood experience.   
   Well, they didn't in mine. I only became aware of them when I read about   
   them.   
   OK, so I'm thick.   
      
   However, I can recall what turned me into books of philosophy.   
   I was always an avid reader, and I constantly came up against statements   
   that the world wasn't real, that it was a product of mind.   
   This I couldn't swallow, so I started reading about idealism, and was   
   swept off my feet by it all. This philosophy was better than chess.   
      
   Philosophy is interesting; it engages you and keeps away the gremlins of   
   boredom. Peeling away the skins of ignorance and prejudice, seeking out   
   the bedrock of our existence; it's like sending protons around a large   
   hadron collider, and looking for some Higgs Boson in the resulting mix.   
      
   Ed   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)