Are there, is there, or has there ever been a philosophy that wasn’t just theoretical, but was used and documented to have successfully bettered people’s lives?
Let’s not bring up religion.
Let’s start off with say, utilitarianism.
math and physics have their own branches of philosophy. which have led to the discovery of certain things that could be applied to everyday life. As well as classical Greek philosophy, which spawned nifty institutions, ethics, etc.
I’ve never once studied philosophy so forgive my ignorance, but couldn’t the scientific method be considered a type of philosophy?
The philosophy of Phil “the Bad Astronomer” Plaitt: DBAD.
‘The dialogues of Plato’ was a good read and really made me realize there is really more to life than just ‘physical needs/wants/desires’( I don’t know how else to put it) and it basically started the idea of empirical study on anything really and the birth/need for a university to house knowledge and teach it to new generation. This site has all of Plato’s stuff(for free!):
http://www.classicallibrary.org/plato/dialogues/
The dialogues are really awesome as it makes you feel you are sitting next to him listening to his conversation. Some of the passage I had to read a couple of times to understand it. It also taught me you don’t have to be religious to know that there is a ‘soul’. Some of his stuff is downright mind-blogging but deep down, you’ll know it to be true.
I know what you mean about the soul thing, but I don’t think I believe in it now.
Five Dialogues was my first formal introduction to philosophy.
@ Pherai: Possibly, although I would lean more towards, ethics, morality, rationality, reason, and logic. I’m sure the scientific method falls in at least one of those categories if not more.
It would be rather difficult to quantify improving someones life don’t you think?
Here is a recently compiled list of philosophies that have led a number of accomplished fighting game players to proven tournament success:
True, so let me try something else. Which philosophies are the most helpful in real life situations?
Are you getting people to do your homework for you??
1# Sun Tzu
2# “shit happens”
i propose the unit of measurement “happies” to describe the quantity of the quality of someone’s life at a given point in time
A 300 ton unit of happies is known as a mango sentinel of happies.
The Stoics were awesome. Read some Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius and Seneca if you want philosophies for everyday life. You can also read some Epicurus as well. These philosophers were concerned with how philosophy leads to the “good” and “happy” life not just how arguments and the like are composed (although it did factor into the rational aspects of the philosophy).
Quick example from the beginning of Marcus Aurelius meditation:
"Begin the morning by saying to thyself, I shall meet with the busy-body, the ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial. All these things happen to them by reason of their ignorance of what is good and evil. But I who have seen the nature of the good that it is beautiful, and of the bad that it is ugly, and the nature of him who does wrong, that it is akin to me, not only of the same blood or seed, but that it participates in the same intelligence and the same portion of the divinity, I can neither be injured by any of them, for no one can fix on me what is ugly, nor can I be angry with my kinsman, nor hate him, For we are made for co-operation, like feet, like hands, like eyelids, like the rows of the upper and lower teeth. To act against one another then is contrary to nature; and it is acting against one another to be vexed and to turn away. "
I guess I would be more of a Virtue Ethicist rather than Utilitarian or Kantian Ethicist.
what the fuck is that
No, I’ve taken two classes on philosophy and it along with science fiction makes up the vast majority of my pleasure reading.
@poop: Sun Tzu was an ancient Chinese philosopher that wrote the book called The Art of War.
@Dataika: I’m vaguely aware of Epicurus. What bothers me about so called “Epicureans” is that they think bodily pleasure is the meaning of life, as in sex. But as far as I know Epicurus meant pleasure in any sense, but within moderation.
@Diet: I actually read a little bit about the Cynics and Diogenes on another site awhile ago. I think his philosophy one I can really attach myself to.
http://www.i-cynic.com/fame.asp#alltime
He’s the fourth one down.
Some of my favorite quotes from your link would have to be these.
“Another important, though possibly invented, episode in Diogenes’ life centers around his enslavement in Corinth after having been captured by pirates. When asked what he could do, he replied “Govern men,” which is precisely what he did once bought by Xeniades. He was placed in charge of Xeniades’ sons, who learned to follow his ascetic example. One story tells of Diogenes’ release after having become a cherished member of the household, another claims Xeniades freed him immediately, and yet another maintains that he grew old and died at Xeniades’ house in Corinth. Whichever version may be true (and, of course, they all could be false), the purpose is the same: Diogenes the slave is freer than his master, who he rightly convinces to submit to his obedience.”
" Diogenes’ sense of shamelessness is best seen in the context of Cynicism in general. Specifically, though, it stems from a repositioning of convention below nature and reason. One guiding principle is that if an act is not shameful in private, that same act is not made shameful by being performed in public. For example, it was contrary to Athenian convention to eat in the marketplace, and yet there he would eat for, as he explained when reproached, it was in the marketplace that he felt hungry. The most scandalous of these sorts of activities involves his indecent behavior in the marketplace, to which he responded “he wished it were as easy to relieve hunger by rubbing an empty stomach” (Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book 6, Chapter 46)."
" He is labeled mad for acting against convention, but Diogenes points out that it is the conventions which lack reason: “Most people, he would say, are so nearly mad that a finger makes all the difference. For if you go along with your middle finger stretched out, some one will think you mad, but, if it’s the little finger, he will not think so” (Diogenes Laertius,Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book 6, Chapter 35). In these philosophical fragments, reason clearly has a role to play. There is a report that Diogenes “would continually say that for the conduct of life we need right reason or a halter” (Diogenes Laertius,Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book 6, Chapter 24). For Diogenes, each individual should either allow reason to guide her conduct, or, like an animal, she will need to be lead by a leash; reason guides one away from mistakes and toward the best way in which to live life. Diogenes, then, does not despise knowledge as such, but despises pretensions to knowledge that serve no purpose."
“He is especially scornful of sophisms. He disproves an argument that a person has horns by touching his forehead, and in a similar manner, counters the claim that there is no such thing as motion by walking around. He elsewhere disputes Platonic definitions and from this comes one of his more memorable actions: “Plato had defined the human being as an animal, biped and featherless, and was applauded. Diogenes plucked a fowl and brought it into the lecture-room with the words, ‘Here is Plato’s human being.’ In consequence of which there was added to the definition, ‘having broad nails’” (Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book 6, Chapter 40). Diogenes is a harsh critic of Plato, regularly disparaging Plato’s metaphysical pursuits and thereby signaling a clear break from primarily theoretical ethics.”
I am a born Cynic.
Does anyone know of any philosophies that focus more on action than words?
It seems like every post I make I am asking the better questions, to me at least.
I swore I wouldn’t touch this thread…
But you are spot on - the pre-Socratics rocked.
Utilitarianism was only really a contender underneath Bentham’s loose, rough and ready conception of it.
John Stuart Mill fucked it up, IMO.
But then again, Western religion fucks up pretty much everything it touches.
Blue ball comes slow. Sent from my fists, using 'AdoukenTalk.
Fixed.
I’m half kidding.
Sade’s philosophy is all that’s needed.
“What’s good for me is good”
Thats my philosophy. Though I must add I dont take the superstitious concept of dualism, I’m a phycicalist, so that can explain my philosophy.
As my new philosophy professor likes to say, “we’re nothing more than really complex machines”.
I dont believe in superstitious sht like “souls” and sht. So whatever I see that can benefit me and whatever material (man, woman, baby, animal, electronics, etc) can give me or is in the way of my pleasure I jus deal with it accordingly.
Ppl tend to say I’m crazy, tho I may be the only sane one. I mean at the end of the day we gotta live sht up before our party is over. So I’m not gonna be like the rest of the fools mourning over some celebrity, or worrying about starving countries or some bullsht like that. All it does is hinder your pleasure. This is why I hold to my philosophy.
“What’s good for ME, is good”
And yes it has bettered my life 