Philosophy

[MillerEP 30,500]

I decided to start this thread based off a conversation going on in the school shooter thread, and it got me curious if anybody else is interested in Philosophy or if they subscribe to any of the schools of thought.  My theory:

Over the past few years, I've developed what I thought was a unique philosophy on life, only to eventually discover that it already had a name, Stoicism. Upon learning this, I've spent a large amount of time reading everything I could find on it, and have re-oriented my life to fit within it's principles. The more I learn and practice it, the more I began feeling that Philosophy may be the missing piece of modern society. I've posted earlier in the other thread that I feel that as society is increasingly becoming globalized (Cosmopolitan a Stoic might say) it's also homogenizing culture, as evidenced by common online speech, communities, humour, and uses of social media. A lot of the old societal foundations that people used to draw from in the past as smaller tribes and communities to form their shared values, morals, and ethics are also increasingly either being attacked, or abandoned through other means. I think this is very damaging to the psyche and might be part of the blame for some of the latest murder sprees and other tragedies. In the recent past, people were raised in smaller communities whose ethics were underpinned with religion, and even further back the differing schools of Philosophy and were imparted on children by their local tribe or community. I think the world at large now is in a sort of crisis where those old underpinnings are now missing, and so people are inadvertently turning into nihilists or epicureans. Secularism is increasingly becoming more popular, with latest population polls showing that the number of people worldwide identifying as "secular" or "non-religious" as the second or third (depending on where you check) largest group, and is still gaining. I'm not trying to weigh in on whether this is a good thing or not, only highlight that as more and more people abandon their old views and as more and more people start to interact and spend more time on the internet with global communities, then what is the obvious choice to replace this? For instance, what shared morals and values does a Muslim kid from Saudi Arabia, a child in the bible belt, a child of a liberal secularist in New York, and a Jewish kid from New York share, when they spend all of their free time interacting on 4chan or Reddit message boards? Are those communities forming their worldviews as a shared commonality? I kind of hope not, because as any comment section can attest the internet "community" as a whole can be brutal, that's probably not the place you want your children learning social interactions and what is right or wrong from. 

I feel that Philosophy might be the old answer to this new problem. The most popular schools, such as Stoicism come out of the Socratic schools and is designed as a practical philosophy complete with daily rituals, coded ethics, and values. During a more chaotic time than what we live in now, when men were first forming societies and cities, and learning how to live alongside with each other, they laid out some principles which helped shape Western Civilization for millennia until they were all shut down by the Emporer Justinian in favor of the official state religion of Christianity at the time. Philosophy also has the added bonus of being flexible enough to provide a framework which can overlay on top of both religious and non-religious (depending on the school of course) beliefs. I think this Universality is exactly what we need to bridge this gap as humanity starts to interact with each other in the new global/online marketplace, where new ideas are shared instantaneously and old traditions and ideas are being left behind. 

Anyway, that's my thoughts. For my part, I became a Stoic, but I'm interested in hearing if anybody else has looked to the past for answers.

[bluto 4,942]

Are long paragraphs a core belief of stoicism?

[MillerEP 30,500]

2 minutes ago, bluto said:

Are long paragraphs a core belief of stoicism?

Very much so. Look to Marcus Aurelius' Meditations, Seneca's Letters, and Epictetus' Discourses.

Edited May 24, 2018 by MillerEP

[Cacti 191]

55 minutes ago, MillerEP said:

Secularism is increasingly becoming more popular, with latest population polls showing that the number of people worldwide identifying as "secular" or "non-religious" as the second or third (depending on where you check) largest group, and is still gaining.

Not to detract from your main point, but according to this 2015 Pew article, if current trends continue, by 2050 …

Quote

Atheists, agnostics and other people who do not affiliate with any religion – though increasing in countries such as the United States and France – will make up a declining share of the world’s total population.

 

Edited May 24, 2018 by Cacti

[F250 28,818]

"You’ll not turn to drink, will you? You stoic types often do when disappointed in life."

 

[phdhorn 6,224]

I'm into Stolicism. On the rocks.

[Celery Man 20,996]

your paragraph is blocking my sun

[MillerEP 30,500]

On 5/24/2018 at 10:39 PM, Celery Man said:

your paragraph is blocking my sun

Hahah! Quite the Cynic I see?

[J.R. Juniors Junior Jr. 1,084]

Philosophy, is the talk on a cereal box.

Religion, is the smile on a dog.

[thrillhammer 684]

I predict this thread lives on in histoic proportions.

[52-80 19,246]

go ahead and laugh all you want

 

i got my philosophy

[Neonmoon 38,130]

there he goes off to his room to write that hit song "Alone in my principles

[High Plains Drifter 11,052]

OP,  you must begin a reading program immediately so that you may understand the crises of our age. Begin with the late Romans, including Boethius, of course. Then you should dip rather extensively into early Medieval. You may skip the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. That is mostly dangerous propaganda. Now that I think of it, you had better skip the Romantics and the Victorians, too. For the contemporary period, you should study some selected comic books.

[staboner 4,987]

Zeno of Citium

Cyprus hola

Fucking Justian man, that SOB

[Mack Tripper 696]

At least it's an ethos. 

[Kyrie Eleison 9,312]