Topic: Solipsism

[VulturEMaN]

You obviously have very little philosophical teachings to say something along the lines of "it isn't fact and can't be proven".

Most philosophers wrote their books and whatnot based on what facts that they knew that they could trust. An example would be "I think, therefore I am" and they prove that this is true.

I wouldn't say that it's an art, but it definently takes lots of skill to analyse something as closely as some of the 'greats' did.

[IceFox]

You obviously have very little philosophical teachings to say something along the lines of "it isn't fact and can't be proven".

Most philosophers wrote their books and whatnot based on what facts that they knew that they could trust. An example would be "I think, therefore I am" and they prove that this is true.

I wouldn't say that it's an art, but it definently takes lots of skill to analyse something as closely as some of the 'greats' did.

It takes skill to analyze truly in depth but it has no use. And when I mean it can't be proven, I mean that there is no solid proof on any of it. Nothing that would officially constitute as "evidence" or "proof." My last posts were a little harsh, caught me when I was in a bad mood. I understand the thought and knowledge required for philosophy, however my point stands that it is not truly of use to anyone or anything.

[spongehead 32]

You must understand two things before making such claims.

First of all, this topic isn't about all philosophy but just a part of it, this part is known as "meta-physics", so the term "philosophy is bullshit" is quite a foolish generalisation.

Philosophy is about much more than meta-physics, it's also about determining what is truth, what is justice, ethical thought, ways to go about dilemmas and a lot more.

Most of the political methods we have today are based on philosophical teachings around ethics. All justice systems used today would not be if someone hadn't asked the question "What is right and wrong?" and tried to find out.

And to say philosophy has no use to anyone is just a display of ignorance, most, if not all important jobs have some form of philosophy at every turn.

Doctors, for example, make ethical decisions on a daily basis, without some sort of knowledge of ethics, how would it be possible for them to decide what should happen to their patients?

Second of all, before you say "meta-physics is bullshit", consider this, philosophy is the mother of all scientific method. The way scientists try to prove/disprove theories is based on the same way that philosophers tried to figure out the world around us.

Without the question "why?" there would be no pursuit for answers which would result in no technological advancements.

Also, many physicists today are still trying to prove or disprove many of the ideas of existence, be they realist, idealist, phenominalist or solipsist. They do this because to understand how the universe functions they must take into account every idea to see if a definite conclusion can be brought upon, and once this is done, then we can find out how this knowledge can benefit us.

So to say that philosophy has no noticeable effect on the world is terribly incorrect.

[Patback399]

Philosophy is interesting however serves little purposes. All it is is asking infinite questions that do not affect us noticeably in any way. Why would I care to know if I truly have free will or if it's just my my mind playing tricks on me? I don't. If anything, learning (and proving) that I do not have free will would make my life worse. And don't call it education because it isn't. It isn't a solid fact, it isn't something that can be proven (and no, I am not contradicting myself here with the fact that I believe in God) and has no use. I don't see philosophy as art at all, I see it as an unneeded way to use brain power. If people want to study it, go ahead, it's not my problem.

Can't the same thing be said of fiction? Why would I care about something that never happened or never will happen? Why should I care whether the world will become a dystopian nightmare if the year 1984 already occurred? Why should I care who gets a corporate job on a network TV show if the situation isn't even real?

[IceFox]

You must understand two things before making such claims.

First of all, this topic isn't about all philosophy but just a part of it, this part is known as "meta-physics", so the term "philosophy is bullshit" is quite a foolish generalisation.

Philosophy is about much more than meta-physics, it's also about determining what is truth, what is justice, ethical thought, ways to go about dilemmas and a lot more.

Most of the political methods we have today are based on philosophical teachings around ethics. All justice systems used today would not be if someone hadn't asked the question "What is right and wrong?" and tried to find out.

And to say philosophy has no use to anyone is just a display of ignorance, most, if not all important jobs have some form of philosophy at every turn.

Doctors, for example, make ethical decisions on a daily basis, without some sort of knowledge of ethics, how would it be possible for them to decide what should happen to their patients?

Second of all, before you say "meta-physics is bullshit", consider this, philosophy is the mother of all scientific method. The way scientists try to prove/disprove theories is based on the same way that philosophers tried to figure out the world around us.

Without the question "why?" there would be no pursuit for answers which would result in no technological advancements.

Also, many physicists today are still trying to prove or disprove many of the ideas of existence, be they realist, idealist, phenominalist or solipsist. They do this because to understand how the universe functions they must take into account every idea to see if a definite conclusion can be brought upon, and once this is done, then we can find out how this knowledge can benefit us.

So to say that philosophy has no noticeable effect on the world is terribly incorrect.

*drops blue plastic sword*
*admits defeat*

[VulturEMaN]

It's truly an interesting subject, but it does waste our brain power when we could be doing cool stuff like play CS or eat cheese 

zomg when you get to college, take a class of it, but ONLY take it if it has Kant in it, cause Kant is my favorite

[Squiddy]

Idealism is better.

[VulturEMaN]

and how?

[spongehead 32]

Idealism is better.

Only if you believe in god.

[Scilla]

We do not know what other people think, right? So, how do we know they think at all? We don't! As another little teaser, how do I know you see the same colors I see? What I see as blue, you may see what I call "red". There is no way of telling. So, there are many different facets of this theory.

I thought about that in like 5th grade. Its always something I'm not sure of.

About the rest, part of me wants to believe it's all just a dream, but if it were true than how would we get to think these things? In my dreams I never think it's a dream. Does that make sense?

[bub1028]

I started thinking a lot of things related to that.  I mean, this life could all be staged.  I could've been developed to make the choices I do due to the way I've been taught in the past.  And the color thing; I've thought about that too, a while ago. 

I still don't think I believe in it... I'm going to need more proof.

[Squiddy]

Platonic Idealism is the way to go.