Patrick: Hey guys thanks for coming here to help me with some questions I have been thinking over.
kurt: sure thing!
nigel: Of course!
julian: you're welcome
kurt: Why did you choose us to speak to specifically.
Patrick: I felt your books each related to this topic is some form or the other. I also have been reading all of your books for a class that I am in currently.
Nigel: Thats Awesome!
patrick: So are you guys ready?
kurt: sure!
nigel: Of course!
julian: im ready
Patrick: Do you think philosophy can help people learn to respect truth, facts, reality, and one another, and to reject falsehood, superstition, selfishness, polarization, partisanship, and mutual hostility based on differences of race, religion, ethnicity, nationality, belief, etc.? If so, how? If not, why not?
Patrick: I personally believe that philosophy is a tool. However it is not a truth. All the big questions in life remain unanswered. Philosophy was never meant to answer this questions and was solely meant to see these ideas through a new perspective and help others open their eyes to other perspectives on difficult questions. This allows for the exchange of ideas and will ultimately help to get to the answers that people seek. In regards to how to affects my answer to the question I believe I would put it this way. Philosophy does help us respect one another but it doesn't help us respect facts, truths and reality. I believe this because philosophy does not state what is or isn't true. While it may open your eyes to simple truths such as the beauty in nature it does not answer any of lifes big questions rather allows us to ponder them with multiple viewpoints. Because of all of this it is very hard to use philosophy as a tool to find what is incorrect or what is correct.
kurt: I agree with you on this idea that philosophy is not a tool to dismiss falsehoods. Certain people are very stuck in their ways and have created their own reality in which they only accept supporting information. I talked about this in my book on page 224 if you have it handy. These people are stuck in their ways and can't use the truth that philosophy holds. I would like to disagree with you on the premise that their is no truth given by philosophy. The simple truth of higher levels of thinking along with the principle of enlightment are truths that we know of. While these may not answer the big questions in life they are answers that help you deal with these questions.
julian: I would like to chime in and say that point you made about certain people not willing to change their reality. While this is true the world is survival of the fittest. I believe it does not matter that their are people not willing to see the truth. There always will be these people. It is up to the people who see the truth to attain and teach. Plato talked about this in his allegory of the cave.
Nigel: I actually agree with patricks point on this. Philosophy is knowledge and knowledge is power. However there is no easy way to intergrate this learned knowledge into your everyday life. This is the hardest part of philosophy and the part that some people will have trouble with. It is up to each person how they wish to use this information.
Patrick: Wow I am incredibly impressed with the elegance of the answers you all gave. Very well spoken without anybody interuppting anybody else. It almost feels strange in our current year.
kurt: We did come from a time before intentionally devisive politics however we will not branch off into that.
Patrick: I agree lets leave politics out of the conversation for once.
nigel: Did we answer your questions?
Patrick: I just have one more
How would you answer William James's "really vital question for us all: What is this world going to be? What is life eventually to make of itself?
Patrick: I personally believe we have seen a very drastic change in the last 4 years that wasn't predictable. The conversations in the world have shifted. We have cowardly used our intellect to remove pain from our lives rendering us incapable of dealing with small incoviences. Schools have become numbing to the brain because teachers no longer look to challenge their students rather they have an almost pathological fear of distressing their students. We have become weaker as a population in the last 4 years. However I don't believe this is a trend. The world adapts. As much as things are uncomfortable now there are ups and downs. I beleive we will see many more peaks and lows. its like warburton said on page 42 of his book“The wheel of Fortune turns. Sometimes you are at the top; sometimes you are at the bottom"
Julian: I believe that we won't change much. Today there are two breeding echo chambers of division and hate. They grow larger and larger until something bad happens. history repeats itself and I have the sad feelings we will have deja vu its like I said in my book on page 33 "To escape human perspective altogether would be to cease to be human"
Nigel: I like to be a bit more hopeful. It may seem bad now but we will bounce back. new generations will adapt and learn and eventually lead.
Kurt: I will have to agree with nigel on this one. I believe that we can regrow as a nation but that will take a good bit of effort. If people aren't motivated to put the work in then I can very easily see us ending up back at this same spot.
Patrick: Well that is all the questions I have for you guys. Thank you for coming out
"philosophy is a tool. However it is not a truth" - Is it not a tool for discovering truth?
ReplyDelete"Philosophy was never meant to answer this questions" - No?
"Philosophy...doesn't help us respect facts, truths and reality"-!?!
"The simple truth of higher levels of thinking along with the principle of enlightment are truths that we know of" - ??
"it does not matter that their are people not willing to see the truth" - !!
"We did come from a time before intentionally devisive politics"- they're all our contemporaries