Has a philosopher really just got to much of nothing to do

[pam699]

Has a philosopher really just got to much of nothing to do
i mean if you had to work in the fields all day you would come home eat and sleep Are philosophers really just guys who have to much leasure time to think and require others to feed them

i mean we r all on here crapping on becuase we have spare time-IF NO SPARE TIME WOULD THERE EVER BE A PHILOSOPHER

[loser]

Are philosophers really just guys...

or girls...

...who have to[o] much leasure [leisure] time to think...

(I had some extra time so I thought that I would correct your grandma and/or spelling and/or typos.)

methinks they should spend even more time thinking (and listening) and less time talking (and writing). I haven't yet met a philosopher who wouldn't greatly benefit by becoming a prudent student of a sophist with the mostest...someone like me...someone with a mind so fine it ought to be a crime...and I'm not lyin'.

IF NO SPARE TIME WOULD THERE EVER BE A PHILOSOPHER

Which is exactly why...masters such as I...crave slaves. That way, I must say, I can teach all you beaches out there...I swear.

[pam699]

perhaps u just need to work in the fields for your survival i mean if the time spent thinking made u go hungry i bet the thinking would stop and the work start very fast

[Dadoo]

Pam-
There are many types of fields in which to work.
For some, the garden and stables call, and suffice inasmuch as the agent senses it's contribution and subsequent rewards.
For others, there exist cerebral fields somewhat hidden to most others, from which comes fruits and steeds that make all other labours worth their while.
All actions are meditations. Many do their very best thinking during work, others don't.

Do you work "in the fields"?

I do.

[Epistemologist]

Well, yeah, sometimes the product of philosophers isn't very practical. And I suppose their salaries are adjusted to that, because they're generally pretty low. However, sometimes, their insight into matters can be heavily considered in the decisions of real policy-makers.

For instance, some would say scientific ethicists (it's not an oxymoron) are philosophers, considering that the main five types of first-order philosophy are ethics, metaphysics, epistemology, logic, and aesthetics (not exclusively artistic).

Perhaps most philosophical musings would qualify as meaningless mental masturbation, I think that perhaps any discussions related to the last type, aesthetics, are perhaps the most relevant to our societies and decisions, because they aim to make the world a much better place.

And so when we read their papers and listen to their lectures, sometimes philosophers have a lot of good stuff to say. I know one philosophy professor who not only writes papers on topics such as God's existence and the meaning of life but also Hurricane Katrina and things of that nature.

So there could still be practical relevance to the field. And even if there wasn't, something could still be gained from philosophy, even if it's not explicitly tangible.

[pam699]

yes but is philosophy only a product of a state where you have to much time on your hands i mean if the world collapsed ito the stone age would the so called philosopher have to spend his time surving and feeding him/her self than sit around philosophising

[Jack]

This is getting rather funny.
There aren't very many pure philosophers around these days. The latest trend is to specialize, so now we have literary philosophers, political philosophers, business philosophers. They do things other than sit around thinking all day long.
And I'm sure that when the end times come, most of them will stop philosophizing, go mad and start killing and eating their neighbors, just like everyone else.
But what is this beef you have with philosophers? If Dean is a god, are philosophers and mathematicians fallen angels? Are the rules of grammar a temptation from the devil? What sort of Dean-less hell awaits us unbelievers?

[pam699]

HAHAHAHAHAHA very good i had a good laugh glade to see humour is alive and good

quote

And I'm sure that when the end times come, most of them will stop philosophizing, go mad and start killing and eating their neighbors, just like everyone else.

my point exactly philosophers just have to much time on their hands -in the real world people have to work to survive

but at a biger level what i am getting at
does culture have to reach a level of some leasier time for philosophy to be born and grow

[Jack]

does culture have to reach a level of some leasier time for philosophy to be born and grow

I'm not sure how it could be proven since evidence of lifestyle is rare and seldom found, but I think that would be the case. An agrarian society, especially a small group, couldn't afford non-productive members. But at some point in their growth, societies begin to have shamans, priests, wise men, holy men. They gave birth to the gods and demi-gods, they were the story tellers. Some of mankind's first philosophers were the story tellers.

[Zinkovich]

guys you don't see it philosophy is meaningless come on just stop thinking and work all the time

doesnt matter what hit a rock over and over if you have to it will probably do more than philosophy am i rite

Edit: Seriously, though. Philosophy exercises thought, and the thought it usually produces helps direct the work a society can do on a daily basis. If we just worked without having any analysis or direction we would most assuredly go nowhere.

To get my point, you guys should see this video. Here is a man who is slowly losing(and then regaining, near the end) his ablity to think clearly and is trying to make a peanut butter sandwich, thanks to him taking a 20x hit of a drug called "salvia": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yl08Tnun82k

DOUBLE BONUS EDITRAVAGANZA: The drug is legal in most states too. Order some and try it if you must see the true horror of losing your ego and ability to think for yourself. A warning though- the effect differs from mind to mind- for some people it has no effect at all and to others(like me), it is utterly, mindfuckingly horrifying. My trips on the drug were along the same lines as that scene in the matrix where neo has the liquid metal or whatever going down his throat, only afterwards I'd wake up god knows where and have no idea who I am. My point? You can go to thoughtless, "nophilosophy-land" if you wish- all you need is a drug, and let me tell you, it isn't always pleasant.

[pam699]

ok but take say kant did he really have to much of nothing to do and wrote his 2 critices if kant had to work in the fields would he have had tinme to think all that stuff
point the bigger the books the longer the arguments- means someone else is feeding you

[Epistemologist]

Quote by: pam699 yes but is philosophy only a product of a state where you have to much time on your hands i mean if the world collapsed ito the stone age would the so called philosopher have to spend his time surving and feeding him/her self than sit around philosophising

Quote by: pam699 but at a biger level what i am getting at does culture have to reach a level of some leasier time for philosophy to be born and grow

Indeed, that's true! While one culture is having an easier time, their philosophers can indulge in all sorts of philosophical musings. On the other hand, in a culture that is fighting for its survival, philosophers and policy-makers must think practically and only make conclusions that benefit the interests of the culture per se. That's why people in a culture that's backed to a figurative corner come up with what many would call "radical" conclusions, such as eliminating other cultural groups, because they have no choice.

Others can simply "waste" their time in mental masturbation, while those belonging to a culture at the end of its rope must spend their time making children, if you get my gist. There may still be philosophers in the latter cultures, but they cannot afford to take part in the luxuries of an extremely wide margin of philosophical "freedom" of thought as do the philosophers in the former cultures.

That's why, for instance, many Western philosophers seem to muse about all sorts of things and promote their culture's so-called freedom of thought, while many Muslim philosophers, for instance, are forced to a necessarily "narrower" thinking.

P.S. it seems that good grammar isn't required for intelligent thought.

[pam699]

good argument epistemologist -i see you do live up to your name

[Epistemologist]

Thank you. And yeah, I get what you mean when you say we all have spare time to be posting here; it's not like we're tapping away on our laptops from the middle of a battlefield, with mortars dropping down. Rather, here on the forums, we have mortars of ignorance and rudeness. :)

[Zinkovich]

Quote by: Epistemologist Thank you. And yeah, I get what you mean when you say we all have spare time to be posting here; it's not like we're tapping away on our laptops from the middle of a battlefield, with mortars dropping down. Rather, here on the forums, we have mortars of ignorance and rudeness. :)

Hahaha that's a great image.

"Damn it lieutenant! Hurry up and build that argument or our asses our toast! The ignorance is exploding all around us!"
"Sir....I got hit by an ad hominim- I...I...I'm not going to make it!"
"Don't you log off on me now, son! We can do this!"