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10 schools of philosophy and why you should know them
Nihilism
Nihilism means "nothing." It is the lack of belief in meaning or substance in an area of philosophy.
- Moral nihilism argues that moral facts cannot exist.
- Metaphysical nihilism argues that we cannot have spiritual facts.
- Existential nihilism is the idea that life cannot have meaning and nothing has value.
Nietzsche was not a nihilist but wrote about the dangers posed by this philosophy.
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Existentialism
Existentialism originates from Soren Kierkegaard and Nietzche. It focuses on the problems produced by existential nihilism. For instance:
- What is the point of living if life has no inherent purpose?
- How do we face the knowledge of our inevitable demise?
Existentialism emphasizes individual existence, freedom and choice.
Stoicism
Stoicism was popular in ancient Greece and Rome and is practiced by many in high-stress environments.
Stoicism focuses on how to live in a world where things don't go as planned. The idea is to accept all the things beyond your control and to focus on what you can control.
Hedonism
Hedonism is the idea that pleasure and happiness are the keys to a good life. Modern philosophers would say that pleasure is a kind of happiness, but not the only happiness.
Epicurus tied hedonism to a virtue ethics system based around moderation and self-discipline.
Marxism
Marxism is based on the collected ideas of Karl Marx, the German philosopher. He critiqued capitalism. Main ideas:
- The capitalist mode of production alienates us from the results of our labor;
- The tendency of capitalism to overproduce and crash as a consequence;
- The labor theory of value.
Famous Marxists include Lenin, Stalin, Mao, and Slavoj Zizek.
Logical Positivism
It is focused on the idea of verifications. It is trying to base all knowledge on either empirical data or logical tautologies.
The underlying principle of verificationism cannot be shown to be true, making it unsolvable.
Taoism
Taoism is based around the Tao Te Ching, written by the ancient Chinese philosopher Lao-Tzu. It is based around ideas of:
- humility
- the 'Way'
- a focus on the individual
- simplicity
- naturalness
Taoist thought later fused with Buddhism and formed Zen.
Rationalism
Rationalism is the idea that knowledge must come from reason and thought, rather than empirical evidence. Socrates, Rene Descartes, and Spinoza argued for rationalism.
Today, most thinkers combine rationalist notions with empirical data.
Relativism
Relativism is the idea that views are relative to the perspective. This idea can be applied to morality or truth, where some argue that there are no moral facts or absolute truths.
Cultural relativism is the idea that the morality of two different cultures cannot be compared.
Buddhism
Buddhism is based on the teachings of Gautama Buddha. Although Buddhism has a diverse range of thought, it is bound together by the idea that suffering has a cause.
Buddhism believe suffering can be overcome by: meditation, following the eightfold path and contemplation of sutras.
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How we perceive philosophy
When most people think of philosophy, they believe philosophers simply argue about arguing. Philosophy is viewed as impractical and irrelevant to current issues.
In...
Defining philosophy
Philosophy is examining our understanding of reality and knowledge. Philosophy consists of three major branches:
- Metaphysics - What is true about existence.
- Epistemology - How we can know that it is true. Epistemology has given us science, logic/reason, economics, psychology, and other theories of knowledge.
- Ethics - What actions we should take as a result of this knowledge. Ethics contains concepts such as democracy, human rights, the treatment of animals, and the environment.
When you order your thoughts into a coherent belief system, you are engaging in philosophy. To criticize philosophy, you must rely on philosophy.
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The Universal God
Aldous Huxley's The Perennial Philosophy(1945) is an extraordinary work of synthesis, introducing global (particularly eastern) spirituality into mainstream western culture.
The Phi...
Fresh Take On Religion
- Modern society has been described as the Age of Noise, and an Organized Lovelessness.
- Advertising is revealed to be an organized effort to extend and intensify craving.
- People in the modern age worship progress, technology, and their nation-state, all of which can be described as a 'religion'.
- The dogma of such religions was profoundly criticized in the classic books, while paving the way towards newer ways to find God, like meditation.
The Author and Philosopher's fresh take on religion, shaping it as an 'empirical spirituality' was a huge influence in the 1960s and which has since then led to more people (now 27% in the US) being 'Spiritual but not Religious'
Constructing One's Reality
Aldous Huxley was heavily criticized after his death by newer philosophers who didn't subscribe to the Perennial Philosophy.
While the author insisted that the ultimate mystical experience is the moment of pure oneness with God where the concepts of 'I', language, image and culture are dissolved, his critics argued that all religions are true and some of them are truer than the others.
One of the critics states that human beings construct reality using their bodies, rituals, words, actions and cultures.
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Hedonism: The Reality
- Long being associated with frivolity, mindless pleasure-seeking, gluttony and danger, hedonism was initially a fairly simple concept in ancient greek philosophy.
- Hedonism ...
The Good Life
Philosophy Professor Catherine Wilson talks about pleasure being fundamental in our ability to live a good life, and how a fine balance has to be maintained between current pleasure(indulgence) and future pleasure, which is life planning.
If we work ourselves endlessly, trying to hoard wealth, life will be over in a blink of an eye.
Hedonism Reloaded
Apart from a more justified and gender-neutral definition of hedonism, the definition of luxury and pleasure itself is changing. What was once enjoyable seems like a waste of time now, while economic instability and low wages do not allow for a hedonistic lifestyle to be a reality for many of us.
Pleasure seeking needs to be viewed as a positive, life-giving pursuit in these times where everyone is striving hard to make ends meet.