Philosophy is meaningless

Please do not misunderstand me when I say this phrase and do not yell at me and tell me to leave the forum. Also, This is more of a freewrite then an opinion as i have not yet thought this through completly. It is a recent idea of mine. I may contradict myself a few times i dont know. Anyways:

Philosophy is a waste of time.

Yes, I understand philosophy and the questioning state of mind is a healthy thing. In fact, I truly do enjoy philsophical conversations. I enjoy this forum very much. But after proving everything exists, or doesnt exist, or the nature of evil, or the nature of good, or anything at all, does not life still go on in the exact same manner as it did before? Well yes it is known that some philsophers have changed the views of others and some mindsets have been changed, but have we ever come closer to some universal truth, or any usefull applications to the answers (or further multitude of questions) that we have uncovered? These peopel who have been able to change mindsets were able to do so, more because of their motivational aspects then their philsophical aspects. And really, the only reason people choose these philosophies at all is because they're only waiting for the right one that suits them to latch on too. Hitler had Nietzsche and was a great fan of his. If Hitler had never heard of Nietzsche, would anything have changed? I doubt it.

In the scheme of things, humanity still advances further through the discovery of sciences. Techinology is the ever changing tool of this society. Philosophy is not. It keeps us at the same conclusion that we were at before, life has not changed. Although, looking in on it in thought now, one (or myself) could argue that some philsophies have created forms of government. I really do not consider these philosophies. Or rather, I should probably change my above statement. Most philsophies are pointless. Political philosophy can have a great effect on the world. It is the Philosophies such as, Is there a god? Does anything truly exist? Is everything a matter of our perception? Is there a greater truth? Is there a consistent truth? What is knowledge? What is wisdom? the list goes on. Tell me, if any of these questions were answered, would life drastically change. Maybe if we were to disprove God then yes, there would be some uprising in some form, but say we were to prove it. nothing would really change because religions would still fight over who is the correct truth.

Actually I really do not have a good, formulated opinion together yet. I would like to hear others opinions on this subject. Maybe start a good discussion that i can formulate an opinion on. Philosophicus, I'd like to hear your take on this, you being a philsophy professor and writer and all that jazz.

Originally posted by Bijan
Philosophy is a waste of time.

'A waste of time' is doing something that serves no purpose. If people get enjoyment out of doing something, then it ceases to be 'a waste of time' as the end result is not nothingness.

To break 'philosophy' down to it's base level, you find the action of 'thinking'. Therefore, you are arguing that thinking is wrong if it brings about no change.

I think you need to think about that.

Bijan, you have raised a good point. I have also thought about this in the past: is philosophy making any progress or not? The embarrasing fact is that from the pre-socratic philosophers, through the great greek thinkers, up to today, not one of the most burning questions has yet been answered in a universally satisfying way. We still ask the same questions and come up with the same, sometimes contradictive, answers. Another interseting thing is the appearance of so-called new philosophies arising through the centuries - the ancient greeks covered absolutely every branch of philosophy imaginable. For example, the philosophy of post-modernism which is quintessentially the philosophy of doubt, subjectivity and relativity has already existed in the times of the greeks - I think it was Telemachus, if my mind doesn't fail me, who first exhibited the concept of subjective opinion. Existentialism is also just a new name for an old concept, closely linked to post-modernism. Even the philosophy of Kant, who many hail as the greatest modern philosopher, is almost a clone of the Forms theory of Plato. Kant talks about the universal concept of something, for instance, of Man - the nature of man, or Human Nature. The latter is exactly the same as Plato's Form, you might just as well say: the Form of Man - Form, Nature, universal concept is all one and the same at the core.

So, although there has not been any significant universal progress in philosophy as to answering the most fundamental questions of life, there is however meaning in philosophy: No individual can really live without a philosophy steering his life's decisions and opinions and actions. Ultimately it comes down to finding a meaning to live life - that you can only find through deep philosophical thought. One has to believe in something, whether that be a God, one's own moral definitions, art, etc. Objectively, philosophy has no meaning, but subjectively, people still choose to live by some or other philosophy, even if others disagree with them. Absolute, universal progress in philosophy is only possible if a unanimous agreement on all the fundamental questions can be reached. That will never happen, so it comes down to the individual in the sense that the individual must find the philosophy which makes sense to him. You cannot live without any philosophy at all, as that will leave you with a void as to the meaning of your life, and as to the daily decisions you have to make and the problems that confront you. Your actions and reactions in life is determined by the underlining code of conduct, pertaining to your moral and cosmic outlook on life, where this 'code of conduct' or behaviour is determined by your philosophy of life.

There will always be philosophers in the world, because the intellectual human being has an irrational drive to be rational; he is always frustrated with the absurdity of existence he is faced with; he will always look for 'answers', even if he never obtains them.

Bijan, if one is absolute familiar with every possibility in the universe, then one can seek other things which interest you. But I am sure that we, humans, have not reach that stage yet, and it is not possible for us to reach that stage without that so called "technology"- which I meant was the passing of information, without the need for school, and "waste"(need) of much time.

One only argues that things are boring, that we are not making any progress, or you are not feeling any excitement, the reason behind that is that you are familiar with the area you were interested in. So I suggest that you try to explore more of the other part of life, as there is a road of possibilities reaching "infinate".

Many average people/stereotype people have only ventured in the lower part of life, or hierarchy of life that they knew of, and die without knowing the "truth", and the magnificence of life.

But then one can argue that the goal of life is fufilling one's purpose, without the necessary of knowing the truth...

You know that saying "The goal of life is to fulfill one'S purpose" is just well weird, since it doesn'T answer anything it's actually just a rephrasing of the question, you might want to think aboot that again. Who gives you that purpose? What is it? How do you find out?

Philosophy is like building a weapon, physical evidence is like ammunition for that weapon. Philosophy is like building a cart, physical evidence is like a horse.
Try to physically apply your -philosophy- conclusions to something, Bijan . (blah, I can't spell the right word) Test stuff out until you get results. Of course, be responsible and don't hurt youself or anyone else in the process. Tangible results prove your point to yourself and others.

Throughout history, many advances in social structure have their grounding in major shifts in philosophical thinking. As an area of inquiry, philosophy touches most other disciplines. Even today, researchers in philosophy study the human mind, language, art/aesthetics, biology, physics, mathematics, economics, politics, law, history, psychology, the physical and social sciences in general, logic, artificial intelligence, ethics, politics, and religion.

Philosophicus put it the best I believe. And I honestly had not thought of it that way. Although, I still believe many philosophies do just borderline on the absurd, I was thinking too much in the fashion of seeking a tangible end result. All right this thread is done. haha

Originally posted by 42Bardock
You know that saying "The goal of life is to fulfill one'S purpose" is just well weird, since it doesn'T answer anything it's actually just a rephrasing of the question, you might want to think aboot that again. Who gives you that purpose? What is it? How do you find out?

sigh.... purpose... is one made up on ones own.... an aim of oneself.
example---> I will marry that girl. And, I mean it is culculated in percentage, wether you set it as a piriority or just a "bonus".

another good example would be if your family suddenly died, then you have lost all hope, and you wouldn't want to live, without them. Then you would have made your aim of life subconsciously as your family..
I hope this answers your question.

i just fell without it how would we ened up saying and doing some of the things we do it being a waste of time means life being a wate of time that sounds quite wrong but hey the freedom of speech

Philosophy is not a waste of time, without philosophy we will not have science, politics, laws, or anything else. It all came from philosophy. I specially liked the point that Ou Be Low hoo brought ; to say that "philosophy is a waste of time. " is already a philosophy in itself.

But it's all subjective..... 😂 anyway.....that's how the arguments always end.....

philosophy is intergal to science. We must first ponder the questions before we desire to seek answers...........then set about conducting controlled experiments to render the answers we speak.

without philosophy, all scientific data would simply be stumbled upon by dumb luck.............

to attain any answer, you must first have the question. To first have the question, you must have a desire for the knowledge it may yeild.

Originally posted by debbiejo
But it's all subjective..... 😂 anyway.....that's how the arguments always end.....

Thats very true ! Sometimes we even forget what we were talking about...

Originally posted by Atlantis001
Thats very true ! Sometimes we even forget what we were talking about...

i think philosopy is the PURPOSE of our life

How can there ever be real meaning and resolution to philosophizing if we can never be assured in an absolute sense by the infinity of being as such that our ideas are correct and real? If we are merely minutely small parts of the whole of existence and not the 'god's' of it, can there be any meaning to ponder the truth and meaning of life? Is there a solution to all the problems of philosophy, and if not, is there meaning in it?

So you believe we are GODS?

Good one! Maybe we are and just don't know it...

It sounds possible, but I don't feel very godly angel_not.