From: nospam@example.net   
      
   On Sat, 25 Jan 2025, Ed Cryer wrote:   
      
   > 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   
      
   I like his TV-show. I have, I think, all episodes on my TV computer for   
   quick and easy access for when I'm in the mood for a nice discussion.   
      
   > 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.   
      
   Interesting. I thought all youth have a period when they go through an   
   idealist phase, but eventually grow out of it. I studied philosophy at   
   university, and over the years, I've landed firmly in the materialist   
   camp, with a nice little agnostic twist, delivered by G.E. Moores "here's   
   a hand" argument.   
      
   I have found no better argument for the material world. The problem though   
   is that it is so simple that people think it is childish and don't take it   
   seriously.   
      
   > 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.   
      
   True.   
      
   > Ed   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)