Oh These Things We Think

[acomiclife]

what is the worth of philosphy? and is there a separation between the masses and the intelligentsia/enlightened people?

[Taeguk]

Hi, acomiclife!

It seems to me that true philosophy is absolutely useless. :)



Hui Tzu said to Chuang Tzu:
"All your teaching is centered around what has no use!"

Chuang replied:
"If you have no appreciation for what has no use
You cannot begin to talk about what can be used.
The earth, for example, is enormous and vast
Of all this expanse, a man uses only a few inches
Upon which he happens to be standing
Now suppose you suddenly take away
All that he is not actually using
So that, all around his feet, a gulf
Yawns, and he stands in void,
With nowhere solid except under each foot:
How long will he be able to use what he is using?"

Hui Tzu said: "It would cease to serve any purpose."

Chuang Tzu concluded, "This shows
The absolute necessity
Of 'what has no use'."

[scameter]

To me, acting as if philosophy needs the human-applied concept of use would be like attempting to do the same to anything else in existence; things have infinite worth simply because they existence.

[Zoe]

Chriscomiclife!!! Good to see your first post.

The biggest worth I've found from philosophy is inspiration. The never ending amount of questions guide me to more and more to just constantly remind me of how much I don't know. And that makes me want to dance. I never have anything concrete to tell you, but, I can come up with as many "what ifs" as possible.

And artisticly, those exausting questions become my muse.

[acomiclife]

Originally posted by @--
To me, acting as if philosophy needs the human-applied concept of use would be like attempting to do the same to anything else in existence; things have infinite worth simply because they existence.
scameter~

but if you look at the societal values of other forms of knowledge or areas of study there are distinct benefits. medicine adds value to life by giving good health, technology helps makes our lives easier and betters our ability to communicate with one another.

philosophy does none of these things, it is inherently practical. philosophy is mere compulsion, a result of human curiosity. i study philosophy because i must. though i also like Zoe's answer that it provides inspiration; as i can see that coming through in my own artistic work as well.

philosophy is a human creation and as such we're going to assign a worth to it, the introduction to any course that i've taken in school is always the 'why' of the course. interestingly enough, the why is also called the 'philosophy of'.

[bito]

yes

the boundary is reflection/introspection

once one begins to reflect

one has become a philosopher

and when one realizes they are peering into a reflection

poof! goes philosophy!

[sahyo]

poof goes thinking-reflection