Do you have a philosophy?

[Terxpahseyton]

I think there are three fundamental functions of philosophies. I will sort them by abstraction. Beginning with the most abstract.
(1) Understanding existence
(2) Understanding being human
(3) How to live

The colloquial understanding of philosophy IMO mainly refers to (3). What intuitively comes to mind to me is a set of guidelines or wisdom or insights. A list of short notices, each marked with thick-inked dot. Or perhaps a list of anecdotes, shining due to their flexibility and practical orientation.

I have got a lot of on my mind regarding (3). Nothing absolute, but something IMO defining. But on my quest for (3) I mostly faced confusion and frustration. And it made wonder: Who even adheres to a philosophy?

Disclaimer: DO NOT GIVE ME something like "Do not do as you would not want done unto yourself" - because (almost) no one does that - and expect to be taken wholly holy srlsy. I believe there are similar axioms with similar shortcomings. That is not why I mean by real philosophy. By that I mean: Actually practiced. Not perfect, of course, but at least giving it an honest try. Not merely revered, without following through. That stinks of mere convenience philosophy or also morality Of merely allotting points which mark one as the good or the bad. Or the wise and the dumb. Like in a game show.

If you do have a real thing: Please share. If you do not: share just as well. This is about the big picture, not finding the special unicorn.Just be advised where I want to draw the line.

 

[Narz]

#1 and #2 I don't concern myself with too much.

#3 I try to be as healthy as possible physically & emotionally/mentally & in my relationships.

That's pretty much it. Also critically assess myself for harmful beliefs/practices as well as my environment for toxicity.

If I can't change something right away (within myself or my environment) I try to do as much as I can where I'm at, with what I have, keeping my goals in mind.

That last sentence could be a summary right there.

 

[Synobun]

I don't think I do. Abiding by a philosophy seems to me to be a rather conscious lifestyle that I'm not sure I'm capable of. I'm reactive in the sense that I abide by my natural state which usually entails quiet reflection or introspection and being distanced from more "normal" human behaviours. But I never woke up one day and decided to be that. It's just always been what I am, with time being the greatest factor in refining how that gets expressed or whether or not I'm comfortable in that position.

My perspective on existence is that it 'just is'. The specifics are lost to me. I don't like that they are lost to me. I am however cognizant that I do not possess the ability to change that fact.

My perspective on being human is that I don't really have one. I feel like an outsider to the human condition. I share some similarities but there exists massive divides in other instances. I don't feel necessarily a part of the human experience.

My perspective on how to live life is that I just do. Most of what happens is pointless, not as a result of nihilism but as a result of just genuinely not seeing the point in most of the things people do or involve themselves with. I try not to hurt people. I try to see everything from the perspective of redemption. I'm incapable of hating people so that biases my viewpoint a great deal.

 

[Terxpahseyton]

Narz! I think you know some stuff. But you make no effort to really know it yourself! Like, know it in a manner which is distinct rather than merely practical. The latter is necessary to pass it on, okay, but the former is necessary to actually mean something.
*****************************************
[Give me between 10 or 0 points of being a good Hygro, so far];
**********************from now on I will be a good SiLL*******************

So far [Ignoring Vincour, you came too late] nothing substantially happened. Any crude shot at philosophy I so far witnessed, I can deflect a thousand times until utter meaninglessness deconstruction, just right out of my hip-shot.
Pathetic.

But so to be also productive: "Die Fantastischen Vier - Flüchtig" is the best philosophical song I have ever heard.

And within the next weeks I shall translate and re-upload it.

 

[warpus]

1. << I will leave this to physicists

2. << I will leave this to psychologists

3. I follow 2 rules here - "Be excellent to each other" and the golden rule

 

[Perfection]

Of course I have a philosophy.

Can I describe it succinctly in a post? Heck no!

 

[timtofly]

I think there are three fundamental functions of philosophies. I will sort them by abstraction. Beginning with the most abstract.
(1) Understanding existence
(2) Understanding being human
(3) How to live

The colloquial understanding of philosophy IMO mainly refers to (3). What intuitively comes to mind to me is a set of guidelines or wisdom or insights. A list of short notices, each marked with thick-inked dot. Or perhaps a list of anecdotes, shining due to their flexibility and practical orientation.

I have got a lot of on my mind regarding (3). Nothing absolute, but something IMO defining. But on my quest for (3) I mostly faced confusion and frustration. And it made wonder: Who even adheres to a philosophy?

Disclaimer: DO NOT GIVE ME something like "Do not do as you would not want done unto yourself" - because (almost) no one does that - and expect to be taken wholly holy srlsy. I believe there are similar axioms with similar shortcomings. That is not why I mean by real philosophy. By that I mean: Actually practiced. Not perfect, of course, but at least giving it an honest try. Not merely revered, without following through. That stinks of mere convenience philosophy or also morality Of merely allotting points which mark one as the good or the bad. Or the wise and the dumb. Like in a game show.

If you do have a real thing: Please share. If you do not: share just as well. This is about the big picture, not finding the special unicorn.Just be advised where I want to draw the line.

No, but I seem to be accused of asserting one.

 

[Gori the Grey]

In my view, one doesn't have a philosophy. Philosophy means love of wisdom. I'd say I love wisdom (if it didn't sound pretentious). (So I'll go on loving it without saying so.)

Maybe the right verb is pursue. If one loves wisdom, one pursues that love. Or indulge; one indulges that love. Or have without the "a"; one has philosophy.

"To stand inquiring right is not to stray," I might take as my philosophical motto.

 

[Truthy]

I'm pretty interested in crossing philosophy and cognitive science for the second option, mainly to understand how experience works. I'm not sure about the first and third options, but as far as I put effort into them, they mostly reduce to the second option (though I don't dismiss them as being uninteresting or unimportant).

So I've tried to build myself some kind of realism that borrows from Daniel Dennett, Kant, Steven Pinker (when he's not being pompous and annoying), a few others, stuff I know about biology/read on blogs. Idk if it's coherent or accurate. It's an ongoing project that I think about on a regular basis.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Until I have read the entire canon of philosophy I can't really say I have my own philosophical ideas. Someone may have thought of them already.

 

[CivCube]

I'm a Cubist.

 

[Honor]

(1) Understanding existence: I take it as granted. I used to think it is probably an infinite wave with no beginning and no end. I then decided I actually don't have a clue why we exist.
(2) Understanding being human: I draw from philosophy, biology, medicine, psychology, sociology, politics, and anthropology to create a number of mental models explaining why humans behave, and more importantly, feel the way they do. I basicallly don't believe we are a blank slate at birth (Hey, Pinker!), and I lean towards a theory of humans in milder environments turning up to be happier and better people than people in harsher environments where extreme intraspecies competition is prevalent.
(3) How to live: Exercise and eat well. Meditate. I am currently trying to detransform into my former non-competition-oriented self that is not perpetually in survival mode by existing in a milder, low-competition environment.

 

[Kozmos]

Everything is numbers, being human is a very sophisticated cognitive illusion and given all that nothing much matters. Have fun playing with the numbers or performing illusionary magic with friends until it all ends. The game was rigged from the start so don't feel too bad. You're always trying your best, even if you are failing miserably.

 

[Azem.Ocram]

Rule Based Utilitarian

I never make noticeable/big actions with a net negative impact to society.

 

[Traitorfish]

I have whisky and a chip on my shoulder, who needs a philosophy?

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

I think that's for politics. For philosophy, take off the chip and double up on the whisky.

 

[Truthy]

Until I have read the entire canon of philosophy I can't really say I have my own philosophical ideas. Someone may have thought of them already.

I mean, you can read papers by philosophers who are alive and publishing right now (some recent ones for me are Christine Korsgaard, Lucy Allais, and Henry Allison), compare what they write with older stuff and stuff you know from other fields, and develop your own opinions, while acknowledging they might be totally wrong. I don't see what in the op indicates taking credit for or ownership of ideas or being very thorough. I interpret it to mean if you have a collection of philosophical ideas that you believe or at least think about and mull around.

 

[Tahuti]

I think there are three fundamental functions of philosophies. I will sort them by abstraction. Beginning with the most abstract.

There are a lot more than that, honestly. That being said, it is good starting point for asking the role of philosophy in a person's daily life by naming these 'fundamental functions of philosophies'.

(1) Understanding existence

Existence is magick. My justification for its existence in turn is that, for example, placebos work because these are a form of healing magick. We should study magick to understand existence.

(2) Understanding being human

Humanity is something to be overcome! Yes, I'm actually borrowing directly from Nietzsche here because understanding being human from his lense made life most wonderful for me. I might add some things of my own later building on it.

(3) How to live

That is tied to the former two questions. I feel that, due to the way I have answered the former two questions, this is one is self-evident for me yet unexplainable to others.

 

[Lohrenswald]

I don't have any like organised philosophy or whatever written out (I think I generally deal with information on sort of an intuition basis)

That being said it's probably some dumb nihilism thing

 

[Broken_Erika]

I don't have any like organised philosophy or whatever written out (I think I generally deal with information on sort of an intuition basis)

That being said it's probably some dumb nihilism thing

Dumbhilism?