If you can put them in a much less esoteric and ethereal fashion I might be able to.
(I never got past Piaget level 2, I cannot understand abstract concepts.)

We may be dealing with a person with asperger's syndrome.

Hahahaha. No, I think he's just a troll (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll).


My questions were pretty straight forward. It's obvious that you're gonna call everyone's posts "esoteric or ethereal", whether they are or not. That's what trolls do.

Not that there's anything wrong with trolling. It's fun to stir people up. But if you don't want to actually have a conversation, then I suppose this thread is over.

Nothing to see here. Move along.

Thanks for playing.
--Dan

Perhaps in this thread ... but I'm glad someone raised the question. I was about to make the same thread, but papasmurf beat me to it! I've noticed it's a pretty common attitude about philosophy in the U.S., though not always discussed in the open or defended.

I agree. It's certainly a good question to ask of anything you spend your time doing. I just don't think papasmurf is really interested in an answer. He's just trying to stir people up--in other words, trolling.


You mean papasmurf's attitude? You're right. Philosophy is not highly regarded in the US. Although, I think papasmurf is fairly unique in his attitude that anything that has no use for physical tasks is not worth spending time on. I think it's safe to say, for instance, that most people enjoy being entertained (music, theatre, movies, TV).

--Dan

I am NOT trolling. I ask a VERY simple question. Which requires a VERY simple answer. ONE example of a use for philosophy in my everyday life.
It did not require the lengthy esoteric, ethereal and unintellible answers I got.
One simple sentence would be sufficient.
I am beginning to realise why Pol Pot bumped off all the intellectuals.

Nobody's asking you to be interested in philosophy. You do realise that, don't you? It is not required for membership of the human race.

This is like that whole linux/ windows thing. If you like linux, then use it, great. If you don't, no big deal, stick with windows. But don't go bitching about it all the time: "linux doesn't do this, linux won't let me do that, linux is no good for me, blahdiblahblah..."

One sentence?

You obviously have no use for philosophy in your everyday life.

Congratulations.

That us the most sensible answer I have had so far.
Now I can go back to discussing Bose Einstein condensate on another forum.

Practical use of philosophy? Motivation - I have some periods in life when I need motivation - reading the philosophers that say you can't stay in one point or you'll perish helps me through that periods. It also helps me to understand myself sometimes - philosophy, psychology, biology, art...

And yeah - knowing things about philosophy can sometimes get you laid

Practical use? Well, it won't get you a Corvette directly, but some people need things like art to exist. For some people living is experiencing life, trying to find out why things are as they are, not advancing up the ladder.

Well - considering people like Ghandi - thanks to such individuals, some people think before shooting a gun. Is it practical use?

I guess you'll say I completely misunderstood what you meant. Oh well, whatever, nevermind.

And you complain about esoteric jargon?

Dude, why the hostility? You'd think one of us suggested that you should be lined up and shot...oh...no...wait a minute...YOU just suggested that about US.

What I want to know is, if you don't like philosophical conversations because you find them "esoteric, ethereal and unintellible", and you don't feel that you have a use for them, why are you even bothering to read this forum? Why not just leave it alone? No one here really cares whether you have a use for philosophy in your own life. It just so happens that we do. I'm not sure why you seem to have a problem with that. But to go so far as to suggest that we should all be executed for it? Wow. That's over the top, man. You're the kind of person I don't feel safe having free in society. To think that if people like you had their way, we could all one day be "bumped off" just because we find philosophy useful in our lives. Welcome back to the dark ages.

Yours, with tongue firmly in cheek,
--Dan

This guy papasmurf just wanted to feel creative for once in his life, so he sacrificed the goodness in and of others to do it. Just like his hero Pol Pot

He does not understand nor care for the natural treasures of others people hearts other than what fuel they will make for firing his icy and impotent heart.

What philosophical use is there for practicality if practicality is not a philosophical use.



rhetorical, answers are for personal use, if you have no personality, don't worry about a use for answers.

I am extremely ceative but usually at using things in a way the designer never thought of.
If a discipline cannot communicate its ideas and thoughts to those who have no knowledge of that discipline it has failed.

You may claim to know the limits of possibility and the mind of the creator.
He who says he knows does not.

A discipline does not communicate. A living person express themselves through discipline to expose their falsities to themselves the discipline is not what they seek to become. Which is why you are against it.

In the case of philosophy it seems only to be able to communicate with itself.

I don't get you, man. What's your beef with philosophy?
Did you get your ass whooped too many times in some debating society?
Was your dad an academic philosopher who lorded it over you, thus causing you to feel inferior?
Did your girlfriend run off with a philosophy student?
What?

If you have been doing this since 1990, then there must be some deep-seated frustration propelling you.
I can't see what else could account for your sheer pig-headedness.

It's inability to explain itself outside of it's circle of devotees. Social Science has a similar problem.

Are you making up facts now?

I'm not a devotee, and I understand most of the explanations that people have given you. You just don't want an answer.