Why We Need Philosophy
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- Опубликовано: 23 окт 2014
- Why is philosophy even important? It helps us overcome our natural limits of thinking, for one, and it’s depressingly rare for two.
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Philosophy is important because wisdom is the best way we have of postponing that ''being dead' thing.
I passed high school when I was 18 and now that I am 26 I am going to college in Europe to study Philosophy.
After computer science education. I will go to study Philosophy, around my 26's as well
@Umar Virk except it's not the same thing at all
@Umar Virk it could be technically done without going to University but most importantly it will be much harder compared to studying it in Uni. You will have no guidelines and specific order in which you could learn it, no Real idea which books are worth getting into, you will have no one to discuss your ideas with, no professor to ask questions, etc.
Lol, well as an Iowan, I can confirm that tornados do take people to heaven in a sense
How bout that derecho?
"Philosophy without science is blind, science without philosophy is lame."
- My own specific version of Einstein's quote.
"religion with science is blind."
"science without religion is lame."
not original mate.
growingb11 that's why I said "My own specific version of Einstein's quote."
+Ellis Farrow must have read it wrong last night my bad.
growingb11 No problem.
Im going to give the original form of that to Kant not Einstein
Olly, don't stop doing these videos, please! They really are changing my world views and also help me defend my position on difficult questions.
"WE NEED PHILOSOPHY SO WE CAN CHALLENGE THE ESTABLISHED, AND FINALLY LEGALIZE THAT DANK ASS WEED" - Snoop Dogg
Is that an actual quote?
I want it to be Real so ye it is
@@pokerguthix that's some nice ass epistemology right there
@@JasminUwU most people think like this so obviously it is good epistemology :D
So cringey 😬
Thank you so much for your videos Abigail. Even older ones like this, they really highlight why critical thinking is SO important.
I've been binging on your videos. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge. I believe that one of the great values of philosophy is found in questions. In a world so consumed by finding the "right" answer sometimes we forget that first we must ask the right question. Philosophy allows us to do just that, find the right question.
Philosophy taught me how to think for myself, and at least recognize what pair of glasses I'm seeing the world through....
To me, Philosophy is so important because it's the only place where you are actively encouraged to find your own answers. From an evolutionary standpoint it makes sense to believe what we are told by our parents, teachers and other authorities, but I remember very clearly when I first realised that they can be flawed, or act in a way that I believe is unjust, or maybe even just tell straight out lies. And when you actually start to question what you know of the world, truly question it, you can either trust other authorities or what you already "know" (which can be useful in some circumstances obviously), or find your own opinions. Philosophy never tells you what to think, just HOW to think.
I am just fond of such videos indeed ^^
I myself have overcome some kind of crisis in my education and only people like you helped me to come back to my initial passion about philosophy
your channel is perfect! :3
You are just awesome, man. Just what I've been wanting to do with Philosophy, but you do them better. :D Great to see Philosophy being shared in this interesting format you do it in. :)
+Terrible Tallrus Thanks!
Your channel is awesome!
There's no much channels like this on country where i live (Brazil), and I would love to show this vídeos to my Brazilian friends!
You really are awesome!
I live in Algeria and Philosophy is not teached until the 2 last years of high school ... and all they teach us is subjects like "the origin of mathematics" or "is history a real science?" ... I discovered philosophy thanks to the internet and my view of life, human being and the world changed completely! It's now of my passions and i dream to leave this country so i can study it for real!
Your channel is really helping me, plus the format is very cool and i have to say that you really are handsome haha! Thank you :D
In the United States, we aren't taught Philosophy at all in high school. If you want to be taught philosophy you have to either be taught it in college or become an autodidact.
Though this is litteraly 8 years old, genuinely like the way you explained this. Dropped a follow🙏🏾💯
You are one of the people who have made me realize how fortunate I am to be in a position where I can think freely and critically about anything. Thank you.
When I was little, my mom told me that if I went to bed with wet hair my nose would rot in my sleep. I rationally understand that is unlikely but it's hard to internalise that it's not true. She also told me that the feeling of pain came from my white blood cells attacking foreign bacteria. I like that one better.
Really good major to have before going into law school teaches you good argumentation and critical reading and reasoning skills
I actually made a similar video that summarizes why I think philosophy matters that says many of the same things. tl;dw:
1. Philosophy is practice for how to think clearly & logically, cataloguing shortcuts for how to recognize certain structures of ideas & where their weak points are.
2. It helps to figure out how to align will & behavior, to make one's actions more relevant to one's desires.
3. It provides freedom to question long-held beliefs & change them.
Hi Olly. Answering your question about why Philosophy is valuable to me, I think that it is valuable for being something that enables us to excel in many ways. Thinking critically about everyday's matters helps us sharpen our way of thinking and common sense. Doing researches about those matters is important if you want to give your opinion seriously, but sometimes you are able to make the right call if you already are sharp enough in this sense. What you said in 2:58 sums up my thoughts on this ("If you wanna find the truth, then use this thing" *points to the head*). Our 'think tank' (once I saw someone using this term, and I loved it) is something very powerful. We can never tell who might be able to change things as we know now. Even school children are able to do so by being able to call for international help and protesting peacefully ("They are children! We must do something to HELP!"). Sometimes, even among friends the act of thinking critically can be a 'burden'. Here in Brazil (I'm Brazilian BTW), for example, Politics is a veeery delicate matter. Friendships are torn apart because people tend to be emotional when trying to reason with each other about why their candidate is the right choice for the country. They mostly think about the things their own candidate made for them personally, like taking them out of poverty and giving them help with school and other things, and most of the time they start arguing. They are not wrong to be grateful, but they disregard other things that are wrong, like the corruption of most politicians who are elected. Maybe it is like this everywhere in the world. Thanks for making this videos, they are great! :)
I find that philosophy is important because it allows for one to find their own personal truths about their own personal reality, identity, and being in the world.
+CosmoShidan ..... and, you know, the objective truths about actual reallity? i mean, it doesn't nessecarily establish it beyond a shadow of a doubt, but if you're doing philosophy right, whatever you find out should be true for others than just you
Magnus Thirup Hansen Oh no doubt philosophy is about a priori proofs! It's just that philosophy on a personal level is great for one going through self-doubt and needing meaning in life.
“Because God said so” is one of the worst things you can say to a child.
Well Said. For me , philosophy just fills my spirit.
I do have quite an ecumenical view of philosophy; pretty much any reasoned enquiry displays some affinity to philosophy.
Of course that is not what distinguishes philosophy academics from other professionals, but I do prefer having this broader view in mind.
I agree with your reasons for studying philosophy. Since I began studying philosophy around 5 years ago, without a doubt my critical thinking skills have become very sharp and astute. Especially now that I am a graduate student doing literature research it has become a vital arrow in my quiver. Furthermore, without philosophy and philosophers around to ask the basic question “why”, science wouldn’t be where it is and humans wouldn't be so technologically advanced!
Already sub'd! Keep up the good work!
Philosophy is valuable when it leads to a deeper understanding of physical reality; it is destructive when it is used to claim absolute knowledge which cannot be tested in reality.
I concur
True :)
Agreed but with the caveat that those are not the only two options. It can also be valuable in ways that don't lead to a deeper understanding of physical reality and not claim absolute truths.
We should also challenge our conceptions of what things are/are not testable. I hear often the claim that we can not test if a triangle can have 4 sides, yet there are remarkably simple tests to do so.
Yeah but that's what we have science for. Your view presupposes that physical reality is all there is. I mean, there is this whole other world we live in that can't be located anywhere in the physical world. The world of the mind, the world of ideas, the world of society. You might think those things are rooted in reality but the more you think about it, they aren't. I mean, think about it. Can you actually touch America? Oh you might be able to touch the geographic territory within which America is supposed to be located (or which it is sovereign over). You might be able to touch the physical bodies of those of us who pay taxes, who on paper are American citizens. But this abstract concept we call America is really just that, a concept. If we stopped paying our taxes and started flying a different flag, America would just disappear, like so many other governments have before it. This is totally not the way the physical world works right? What about ethics? Can you touch morality? Can you test it? Can you do an experiment to see which political ethic is right, and which one is wrong? Man, if we could do that, we wouldn't need politics anymore. Or what of aesthetics? Can you run a test to prove that something is beautiful? Obviously not, because all these things are subjective concepts that don't actually exist in objective reality.
I mean sure, these things, ideas, concepts, traditions, practices, institutions, social categories, etc. might ultimately be contained in the physical world in things like neurons or letters on a page. But they can not be fully understood by studying those things, anymore than you can understand the meaning of a word by studying its physical characteristics. You might learn whether that word is made of ink on a page, or pixels and binary numbers, or vibrations in the air. But you won't know what it means by studying its physical properties alone, because they don't exist in our physical world. That's why I find it useful to distinguish between physical or objective reality, and conceptual or subjective reality. Objective reality is the domain of science. Subjective reality, the domain of philosophy. And anytime we engage in conjecture or subjective thought, we are doing philosophy. Any time we engage, or at least attempt to engage, in objective thought or, more correctly, practice, we are doing science. That's how I like to look at it.
Mishima Please return to school. There is so much fail and misconception in your above post that it endangers the stability of reality.
You confuse 'things' with 'concepts' and 'conceptions of things'.
And fail to understand the Subject/Object distinction.
Thank you for sharing your beliefs. Philosophy is way of life. How real can one be if one does not question the world? I love philosophy. I love knowledge . I'm a junior right now majoring in Philosophy and minoring in communications. My videos are philosophical, but I'll say in a more holistic way. I'm still learning, a lot everyday. Good luck ! -Vidalocatv
Ooooh, fancy thumbnail, mmmm.
I understand where you are coming from with this, and I totally agree with the need for society to _think more_ and question their assumptions (both Kierkegaard and Derren Brown say quite a bit about this). However, unfortunately I feel that our (Western, or at least the Australian) education system is set up in such a way as to limit such critical thinking. Subjects like history and physics present objective 'truths'. Knowledge is polar - right or wrong. Even English literature and writing studies as well as things like drama and art is marked in such a way as to encourage a certain amount of conformity. There is a rubric, a marking criteria, a specific way to interpret a given stimulus or answer said question. Such a terribly irony that we have art classes that assign you marks that say "you're doing creativity wrong". We are encouraging our future generations to conform, never reform, never create, never debate. Oh dear.
So yes, I think we need philosophy. Just as I think anyone who studies history or politics must study historiography to compliment it. In Australia the only compulsory high school subject is English - rather it should be a class in thought. A class that incorporates philosophical reasoning, basic ethnic/religious education (for the major divisions at least) in order to minimalize unfounded prejudice, a course promoting common sense, common decency, and emotional intelligence. Too many people seem to lack these things.
Philosophy is a natural process of our evolving brains..... Well done, thank you for your work. Peace
I like Zizek's answer to this question.
He also talks about the silent presuppositions we take for granted when dealing with the world, and how they might be wrong, or at least need to be proven right, but he also says something that I think is even more important: it teaches us how to ask things. There are not, he says, only bad answers, there are also bad questions. So instead of endlessly debating "are we free?" we should instead ask "what do you mean when you talk about freedom?".
And to know how to ask the right one is a valuable skill anywhere in life.
Philosophy is important to me because it helped me learn about how love is not a constant and that the love you have for a person can change into a different love a greater love. This I learned from the book "Notes from underground" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. This book has helped me to become a better boyfriend and when I got married I was ready for the change when it happened and it helped me to be a better husband and even now as we are about to have our second child this is helping me to be a better father.
With philosophy, we can live better lives. Thinking critically, asking the right questions, and correct reasoning is the key to solving problems and finding truth.
Philosophy is good because it works both on a practical small scale and a larger scale. It can be applied to most things to determine a stance (even if that stance is neutral) with just understanding the base concept and being able to look at it in different ways. We need philosophy in a world where the media is fear mongering and where the plural of anecdote SEEMS like data.
This is Water graduation speech is a great example of how philosophy can be used practically in everyday life, to increase overall happiness and decrease overall suffering.
Woah, you've changed a lot, Olly :D
sir your video is awesome....keep it up. sir there are some problems, some questions arising in the mind how can i tell you about them?
Askdhsh thanks for making me feel like rethinking my A level options a LITERAL WEEK before I have to choose for certain.
We only get 3 damned options this year. Ugh.
The way your mouth moves when you talk makes me filled with a sense of batman and a feeling of spaghetti
Pretty old video but I read the allegory of the cave in my English class and it changed my view. I am scared of how little I know.
One word we can use to name "doing without questioning" is CONDITIONING. Thank you for addressing the importance of philosophy :))))
Didn't know it was called conditioning, ty
Wow, how did I find this, this was so long ago
Dope show
Hi Olly,
First and foremost - I love your videos. They keep me relatively sane in a world that does not value philosophy.
Second I want to ask you a question that hopefully you'll be able to answer. I've asked a few people, lecturers, friends, fellow graduates and I am trying to gain some perspective.
after graduating with a 2:1 in Philosophy I fell into one of worst sorts of ruts but eventually emerged out of the other side. However, as I was putting my life back together I got back in contact with an old class mate from high school. He had gone off to do Programming and has now found himself in an intensive research project for Imperial College London - prestigeous world wide for AI and medicine.
When he came back he was mocking my degree choice, constantly asking whether I was proud of taking such a useless path in life and whether I could demonstrate to him what I had gained from the degree. I did not answer, primarily because I felt his questions were only putting me in a terrible place when I was on the verge of leaving something very serious and heart breaking behind me.
I am still in contact with him but he still insists on lamenting that my degree was useless, as a 27 year old man this shouldn't bother me but I feel like I should have been able to rebut him. I wasn't, especially when confronted with an inability to get a job in any meaningful employment (at the time).
In all earnest, how would you summarise the purpose of philosophy in the face of vehement empiricist badgering? More specifically, what does philosophy offer that is different from the more vocational degrees that ultimately demand the same thing - critical thinking, elegance of argument, geneological awareness etc... I suppose it falls on me to find the purpose or the 'why' but to me it was self evident in some cases. Nonetheless it would be great to get your input.
You never got an answer...?
I guess that some kind of answer can be deduced from one of previous videos. My understanding is that philosophy is not a kind of degree you pursue when you know what you want to do with your life. It is not that it predisposes you to some kind of a career.
You have mentioned that there are other degrees teaching critical thinking. I guess they put more emphasis on logical thinking, but it is not the same. I have also studied programming and judging by the people on my university I can tell that this degree did little to develop critical thinking skills. To tell you the truth, I was unable to challenge my beliefs until I have been 33. So if I had chosen philosophy instead of programming and if it would allow me to develop critical thinking skills to the point which allowed me to challenge my beliefs, I'd be better off than I'm now.
I guess that you may quote Seneca:
"If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable"
Your mate might have his destination, but not everyone has one. And as it turned out for me, I thought I knew what I was doing, but it turned out that I'm now stuck with my old commitments. So it is better to think what have I gained instead of comparing yourself to others. Would he feel the same about compering himself to someone who have started a successful startup?
I have a question. While I agree with you wholeheartedly on the importance of critical thinking. I also know that "Philosophers" ,at least, among my social group have the reputation of thinking "in circles" essentially never coming to a conclusion. Why, would you say, is that reputation accurate or flawed?
So if I was the child who questioned everything my parents told me at an early age but instead of endangering myself got someone else to confirm it for me where does that place young me in the situation? For example my mom said not to put metal objects in the wall socket because it was dangerous. I was skeptical so I convinced my cousin to do it instead so I could watch safely and still learn if my mother was telling the truth. I like to think I was an intelligent child but not a compassionate child...
thank you for this video. The world is in dire need of philosophers.
I think the fundamentally most valuable thing philosophy can give to us is the study of ethics. Without any discussion on ethics, the world would not be civilised and governments would continue to oppress people. We are still way off becoming more rational in ethical standards, but at least we've made a start of it. This is why it is important to keep philosophy (or at least ethical discussions) involved with politics, otherwise you get robotic, unempathetic people governing us (debatable how true this is now!)
That tornado example is very sad :(
I'm looking to study Philosophy in university too! Just wondering though, what are your career plans? A lot of people have discouraged me from studying it purely because it doesn't appear to directly lead anywhere in comparison to subjects like law, medicine ect. I know this isn't the case but I'm still curious. Awesome video...as always!!
oray cole I did make a video on questions like what you can do with philosophy: 7 Questions about Studying Philosophy But personally I'm hoping to become an actor. That's not to say it doesn't lead to lots of exciting careers: I've just always loved acting.
if you go to your pre-law department at virtually any university, they will recommend that you major in philosophy if you desire to pursue law. undergraduate philosophy majors rank highest (or second) on GRE and LSAT; you can easily google the statistic.
you could also study philosophy as an undergraduate while completing pre-med courses and subsequently attend med school. Or you could pursue a philosophy PhD and become a professor and publish in philosophical journals.
you can also follow a route similar to mine, in which i majored in philosophy and molecular biology as an undergrad, and plan to attend graduate school for molecular biology. philosophy courses have taught me how to think clearly about all matters much more than any science courses, however..
Justin Valletta Ooh wow that's definitely given me more hope! thanks
I've personally always liked essay based subjects - can't think of anything worse than maths or science lol but its cool that we can do so much with philosophy & I hope to do an undergrad in phil then hopefully go into journalism :)
Often people want to drawn this hard line between science and philosophy, and it is discussions like these in which it is worth remember that science is a branch of philosophy. The same principles of how we view the world, how we justify reasoning, how we challenge our thinking, lead to the rise and reform of scientific processes. Continuing to challenge and refine these principles: improving how peer review can be done without bias, determining how to improve studies with things like "double blind studies" and other ways of removing bias are themselves part of the philosophy of science. (Philosophy of science is a branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and implications of science.)
What we should be asking ourselves here is "What is Philosophy?" depending on your definition your opinion on its necessity may vary.
This video is worth bringing to the discussion: What is Philosophy for?
I'm having a hard time trying to understand a subject. Intuitions as a basic source of evidence. Has anyone read something about it?. Right now I'm writting an essay (for this Thursday) on a paper of George Bealer from 2002 & the first chapter of a book of Hilary Kornblit. Can anybody give me a basic explanation about ir? Thanks you very much.
I think we need philosophy for the purpose of self-reflection, to gain a better understanding of the power our minds have and how we can fulfill this desire to truly know ourselves better, and help us make better sense of ourselves and the ideas that are bestowed upon us. One example that comes to my mind is the 'Name'. I recommend that people question to themselves on why we need a name, and if so, do you believe your name suits your identity, if not then ask why.
I'm watching this video as preliminary research for a paper for my Philosophy 211 class. I looked down and saw that I wrote down "tornadoes carry people to heaven" in my notes on accident. Whoops.
That is exactly why philosophy is important. We can learn a lot of information at school but if we don't learn how to think about it for ourselves, we aren't much better than a computer.
Nowadays we have information for every seemable question we seem to ask because of the internet. Philosophy is most important now because it gives us knowledge from information and most importantly, makes us question things that we have yet to understand.
We all know the mathematical premise of 1+2=3. It's knowledge that we can relate to because we experience the physicality of numbers from our senses. The information needed to prove it is in an axiomic statement we all should know (but some don't pay attention too): A+B=B+A. This information is a mathematical proof that comes from some philosophical understanding of reason. This understanding of information and knowledge is basically where philosophy comes in. You ask questions behind everything that is mathematical, linguistical, epistemological, etc about it to get to some kind of truth or falsehood and along the way learn new techniques and possibly even more math because we philosophize.
That's just my two cents.
[I've always have been interested in philosophy and want study it but I don't know why.
I will study physics, mathematics and philosophy- I will reserve studying philosophy in Stanford university after I finished my physics and mathematics study to secure higher job prospects, then study in University of Stanford; 1st in Philosophy education in all the other universities.
Arguably the most influential philosopher of the twentieth century (Wittgenstein) did not think philosophy (or at least what most philosophers do) was that important. In fact he saw it as more of an intellectual cancer based on linguistic confusion than anything. He wanted to cure people of philosophy. He told his students to go do something useful instead of philosophy. I think that it is good to keep this in mind.
+We Are Showboat Kind of ironic that he'd go and become a philosopher, then drive newcomers away, isn't it? Seems almost mischievous...
defining philosophy in words 100% is like you are giving more value to the NAMING inexplicable things, which one only can feel! philosophy is the love of wisdom, love with knowledge relevant to ones interested field. what do you think, why all our scientists were philosophers and all our philosophers were different things all in one!
Make a video on what type of jobs you can get with Philosophy please. I love Philosophy but...well you know...
***** Already done it! 7 Questions about Studying Philosophy
We need it because the most important things to do as humans is question. The beauty is that there are no right or wrong answers, just people's opinions.
Because knowledge is power that's the only reason I need to believe that philosophy is important
We have to learn how to think
It's kind of an odd concept that this even needs to be addressed, ever since high school I've been fascinated by philosophy and the people who devote(d) their lives to it. I can't imagine a world without it, to ask why it's important is kind of like asking why gravity is important in my mind.
Philosophy is important to me personally because it proves things exist if people throughout time were able to come to similar conclusions I've made on my own ignorant of other people's ideas then I'm not alone and the universe is real, but everyone dies in the end so nothing matters.
JUST AWESOME..... PEOPLE JUST FOLLOW.....
+Abhijit Pal WITH OUT IT - EVERYTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE.
The amount of people, notable Americans, who have no idea what philosophy really is and simply think it's post-modernist-new-age-spiritual-woo-woo is gigantically depressing :(
First-year philosophy major here, and while I agree with everything you're saying, but I feel like this doesn't really deal with the biggest counterargument that you get against "yay philosophy", which is that it's just basically a way for smart narcissists to entertain themselves under the pretext of "improvement", while having no "this-gets-me-what-i-want"-type value.
This really, really bugs me because I don't really know how to answer that. I understand the value of studying it, but I can't find real incentive to do it when there's no certain payoff at the end of it, and putting a 'i'm a romantic martyr against capitalism' myth on is only motivating until I have to actually put serious work in, then I just freeze with the fear that I'm ruining my life.
I know you've probably dealt with this, so how do you get around it?
Might be too late to comment, but PHILOSOPHY affords us a view on the glories and ills of the human condition and how writing upon them consoles us in a way that we would feel not alone and that couple of decades ago, a man understood what we are in right now, and how unaware we are of the bigger picture of mankind.
Philosophy can change the world :)
But how much? Is the economic costs of learning philosophy at university justified?
Some may say that there is little tangible, economic value from a degree in philosophy when compared to, say, engineering degrees.
Not true, you can actually get a higher chance of rising up to a position of management with a philosophy degree, since philosophy degrees show that you have critical thinking skills that an employer would require for future management.
CosmoShidan Is this from experience, or from something you've heard from a friend of a friend?
I think the cost is another debate. If fruit and vegtables suddenly became very expensive it would not change the fact that they are important for a healthy diet.
Terry G Exactly! Marxian economics - theres a difference between exchange/monetary value and utility value.
I mean, I don't know about you, but I don't pay much for oxygen, but man, is it valuable!
Cost is irrelevant. It's knowledge you buffoon. The thoughts of the philosophy of science dictate the way in which science itself works. Ethics is the entire basis for legislation and law. The philosophy of Religion affects how we ought to manage our societies and live. Political Philosophy dictates how societies govern themselves too but in a different way. I could go on and on and on but you obviously haven't got a clue what philosophy is as there's a reason every prime minister is supposed to be knowledgeable in it.
Even if it had no societal benefit and it was wholly and individual pursuit then it would still be valuable to pursue it. How can you say that knowledge is not worthwhile simply because it doesn't result in people being wealthier (which philosophical knowledge most definitely does, but imagine it doesn't)? Wealth isn't all there is to life you know. It's not the reason why you should be studying any subject except economics/business studies at university.
Philosophy is valuable because reasoning is a life skill. They should treat the basic critical principles of reasoning in high school. I suppose they would if school was designed to help the student become an academic rather then a worker.
Faulty reasoning, and fallacies are what a large chunk of people in power use to stay in power. So what you are doing, teaching this to the entire world, is changing it for the better. Well, those people in it who are interested in learning anyway. Thank you for that.
Have you seen Scott Clifton's (Theoretical Bullshit's) latest talk at skepticon? He gives a good explanation as to why theistic claims are ultimately scientific questions, but he links both science and philosophy together seamlessly.
I like how philosophy used to be the collection of all sciences before they 'split off', with the most recent ( correct me if I'm wrong ) being psychology and still is the basis for knowledge. Everytime someone wants to investigate something, they have to think to themselves: "Does this really prove anything" and adjust experiments accordingly. That is thinking critically, that is philosophy. The field of Philosophy doesn't concern itself with the other fields anymore, because those other fields are like 'philosophy+' subjects, specializations.
Too bad a lot of people look down on the field, when it is the foundation of all sciences.
PS: try another background. I like this one, but your camera has trouble focussing on you and is captivated by your cupboard.
2:13-2:20 ""How secure are you in your worldview if really you think the reasoning of schoolchildren will be a threat to it?". I'd like to forward that remark to the Chinese communist party and the forcefulness it's replied the Hong Kong protests and the request for universal suffrage with.
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Avoiding the "tasty tangent" I could indulge myself in ^_^, I think philosophy is valuable b/c of how it gives expression and articulation to even the most eluding concepts (ex.like what knowledge is and it's different forms-->I refer you to epistemology), as well as how it can really develop a diversity in the landscape of the minds and even personalities of ppl in ways which aren't conventional mindsets which take things for granted instead of being considerate enough to take things into account.
Similar to some of the things Olly said I feel that being able to philosophize is good in order to not give in to complacency,conformity and the unwitting bad things which can emerge b/c of such enveloping sentiments.
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Similarly important is *WHERE* to start when it comes to philosophy. My self, kinda started by coming across the names of Plato but I badly bumbled into Nietzche. Paradigms are important when thinking about when to start as is how they'll be included. For ex. would you like to start with the regular Western style of pondering out "what is being?" or would you like to know about "the process of becoming" which has always been so prevalent in Eastern philosophy?. What about non-Eurasian cultural sphere stuff like sub-Saharan Africa,non-European Americas and Oceania?. In global world community like ours how are you going to include it?.
Simple it Answers The Question ""Why""
I transferred schools (community to university) aside the culture shock and having to take intro classes again I'm shocked by how very simple the first and second years are in my intro to philosophy class. Granted I go to a more religous university but how they accept God's existence without questioning the values of good and bad is crazy to me... I'm not saying God cannot exist and at one time I believed entirely in good bad and forced values too. But both the older I get and the deeper into philosophy I get the less does my old mindset seem to make sense. Of course at times it isn't an entirely great thing but it never, ever is terrible either.
I just let you play... I will have watched all your videos a dozen times before I"m done. I love H.bomber guy. But you can borrow me from time to time O_O
Go boy…..
We need a philosophy because there is no Santa Claus?
What you said about people being discouraged from thinking critically for themselves is so true. I can't tell you how many times enlightenment era dogma/modernism is shoved down my throat from people who try to say it's all about science and to ditch philosophy because philosophy is just mental masturbation. I don't think these people realize how self-refuting they are being when they do say and do such things... Philosophy is of utmost importance and we should NOT discourage people from it. Heck, science seems dependent on logic and logic stems from philosophy, so I literally see no reason as to why any serious intellect would ever encourage one to abandon a healthy study of philosophy...
+Gaining Understanding I agree with you here so much, Philosophy is absolutely phenomenal and should be taught more in schools! The funny thing I see is that Islamic states (like Olly mentions + other Religion's) and this "new atheism" movement actually fight and damage any teaching of philosophy. This modernism attitude is ridiculous, dangerous and will lead us down the path of madness & the valley of death for culture. Also yes science is built on the foundations of philosophy. There is also a reason why science was originally called natural philosophy LOL.
Christian Existentialist Indeed! Thank goodness there are at least some programs that introduce critical thinking to school age children out there nowadays, like"Think!", which is a UC Irvine program that emphasizes the subject’s real-world utility, presenting it as a ‘language and skill’ applicable in many situations. But I still think this is something all children should be equipped with knowledge of philosophy and critical thinking, just like math and science. I don't see why they make all these other topics necessary but when it comes to logic & critical thinking and philosophy they just throw away. Makes absolutely no sense to me.
Gaining Understanding Wow thank goodness indeed. And yes I never understood that to why mathematics and science has to be taught to children as an absolute must but yet philosophy & logic are overlooked. Hopefully culture will come to it's senses and allow philosophy to be taught to children at a pretty young age just like mathematics and science. I tell you if philosophy had been taught to me at a young age, it would have saved me from a lot of bother and helped me for the better in life.
Also I know this is personal but are you a Christian?
Christian Existentialist I am but I have distanced myself from western Christianity (Protestantism and Catholicism) and am moving towards eastern Christianity (Orthodoxy).
While we're asking each other questions, why did you used to have my user name and old channel description?
+Gaining Understanding Interesting, Dostoevsky was a Russian Orthodox Christian. The reason I'm asking is because I'm asking different Christians about what there think of Christian Existentialism. There doesn't seem to be much of it around on RUclips.
Oh wow I actually forgot about that, that was a few months ago. I was really bored and I liked your username and description. I had it like that for a while but then I couldn't think of a new name to change to and Google+ wouldn't allow it to be changed instantly. I was able to change the profile picture though straight away. A few weeks ago I settled on this final name since I enjoy Kierkegaard's and Dostoevsky's work. Also I could troll TMM a bit but that got boring very quickly. I promise I won't do it again.
Ok
This sounds exactly like the scientific method which is the best tool for understanding things of empirical data.
But what you described was philosophy is understanding things like morality. but morality being subjective and having no solid state, it is up to the individual to decide morality. and I would think that most things taught in philosophy are the same conversations you can have with friends whether or not abortion is moral.
I just don't see the point in philosophy nowadays. and I would actually compare philosophy to gender studies, is it as important as the students actually say it is? I would like a direct line to some result that's solely philosophy made a positive impact that can't be attributed to another field or reason.
+Namas Knight Okay, how about the field of ethics? That is a field under philosophy which has profoundly affected international cultures in ways that have never been seen in human history. For example, people nowadays seem to know automatically that slavery is wrong (I understand that there is still a slave trade, but it is internationally illegal). That conclusion was drawn by philosophy, by critical thinking about something that people seem to merely glance over. Unfortunately, whenever a breakthrough in ethics *is* made, it seems that society merely glides through the change without realizing that the way people think has been affected, and as such, people don't think that such a change was in fact due to philosophy, which it was. The act of becoming a philosopher has an effect on these changes in that the philosophers propose unique, anti-status-quo ideas that are chewed by the people for a while, then it is decided if they are worth anything. Another example is the idea of John Locke's that government was created to protect people's natural rights. This was unique, and certainly against what most people thought at the time (most people thought everyone had their place, and nothing could be done to change that place, i.e. peasants stayed peasants, kings stayed kings). Over time, people became aware of his ideas and eventually some people acted on them (the American Revolution, the French Revolution, etc.), creating the world we know of today. I agree that some parts of philosophy are empirical and use the scientific method (there is an entire philosophy of logic, the basis of understanding and truth), but to say that the field is entirely obsolete is a bit of a stretch.
+X-Blade Wielder out of all other people on other videos that I've asked this question you were the only one to come up with a point. well I would not directly 100% or even 80% relate the Revolutionary War to the simple idea created by A philosopher.
Namas Knight I suppose I should clarify a bit. The spark that ignited such revolutions and became the basis of the modern versions of said countries was rooted in the ideals of "life, liberty, and property." It was Locke's ideas that people really can challenge their heritage and make something of themselves that was better than what they were born into that gave people the confidence and incentive to revolt.
X-Blade Wielder so your telling me that that idea never existed until Locke's?
Namas Knight I suppose we cannot know that, but even if it did exist before Locke, it probably didn't have much of an effect, especially considering that anyone who had that idea probably kept it to themselves and never did anything about it out of fear. And, regardless of if it were Locke who had the idea, the fact that *somebody* had the idea means that someone was engaging in philosophy, even if they weren't a "philosopher," per se. So, my point is that it doesn't matter who had the idea, because the idea itself was created via philosophical thought, and the idea was what lead to great change in the world.
Every discipline, no matter how seemingly self-contained, will come back to philosophy eventually. Be it Law, Science, Business, Education, Religion, Politics, Homemaking, Art and Music, Theater, Literature, Construction, Exploration, Communication, City planning, Technological innovation, Entrepreneurship, Romance, Child-rearing, Loss-grieving, or literally any other human pursuit conceivable, basic philosophical questions underpin every part of human experience. Even the more so-called "pure" disciplines like Computer Science, Chemistry, Physics, and Math, while they may not employ philosophical thought in their mechanical function (you don't need philosophy to invent Calculus), will nevertheless inevitably run into philosophical speed bumps when it comes what one uses those disciplines *for* (Is solving Calculus problems an end in and of itself? Or must those solutions be used for something useful? What is "useful"? Should one even care?). Philosophy is necessary for sentient function because it asks questions that *must have* answers, either stated or implied, before sentient beings can take even the most rudimentary actions, or make the most basic decisions-- decisions as basic as "should I choose to experience anything today, or ever." While most of us don't ask that question in articulated terms, we are nevertheless answering it every conscious moment of every day by the way we act. Philosophy is the process of "showing your work" on the way you think, exposing the thought-details behind one's innumerable positions on the fundamental dilemmas of existence.
I hope you like Star Wars, because there's a massive reference coming...
What your mother told you was _true_, from a certain point of view.
If being sent to heaven is your euphemism for dying, then tornadoes do, indeed, carry a lot of people to their death. No?
Equally, if Santaclause is the fictional character Dad dresses up as in order to hand out presents on the festival of Christmas, then Santaclause certainly does give good children presents, and the sub-text of the statement is "If you anger Daddy, he's not going to feel so generous when buying your presents for the day he becomes Santa."
Actually, in this mode, Santaclause isn't so much a fantasy character, as a position of office, like "The King" or "The President" or "The Judge". Likewise, these positions of office have costumes, the King wears a crown and a Judge wears a wig, carries a gavel and puts a funny black cloth square on his head when sentencing people for execution.
That's what a Santaclause is. Just an ordinary man who puts on a fat-suit, a red fur-lined jump-suit and a red winky-cap with a white pom-pom in order to hand out Christmas presents yelling "Ho ho ho, merry Christmas" in a deep voice.
Sean Carroll says our metaphysics must match our physics. What good is philosophy if you have no scientific evidence to back up your ideas or build your world view off of?
What good is science if you have no means by which to make sense of it or use it? Science goes hand in hand with philosophy and is arguably just a sub-type of it.
Ryan Hutton Did I not understand Sean Carroll's point?
If I did can you explain. I kind of wish to grow as a person.
thebatmanover9000 I'm sorry but I haven't read what Sean Carroll said in this instance, however often people think that science trumps philosophy and its because they seem to think philosophy is synonymous with new-age spiritual woo-woo, which is precisely what philosophy tells us is dumb.
In reality the way science operates is based on our underlying epistemological views. Furthermore the meaning of scientific evidence is based on logic and our meta-physical views. The exact structure of science and the way it operates is shaped further by ethics. All of these things are part of philosophy.
Care to provide me a link as to what Sean Carroll was speaking about/where he said it?
Ryan Hutton His debate with WLC
thebatmanover9000 Ok, I'm not going to watch that video because WLC is an absolute fool, but an absolutely brilliant debater who makes excellent use of rhetoric to manipulate people and win debates and seeing this pains me greatly. The reason why I can see it though is precisely because of my study of philosophy, specifically logic. This is something doctors are taught though in their medical degrees.
Let me just tell you that 90% of philosophers don't believe in God.
You seem to be saying in your first comment that science and philosophy are at odds with one another, but they really aren't, they really go hand in hand. Allow me to use some examples to illustrate this:
Science asks "What is the world make up off?"
Philosophy asks "What is the world?"
Can you see how it isn't very easy to answer easy of the questions without the other. The first question is a matter of physics, the second one of meta-physics. Now the scientists must first understand what constitutes "the world" (or reality) before he can explain what the world is make up of, therefore he must study meta-physics. The philosophy fully answer the question of what the world is unless he goes out and observes it and studies and gains data about it, so he has to study physics.
You'll notice in this example that the philosophy has to come first as it is the basis for our understanding of the scientific question. This is always the case, this is because of what philosophy is.
Philosophy encompasses all subjects. To study philosophy 4000 years ago meant to try and gain knowledge, this included "natural science". Eventually however (specifically in the 18th century in what is now called the "age of enlightenment") philosophers developed a very unique way of studying the world and that was what people traditionally think of as "science" (although somewhat confusing modern science if much more philosophical now-a-days than in the 18th century). That is, creating a hypothesis as to why something is the case, going out and doing tests/observation to see if that hypothesis holds true and then coming up with a conclusion.
Modern science is more philosophical than this because in modern science there are theories that we accept as universally true - logic tells us that given our previous experiences of the world, the rest of the world must be a particular way despite us not having saw that for ourselves - this is a strictly un-scientific way of thinking yet science is based around the idea of "laws of nature" or absolute truths about how the world works, in fact that's the very aim of physics! The aim of physics is to create a theory of everything. That's answering the ultimate meta-physical (and so philosophical) question of what is the world! Physics and science in general, are special types of philosophy that have a unique methodology and focus on unique questions, specifically empirical ones (ones that have a clear answer that can only be obtained from data we gather from using our senses).
Furthermore modern science is philosophy in that it often starts with an assumption and then goes to test it afterwards, rather than gathering data first and from that data creating conclusions.
When philosopher's consider the ontological question as to whether God exists or not they necessarily draw on science to aid them. If God exists there would surely be manifestations of his presence in the world - insert science here -, but they don't just get the data and stop there, instead they think about rationally using logic and interpret the data and its relevance to how the world truly is. Most rational philosophers (and all that I know and well over 90% worldwide) conclude, in modern times, that the chances of the Christian God existing are exceedingly low given what we know about the world, but to do that they do need to know things about the world and so they need science.
- Note that I would refrain from calling WLC a philosophy because of this. I study philosophy at university and I have not met a single person as irrational as him, although when watching his debates I have noticed he has very good rhetorical tactics. He is not logical, so he is not a philosopher, it's as simple as that, somebody who is illogical is mentally ill and somebody who is mentally ill cannot be a philosopher (they can only have been so in the past) because philosophy requires the use of logic and being mentally ill generally implies an absence of logical reasoning -
Without science philosophy wouldn't have anywhere to start from and we'd be stuck. Without philosophy science would have no relevance to how we ought to live, what actually exists, how the world actually is and so on. It would just be arbitrary accumulations of data, i.e. totally meaningless.
it's thanks to philosophy that we can survive as a species even if we don't know it. If we simply obeyed everything we are told without questioning them, we would never be able to try and learn new things and advance.
In 2500 years philosophy has answered nothing , "if a question is answerable philosophy is not needed , if a question is unanswerable philosophy is no use "
Philosophy is more relevant than ever, for challenging capitalism and consumer society. Many people in the western world are kept ignorant and docile through oppressive norms and harsh living conditions.
Philosophy is important because of freedom. The founders were right when they said that only a virtuous society can be a free society, and philosophy and theology are very helpful in that regard.
a) Yes, I want more philosophy chat!
b) Sadly the socio-economic situation you referred to is evaporating fast as the worldwide political climate is drifting further and further to the right. Our democracies have been bought and sold by lobbyists who serve solely the interests of multi billionair psychopaths. As a result the middle class is shrinking and becoming increasingly frustrated. This in turn leads for some to fall for even more radical extremism as IS or facism. We need less materialism and more democracy!
philosophy is primarily important because it gives philosophers self esteem by being smarter then others at it, just like any persuit.
Philosophy it is called the no man's land between science and religion exposed to attack from both sides . it's what allows me to think for myself. I have one for you it's a philosophy I heard as a Young Man and I'm trying to find the origins of it. It goes as follows. If a person could be born and exist in a void they would never have a thought they would not know they existed. If they were born and existed with one other each would think the other was their reflection. It's not until there is a third party, a basis of comparison that we become aware of our existence. It's a non theological View of the trinity. For the life of me I cannot find where this came from. If anyone has some thoughts I would be extremely grateful.
Philosophy can be dangerous to one's mental health and spirituality, too. It can cause real depression, break important world views, make a person fatally self-doubting, and cause total confusion. Philosophy is a tool, and if you don't know how to use it, it can be dangerous. You need the guidance of good teachers who understand it and know what they're doing and have the experience to help you through all the pitfalls. Some people don't have the aptitude for it. Hell, some of us are just plain dummies. *blushes* Sometimes, after trying for a long time to wrap your mind unsuccessfully around all the weird ideas out there, you come to wish you'd never embarked on the enterprise in the first place. You might find you were happier before you started questioning things. If you manage to avoid or work through those pitfalls, what do you do with what you've learned? If you don't have any genuine power to affect meaningful change (and what's the practical purpose of philosophy if not to reevaluate the world in which one lives and improve it), then you're only more keenly aware of how shitty things are and that you can't do anything about it. Worse still, you know understand something more profound that most people that is hard to explain, thus rendering you isolated and alienated from other people. There's a big gap between yourself and others, including perhaps people you love.
Like all things in life, philosophy too is bittersweet.
Well, philosophy for me was the saving grace. I've tried to conform and live "normally" which brought me to a state of neurosis. Life had no meaning and empty, that is until I found Philosophy. I was always an oddball and the moment I read into Philosophy, it was like all the thoughts in my mind came together to form a cohesive substance that society at large cannot comprehend or provide. Philosophy isn't a tool, it a the very soul of existence.
Yeah and some intellectual dude told me that some people think philosophy is out of date. That science is the new thing. But he said science got conceived from philosophy , like philosophy from mythology.
we don't study philosophy nor critical thinking in schools here in Saudi Arabia, we don't have philosophy in colleges either, I only learned of logic because I majored in computer science in college
You Learn Ibn Taymmia Religious Thoughts And His Rasicsm About Other Religious Sects
As Shia-Islam Especially
(Shia-Twelver)
And Other Sunni-Sects As (Ashairi-Matridi)
When it comes to the importance of philosophy, I can't help but think of Marx, for all my disagreements with him. “The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point, however, is to change it.” That is, philosophy isn't simply important because we think critically about the world around us using it, even the parts which aren't empirical, though that is important. Philosophy is important because, with philosophy, we can change the world. It's because of philosophy that we have things like representative democracy rather than monarchy or autocracy, and it will be because of philosophy that we can have things potentially even better than that. It's because of philosophy that women have the place that they have and people acknowledge that trans people are a thing, and it will be because of philosophy that both those things will be built upon and improved upon. Philosophy, like nothing else, lets us shape our future, and learning philosophy and participating in philosophy means that we can be a part of shaping our future in a way that few other can be.
So besically thinking is the purpose? Why never lookting to solve things
Tornado's carry people to heaven well shes not wrong if you believe a tornado would be one way to get to heaven.
Also I agree with everything you said I would also add it also makes your BS detector much more sensitive. Giving your the ability to avoid scams, see through politicians, and improve your life in general.
I first studied Philosophy when i was in the 10th year but i was discouraged and i disliked it because i had this horrible teacher that keeps cursing all the time also i study in french and it sucks when i started doing researches and i tried to read lessons in English and watch RUclips videos i have been really interested
Jules cid Mm, sadly that does happen. If you have a fantastic teacher like mine it can really peak your interest; if you have a bad one they can really turn you off a subject. I wasn't especially enthused by my English literature teacher so I turned my nose up at Shakespeare when I first encountered it: now I LOVE it!
Philosophy Tube i started doing philosophy tutoring classes i have this amazing teacher i've never loved philosophy before than now .Shakespeare that's amazing we won't do it until next year this year we're reading 'Candide ou l'optimisme' by Voltaire if you happen to know it
Jules cid Man it feels like Philosophy Bro was actually the teacher...
+Jules cid - I am glad you found your way back to this amazing method of discovering the world.
we also have a horrible teacher his name is Marvin Nuto and we hate him