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I believe there are two routes you can go with philosophy: you can simply explore ideas within the fields you're interested in, or you can use it to guide your

I believe there are two routes you can go with philosophy: you can simply explore ideas within the fields you're interested in, or you can use it to guide your actions. Different fields are more or less practically applicable; ethics is somewhat useful, where something like Descartian radical doubt is a purely theoretical exercise. I do enjoy playing around with some ideas, but my primary interest is getting use-value (you could say utility, even!) out of them. Mill used utility to guide his actions and was, for his era, a very progressive and humanist individual. My interests skew towards practical ideas in ethics, epistemology and ontology, philosophy of science, sociology & political theory etc. Just wanting to play with and consider ideas is valid, but it's not the only use of philosophy.

nonrandomstring 5y ago
> but my primary interest is getting use-value (you could say utility, even!) That will come. I am trying to think of an example/metaphor of the Gestalt way that philosophy (and the pursuit of the other learning you mention) obliquely and surprisingly pops into your life as a massive benefit. Never, personally though, have I been seized by a "bare idea" and then gone off and applied it to some utility (except maybe as a short-lived cognitive behavioural experiment on myself). Perhaps it's similar to how playing musical scales, painting bowls of fruit, or playing chess, one day makes you a decent performer, painter or strategist. > Just wanting to play with and consider ideas is valid At another extreme, only wanting to play, without even the end of self-improvement in mind would be, as Nietzsche put it - an idle museum of ideas for loafers in the garden of knowledge. Definitely not a good use of time unless your only aim is to stave off nihilism for one more day. So a middle path to tread... respects
- beaconstudios 5y ago
  You don't need to explain the benefit of a general philosophical education, friend - I have a few areas that I've learned about because I think they approach truth, while not being directly applicable. My ontological perspective is made up of a mix of Deleuze, Whitehead, Zen and cybernetics, for instance - it sits in the background guiding my perspective while not being 'a tool' as such. Agreed on the middle path; an education in the liberal arts can contribute to general development and actualisation.

nonrandomstring 5y ago

> but my primary interest is getting use-value (you could say utility, even!) That will come. I am trying to think of an example/metaphor of the Gestalt way that philosophy (and the pursuit of the other learning you mention) obliquely and surprisingly pops into your life as a massive benefit. Never, personally though, have I been seized by a "bare idea" and then gone off and applied it to some utility (except maybe as a short-lived cognitive behavioural experiment on myself). Perhaps it's similar to how playing musical scales, painting bowls of fruit, or playing chess, one day makes you a decent performer, painter or strategist. > Just wanting to play with and consider ideas is valid At another extreme, only wanting to play, without even the end of self-improvement in mind would be, as Nietzsche put it - an idle museum of ideas for loafers in the garden of knowledge. Definitely not a good use of time unless your only aim is to stave off nihilism for one more day. So a middle path to tread... respects

beaconstudios 5y ago
You don't need to explain the benefit of a general philosophical education, friend - I have a few areas that I've learned about because I think they approach truth, while not being directly applicable. My ontological perspective is made up of a mix of Deleuze, Whitehead, Zen and cybernetics, for instance - it sits in the background guiding my perspective while not being 'a tool' as such. Agreed on the middle path; an education in the liberal arts can contribute to general development and actualisation.