Philosophy Definition and 326 Threads

Is there such a thing as true love at first sight, or does true love take time? I personally feel that love is something that grows and is not instant, although others would disagree because of their own experiences...love is on my mind as I have officially become engaged to the love of my life...

Is leisure time a prerequisite for the study of philosophy (e. g., the Ancient Greeks)? Can't one contemplate existence while concerned for self-survival?

I have found references to a book that is either "to appear" or has already been published by Cambridge University Press. The book is Physics meets Philosophy at the Planck scale edited by C. Callender and N. Huggett this is apparently a collection of essays by philosophers and...

This forum says that the topic of Philosophy is: "The Mind and Soul. What is the meaning of life? How should we live our lives?" But isn't Philo-sophy (from Greek, meaning love for knowledge) a much broader field of study then just the mind and soul (and in the case of the last, it is not...

Donald Davidson There is no such thing as a language, not if a language is anything like what many philosophers and linguists have supposed. There is therefore no such thing to be learned, mastered, or born with. We must give up the idea of a clearly defined shared structure which...

Philosophy can be divided into two major directions of thought, centered on what is considered to be the fundamental issue in philosophy: the relation between Being and Thinking. In this short discussion I will try to briefly explain these two major directions in philosophy. Let us...

What is your philosophy of life?

Yet more on the nature of "philosophy"... It seems to me that a complete idiot who has an idiotic original thought is more a philosopher than an educated person who merely parrots the words of their intellectual superiors. What am I talking about? Occasionally on message boards, or in...

I know there are plenty of people here who consider themselves to be skeptical, but is there a common outlook for all of us? I personally see it broken up into at least two camps. One is the type who says 'that's nonsense' to most everything not accepted by science, and leaves it at that. The...

A philosopher, a physicist and a mathematician ride a train. They see a black sheep on a field in a train window. -All speep are black - says a philosopher. -There are sheep, and some of them are black - says a physicist. -There is at least one sheep, and at least half of it is black - says a...

First, This is what Philosophy IS: The pursuit of Knowledge, Wisdom, and/or Understanding. This is commonly known, and shouldn't need to be brought up, but some people just aren't getting it. Every single Forum on the PFs (except for General Discussion, PhysicsForums Feedback and...

?? Continued from my past post My definition of existence is a narrow principle; not a grand principle. It is logical to me to say that if some form "exists" (existence in the an ultimate, absolute, philosophical sense; a common philosophyical question is whether oneself exists...

Do you think that the "ultimate reality of existence" will be related to or will have a social theme? By "reality" I mean in terms of the ultimate source of causation of the things we see today as reality. --------------------------------------------------------------------- I apologize...

I am writting an essay on "The Philosophy of the Mind, Body and Soul". There is no particular reason I am writting this, other than for pure enjoyment. Anyway, I am overwhelmed at the myriad amounts of books, essays etc. that have come up while I was researching. So where do I start?? What...

I want to discuss corrupt philosophy, and how it can actually influence the members of a specific state to effect actions of bias within that state which will destroy any philosophy which challenges the status-quo. Are the members of that state ignorant or guilty? What do you think?

MARXIST PHILOSOPHY Dialectical Materialism - from Hegel to Marx by TED TRIPP HEGEL (1770-1831) Hegel's philosophy, revolutionary in character, delivered the death-blow to metaphysics. That is to the reasoning of things and their mental images, ideas in isolation, to be considered...

Over the last several centuries scholastic philosophers have steadily whittled away at the metaphysical and logical underpinnings of their craft until today many are resigned to using extremely questionable historical arguments and ones that merely negate those of alternative philosophies rather...

First off, I don't know much about Gandhi's philosophy, so I'm open to corrections. However, there is something that occurs to me, in my limited knowledge of the philosophy of satyagraha. That is that, while most people often relate it to passive resistance, it could easily be used to justify...

V. PHILOSOPHY OF NATURE. TIME AND SPACE We now come to philosophy of nature. Here again Herr Dühring has every cause for dissatisfaction with his predecessors. Natural philosophy "sank so low that it became an arid, spurious doggerel founded on ignorance", and "fell to the prostituted...

Routledge Philosophy Guidebook to Wittgenstein and the Philosophical Investigations. Marie McGinn Publisher: Routledge ISBN 0-415-11191-9 Introduction: Pleasantly impenetrable, endearingly unbalanced, the pin up of choice for all respectable first year philosophy students, and he...

I am beginning to think that it can be disastrous to get involved in a heated debate concerning religion, politics, or philosophy.

What would you recommend?

I am practically getting obssessed with this philosophy/martial art. It is very deep. If anyone here has ever seen the Japanese show, Dragon Ball Z (which I am obessed with as well), it dramatically depicts the idea of the chi (or ki, in Japanese) which is the energy. I could explain the...

Sorry Tom, but science has no choice than to look for material-causes for all things. And that's exactly what it tries to do in all areas of research. Science hasn't officially declared that 'God' is dead (or any other possible creative alternative), but by looking for a material-explanation...

I found some detailed lecture notes on this subject here: http://www.soc.iastate.edu/sapp/phil_sci_lecture00.html I am interested in discussing the role of philosophy in science with you all.

And if you do, why? Why is it not necessary?