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That quote is weird. In technical fields you wouldn’t read the classic literature (mechanical engineers don’t read Euclid), but there’s no fear of reinventing t
by loughnane 3y ago
That quote is weird. In technical fields you wouldn’t read the classic literature (mechanical engineers don’t read Euclid), but there’s no fear of reinventing the wheel since modern books take account of fundamental works; if not by name then for sure in content.
I’m surprised how you can get a philosophy degree and then be afraid of “reinventing the wheel”. I suppose the author is self-aware enough to know what he doesn’t know… but still. It’s odd.
- bamfly 3y agoIt's more like a math major speculating on some possible route to a proof of a hard problem without having dug specifically into the literature on that problem in particular, such that there's a good chance they're barking up a proven-unproductive tree or ineptly re-discovering something well-known to those who have so-studied.
- loughnane 3y agoWhich is a fine thought experiment for a person to go through and at the same time a waste of time for anyone to read. I don’t begrudge the author for writing it, blogging is in large part a “this is what I’m thinking about, take it as you will”, and that’s ok. Just noisy.
- thenerdhead 3y agoI just don't understand how you can get a philosophy degree without a course on like "Classics of Western Philosophy" or similar. Technical fields have similar fundamental courses...
- HKH2 3y agoCoining new terms often muddies the waters. Defining words well is one of the hardest challenges of philosophy because philosophical terms easily gain baggage due to all the abstractions.