Philosophy Discussion Forums | A Humans-Only Club for Open-Minded Discussion & Debate

[PhiloJ]

Hi, my name is Jonas. I call myself PhiloJ which is a combination of the J in my name, and the Philo in philosophy

The biggest reason that I am here, is that I love philosophy; and I grave for knowledge.

The second reason that I am here, is that I really like to write / talk about philosophy.

The third reason that I am here, is that I need to develop my writing, and argument skills.
(For when I go to university)

I hope that I am gonna be here for a long time, the end.

[Alec Smart]

Hi, my name is Jonas. I call myself PhiloJ which is a combination of the J in my name, and the Philo in philosophy

The biggest reason that I am here, is that I love philosophy; and I grave for knowledge.

The second reason that I am here, is that I really like to write / talk about philosophy.

The third reason that I am here, is that I need to develop my writing, and argument skills.
(For when I go to university)

I think the minimum requirement for membership is four reasons. Could you maybe make something up?

[PhiloJ]

Well, I'd better find something else, ummmm.

I really like to get challenged in the field of philosophy, and i like to talk over write to people because the speed is much higher.

[Burning ghost]

I wouldn't recommend this forum, or pretty much any other without first reading some actual modern philosophy.

[PhiloJ]

I wouldn't recommend this forum, or pretty much any other without first reading some actual modern philosophy.

But it's so much more interesting to think, and write / talk about philosophy.

[Burning ghost]

Well looking at your previous reply to me in your thread I can see you need to improve the precision of the words you are using. Reading some modern philosophy will help you combat and understand the required precision of terms and their context.

By all means write and talk. There is a difference between writing and talking and philosophy though. For the most part people on online forums are only concerned with writing and talking not improving their philosophical discourse and ability to understand word usage and how to interpret and apply meanings.

I have always struggled to express thoughts, but over the years I have improved and learned some limitations.

I take your OP seriously and I am answering it seriously. If you want to improve your view of philosophy and talk about philosophy then read some philosophy. Struggle with it, disagree with, turn it over, come to understand your position in regards to it, then see if you can use it in any way.

Many people say to start with the Greek philosophers. I honestly think it is better to start with something more modern as the precision of language use is more apparent and readily available. That is not to say the ancient Greeks are useless! Far from it. I only suggest this because the concepts used in modern philosophy are closer historically and dealt with with a greater deal of precision.

There are also plenty of lectures on youtube. You can never replace the actual text for a brief summation of it though. Maybe you don't feel inclined to read anything just yet. I didn't read anything for a long time regarding philosophy. Once I had established certain views of my own I found the need to and gained a great deal by doing so.

-- Updated June 22nd, 2016, 4:03 am to add the following --

To get you started you say that you crave knowledge.

What do you mean by "knowledge"?

You may answer it is what I know. Then you can follow up that answer with the question of what it is to know and how I say I come to "know" something.

If you've had the dedication to read Kant you will be able to refer to him in regards to his Critic of Pure Reason and his look at what we can know prior to experience and how he regards "knowledge".

You can even start to talk about different kinds of knowledge. Going back to Plato he talked about distinctions of opinion, belief and knowledge. Kant does the same too.

Knowledge has in the paat been defined as "justified true belief", but this leads to the question of what judgement, truth and belief mean.

From my experience studying philosophy requires an ability to accept numerous lexicons and not confuse them with each other. Meaning that the very same word may be used by someone that, although having the appearance of being identical, may be subtley different further in the explanation being given.

An obvious example would be Kant and what he calls "intuition". You may think you know what intuition means, but until you read what Kant means by this term you don't know what he means. This brings into question the whole value of the subjectivity of language opposed to its objective value. Another complex issue that can be grasped at from different angles.

Wittgenstein, I belief, goes into some detail in this very area in his "Philosophical Investigations". I am ordering this book soon because "language" interests me.

[PhiloJ]

Well looking at your previous reply to me in your thread I can see you need to improve the precision of the words you are using. Reading some modern philosophy will help you combat and understand the required precision of terms and their context.

By all means write and talk. There is a difference between writing and talking and philosophy though. For the most part people on online forums are only concerned with writing and talking not improving their philosophical discourse and ability to understand word usage and how to interpret and apply meanings.

I have always struggled to express thoughts, but over the years I have improved and learned some limitations.

I take your OP seriously and I am answering it seriously. If you want to improve your view of philosophy and talk about philosophy then read some philosophy. Struggle with it, disagree with, turn it over, come to understand your position in regards to it, then see if you can use it in any way.

Many people say to start with the Greek philosophers. I honestly think it is better to start with something more modern as the precision of language use is more apparent and readily available. That is not to say the ancient Greeks are useless! Far from it. I only suggest this because the concepts used in modern philosophy are closer historically and dealt with with a greater deal of precision.

There are also plenty of lectures on youtube. You can never replace the actual text for a brief summation of it though. Maybe you don't feel inclined to read anything just yet. I didn't read anything for a long time regarding philosophy. Once I had established certain views of my own I found the need to and gained a great deal by doing so.

-- Updated June 22nd, 2016, 4:03 am to add the following --

To get you started you say that you crave knowledge.

What do you mean by "knowledge"?

You may answer it is what I know. Then you can follow up that answer with the question of what it is to know and how I say I come to "know" something.

If you've had the dedication to read Kant you will be able to refer to him in regards to his Critic of Pure Reason and his look at what we can know prior to experience and how he regards "knowledge".

You can even start to talk about different kinds of knowledge. Going back to Plato he talked about distinctions of opinion, belief and knowledge. Kant does the same too.

Knowledge has in the paat been defined as "justified true belief", but this leads to the question of what judgement, truth and belief mean.

From my experience studying philosophy requires an ability to accept numerous lexicons and not confuse them with each other. Meaning that the very same word may be used by someone that, although having the appearance of being identical, may be subtley different further in the explanation being given.

An obvious example would be Kant and what he calls "intuition". You may think you know what intuition means, but until you read what Kant means by this term you don't know what he means. This brings into question the whole value of the subjectivity of language opposed to its objective value. Another complex issue that can be grasped at from different angles.

Wittgenstein, I belief, goes into some detail in this very area in his "Philosophical Investigations". I am ordering this book soon because "language" interests me.

You seem to be ahead of me in understanding language, and understanding terms of other philosophers.

Would you mind if I wrote / talked to you about various things?

And my definition of knowledge is; the wider the view, and understanding you have on a subject, the more knowledge you have on that subject.

[Ahmirira]

I wouldn't recommend this forum, or pretty much any other without first reading some actual modern philosophy.

But it's so much more interesting to think, and write / talk about philosophy.

[andreamapx3]

I love love philosphy too ( and i just joined) great to meet you!