Philosophy thread

[Brent]

Originally Posted by *** Ork Wang

Zeitgeist

Please dont bring up that movie.

[The Unseen]

I was almost going to watch Zeitgeist until I saw the clip from it about "disproving" the existence of Jesus. They compared his existence to many other common ancient myths and argued that the myth of Jesus was derived from a sun god. One point they used as proof was that Jesus was the "son of god," which sounds like "sun god." I can't even fathom how utterly idiotic that is.

anyways, no religion plz, carry on

[Gay Ork Wang]

not zeitgeist the first one it was crap, addendum was actually prettyx good

[Brent]

Their claims about the Federal Reserve are misconceived and they manipulate facts to fit their claims. In fact, few of their claims have more than maybe one source, and even then, it's a faulty source at best. That film, just like numerous others, were sparked by 9/11 and people's unfounded fears of the previous administration.

[themaninblack]

I can't seem to pick from this poll. My studies of Philosophy are quite brief but I seem to be interested in pretty much everything I've read up to this point.

[Gay Ork Wang]

Originally Posted by Brent

Their claims about the Federal Reserve are misconceived and they manipulate facts to fit their claims. In fact, few of their claims have more than maybe one source, and even then, it's a faulty source at best. That film, just like numerous others, were sparked by 9/11 and people's unfounded fears of the previous administration.

im not sure, but i did agree with their idea that money isnt a necessary thing in the world

[CJSchneider]

Originally Posted by *** Ork Wang

im not sure, but i did agree with their idea that money isnt a necessary thing in the world

Society is really going to have to grow up before that is possible. It would almost (not saying it would be impossible) require the perfect Utopian society to be able to work. Man's greed is his downfall.

[The Unseen]

Money as in currency? What do they want, a barter system, a gift economy, or communal sharing of goods?

My guess is that Zeitgeist was made by anarchist types, so I'm betting the latter.

[Brent]

Originally Posted by *** Ork Wang

im not sure, but i did agree with their idea that money isnt a necessary thing in the world

Every time someone talks about some sort of idealist Utopian society I think of Star Trek, because they had reached a point where currency was no long necessary and life was about the pursuit of knowledge and exploration. If only haha.

[someone447]

I can't decide between rationalism and social contract, I'll be much more knowledgeable on philosophy after this summer though. There is only so much you can get from reading, you need someone to talk about it with, and I am taking a trip this summer with a girl who minored in philosophy, and almost had enough credits to get a major in it.

So with 2 months of hitchhiking and waiting for rides with nothing to do but read and talk, I'm sure I'll have a much better grasp of many different philosophies.

[CJSchneider]

Originally Posted by Brent

Every time someone talks about some sort of idealist Utopian society I think of Star Trek, because they had reached a point where currency was no long necessary and life was about the pursuit of knowledge and exploration. If only haha.

Same here, that was why I said it was not impossible.

[Gay Ork Wang]

Originally Posted by The Unseen

Money as in currency? What do they want, a barter system, a gift economy, or communal sharing of goods?

My guess is that Zeitgeist was made by anarchist types, so I'm betting the latter.

The idea is that instead of having the goal to work for a personal profit, u should rather work to preserve Shelter, food and water for everyone.

[CJSchneider]

Originally Posted by *** Ork Wang

The idea is that instead of having the goal to work for a personal profit, u should rather work to preserve Shelter, food and water for everyone.

What about material possessions?

[BeerBaron]

Looks like I'm coming in on this thread a bit late but I had to vote for Ancient Philosophy. I find it fascinating.

Was my favorite part of the philosophy class I had a few semesters ago and I just think it's really interesting to look at the world view of the ancient philosophers. Crazy stuff....love it.

[CJSchneider]

Like sand through the hour glass, these are the days of our lives.

[Mr. Hero]

Originally Posted by CJSchneider

Man's greed is his downfall.

Man's greed is also the reason why I can get a little metal box the size of a pack of cigarettes that is a phone, camera, MP3 player, let's me check my email, the internet, my stocks, the weather, etc. Our greed is one of our greatest strengths and has been the driving force behind so much of our advances.

[Gay Ork Wang]

Originally Posted by CJSchneider

What about material possessions?

Like what though? are material possesions that important if say u want to play golf and u go to the course, take one of the clubs there, play and then put them back there. there is no need to actually own one of them.

[CJSchneider]

Originally Posted by Mr. Hero

Man's greed is also the reason why I can get a little metal box the size of a pack of cigarettes that is a phone, camera, MP3 player, let's me check my email, the internet, my stocks, the weather, etc. Our greed is one of our greatest strengths and has been the driving force behind so much of our advances.

This guy could care less about that little box you and I have. He'd sooner steal it and sell it for something that would give him instant, yet short-termed satisfaction as opposed to take it apart and learn how it works (No, I'm not making a blanket statement about all homeless people) I would challenge that it is "vision", "empathy" and "determination" that drives us, as opposed to "greed".

[Gay Ork Wang]

there is absolutely nothing good to greed...

i dont see how people can say it is the only motivation we have.

[CJSchneider]

Originally Posted by *** Ork Wang

Like what though? are material possesions that important if say u want to play golf and u go to the course, take one of the clubs there, play and then put them back there. there is no need to actually own one of them.

Would all the clubs at all the golf courses on Earth be the same?

(Playing DA here.)

[Gay Ork Wang]

Originally Posted by CJSchneider

Would all the clubs at all the golf courses on Earth be the same?

(Playing DA here.)

ud have a wide variety of all sorts of clubs

[Mr. Hero]

Originally Posted by Paranoidmoonduck

I can appreciate this idea. It's pleasant, it's elegant, it's fun to imagine.

It's also not even remotely realistic. Nothing I've observed of the world in my lifetime leads me to believe that what this ideal describes is remotely possible. Which, in and of itself, for a personal philosophy, isn't all that big of a deal to me. But this ideal and certain philosophers/science fiction writers seem to grease the wheels for people to extrapolate wildly into the realm of societal change. For one to do that, you need to step carefully for the exercise to be remotely useful or directional. Erecting elegant theoretical structures is fine and dandy, but if you leave the structure and it ceases to make sense, recognizing and accepting that is a vital step.

Deriving principles from infinitely paired down situations is risky footing at best.

I don't believe that a world without legalized coercion is that unrealistic. I recognize it would require a shift in our thinking, but these aren't principles that are unheard off and utterly unnatural, rather these principles attempt to build off of human nature. Granted medieval Iceland is the only nation I know of that had a fully voluntary system in place as the people selected one of iceland's chieftains to represent them, not elected, selected, but I feel between the success of the goðorð system and the benefits of similar principles in amercian history that this may be one of the few utopias that can actually function with human beings. Again I don't think if we just changed our political system to one I favor everything would instantly run smoothly, but if we could transition to such a system I think the transition process itself would drive a social shift towards greater individual responsibility and more careful, long term thinking. I just see how the current system molds children into abandoning my concepts and feel that between the removal of the current system which pushes people into the direction of short-term thinking and insatiable material greed and the slow transition to a more ideal system you would also see a transition in the populace and within a generation or two you would see a major change in americans, I think that the resultant change would be for the better. We'll see though, I firmly believe in our lifetime we'll see our political system shifting back in the my direction at which point we'll see whether the people respond.

[CJSchneider]

But what if I went to one course and they had a club I really liked. Then I went to another course and they didn't have that same club. What then?

[Gay Ork Wang]

Originally Posted by CJSchneider

But what if I went to one course and they had a club I really liked. Then I went to another course and they didn't have that same club. What then?

well the idea is to have all available clubs there, to have enough for the people that want to play. if there isnt one because too many are using them, more are made. why is there a need for you to own them?

[CJSchneider]

Originally Posted by *** Ork Wang

well the idea is to have all available clubs there, to have enough for the people that want to play. if there isnt one because too many are using them, more are made. why is there a need for you to own them?

So your answer to my question is yes, every golf course would have the same clubs. OK, what about vehicles, would everyone on Earth drive the same car? What if I wanted two cars? What if I liked cars, and wanted to collect them over a long period of time?