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The most value I’ve gotten from philosophy is the discovery of “anti-philosophy”. Or rather analytically countering thoughts and ideas that are not fruitful. Ma

The most value I’ve gotten from philosophy is the discovery of “anti-philosophy”. Or rather analytically countering thoughts and ideas that are not fruitful. Maybe Quietism? The mind constantly makes philosophy. Kind of. Or mine does. Why this, why that. What if this and that. Sometimes it is useful to just let the thoughts be. Sometimes to more analytically counter it: this is not worth neither worrying about nor philosophizing about because A, B, C. See for example William James and his counter-arguments to philosophers (according to him) who worries about “Angels balancing on a needle’s pin” (Pragmatism). I’ve also incorporated William James thoughts on religion to reconcile my atheism with my spiritual/religious beliefs (The Will to Believe). He says something like: if you believe, what are the upsides, what are the downsides? You might not be able to prove it scientifically, but is that necessary? How I’ve applied it: if I believe in religion X and I find out before I die that it was not true, have I wasted my time? (This is more about praxis than theory.) This is counter to a lot of theists and atheists who mix religion too much with identity. I.e. I am rational therefore I ought to not believe. To be concrete: if I practiced Buddhist meditation for five years and found out that Buddhism is not true,[1] will it have been for nothing? Probably not because the benefits of meditation are well-documented at this point. --- The most fascinating philosophy is the Tibetan Buddhist philosophy that rigorously analyzes things in order to ultimately arrive at conclusion that sort of says that most of metaphysics are ineffable to the analytic mind. Because you might need the process of analysis in order to arrive at that non-answer. Maybe that was something that Wittgenstein did in his first book? [1] https://www.amazon.com/Why-Buddhism-True-Philosophy-Enlightenment/dp/1439195455 https://www.amazon.com/Why-Buddhism-True-Philosophy-Enlighte...

keiferski 3y ago
He says something like: if you believe, what are the upsides, what are the downsides? You might not be able to prove it scientifically, but is that necessary? What'll really bake your noodle is what happens when a thing only comes into existence if you believe in it? I think that is a super interesting question, and not one that seems to have been addressed much in the context of religion. The closest idea I've come across is hyperstition, from the CCRU group.
- mistermann 3y ago
  > What'll really bake your noodle is what happens when a thing only comes into existence if you believe in it? At least as interesting imho: belief can cause nonexistence to come into existence also: "There is no reason to believe", "There is no evidence", etc. Even stranger: education very often amplifies and reinforces the illusion. Consciousness and culture are are arguably the two most powerful forces in existence (we've picked most of the powerful low hanging fruit in science), too bad we don't study them with any sort of "real" seriousness. I wonder if it is purely accidental.

keiferski 3y ago

He says something like: if you believe, what are the upsides, what are the downsides? You might not be able to prove it scientifically, but is that necessary? What'll really bake your noodle is what happens when a thing only comes into existence if you believe in it? I think that is a super interesting question, and not one that seems to have been addressed much in the context of religion. The closest idea I've come across is hyperstition, from the CCRU group.

mistermann 3y ago
> What'll really bake your noodle is what happens when a thing only comes into existence if you believe in it? At least as interesting imho: belief can cause nonexistence to come into existence also: "There is no reason to believe", "There is no evidence", etc. Even stranger: education very often amplifies and reinforces the illusion. Consciousness and culture are are arguably the two most powerful forces in existence (we've picked most of the powerful low hanging fruit in science), too bad we don't study them with any sort of "real" seriousness. I wonder if it is purely accidental.