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> What we're experiencing is a crisis of meaning. Philosophy is a shield against meaninglessness and conceptual confusion. This is simply not true. What you ar

> What we're experiencing is a crisis of meaning. Philosophy is a shield against meaninglessness and conceptual confusion. This is simply not true. What you are describing is religion. Outside of the realm of logic, much of philosophy is a neverending open-ended question. Philosophy is great because it exercises the brain and teaches you to think rationally and try to see things from as many angles as possible. But it doesn't provide any answers to "is there life after death", "does life have any meaning", "do I have a soul", etc. Philosophy just helps you think about these questions meaningfully and rationally. Religion provides certainty. Philosophy is more honest and does not.

shard972 7y ago
What basis are you using to declare that question of meaning are confined the realm of religion and that they also are without logic?
empath75 7y ago
Philosophy from the very beginning concerned itself with exactly those questions. Some of that was subsumed into religion and science at some point but they are all very much in the realm of philosophy, classically and currently. I’m not religious, and I think I have fairly conclusive answers to those questions drawn from philosophy — there’s no soul or life after death and no inherent meaning to life. If you’re going to argue that’s exclusively the realm of religion, then what were nietzche and Plato and Sartre doing?
- dx87 7y ago
  You're agreeing with them. Philosophy doesn't protect you from meaninglessness, like you said, looking at things rationally, our lives are meaningless in the long term. Religion helps get rid of that feeling of meaninglessness by telling people that you don't just dissapear when you die, and what you do while alive matters for eternity. OP said that philosophy will help protect people from feeling like their life is meaningless, but it's the opposite.
- elfexec 7y ago
  > If you’re going to argue that’s exclusively the realm of religion, then what were nietzche and Plato and Sartre doing? I'm arguing that certainty is the realm of religion. "Religion provides certainty. Philosophy is more honest and does not." When it comes to the meaning of life, good and evil, soul or the abyss, heaven or hell, religion provides certainty. There are 10 commandments and accept Christ. You have the rules laid out for you. Philosophy is a neverending open-ended question when it comes to these questions. In other words, you can keep asking questions in philosophy. In religion, you have the answers so there is no need to keep asking questions. You have certainty.
  - Fezzik 7y ago
    I think you’re confusing certainty with authority. None of the things you mentioned are proved (certain) by religion, they are simply stated by authority as being true (though they are not) and accepted by some as being so. Saying with great conviction that Russel’s teapot orbits the sun, though no one can see it no matter how hard they try, or how powerful a telescope they have, does not make it true.

shard972 7y ago

What basis are you using to declare that question of meaning are confined the realm of religion and that they also are without logic?

empath75 7y ago

Philosophy from the very beginning concerned itself with exactly those questions. Some of that was subsumed into religion and science at some point but they are all very much in the realm of philosophy, classically and currently. I’m not religious, and I think I have fairly conclusive answers to those questions drawn from philosophy — there’s no soul or life after death and no inherent meaning to life. If you’re going to argue that’s exclusively the realm of religion, then what were nietzche and Plato and Sartre doing?

dx87 7y ago
You're agreeing with them. Philosophy doesn't protect you from meaninglessness, like you said, looking at things rationally, our lives are meaningless in the long term. Religion helps get rid of that feeling of meaninglessness by telling people that you don't just dissapear when you die, and what you do while alive matters for eternity. OP said that philosophy will help protect people from feeling like their life is meaningless, but it's the opposite.
elfexec 7y ago
> If you’re going to argue that’s exclusively the realm of religion, then what were nietzche and Plato and Sartre doing? I'm arguing that certainty is the realm of religion. "Religion provides certainty. Philosophy is more honest and does not." When it comes to the meaning of life, good and evil, soul or the abyss, heaven or hell, religion provides certainty. There are 10 commandments and accept Christ. You have the rules laid out for you. Philosophy is a neverending open-ended question when it comes to these questions. In other words, you can keep asking questions in philosophy. In religion, you have the answers so there is no need to keep asking questions. You have certainty.
- Fezzik 7y ago
  I think you’re confusing certainty with authority. None of the things you mentioned are proved (certain) by religion, they are simply stated by authority as being true (though they are not) and accepted by some as being so. Saying with great conviction that Russel’s teapot orbits the sun, though no one can see it no matter how hard they try, or how powerful a telescope they have, does not make it true.