Questions About University Philosophy

[Davino]

@Leo Gura Be careful what you say

My mother is a lawyer working as a Human Resources Director. Managing people is very challenging, almost as difficult as doing proper Philosophy!

Edited August 6 by Davino

[Leo Gura]

3 minutes ago, Davino said:

Managing people is very challenging

I know it is.

But it is no business for a philosopher.

[Nemra]

12 minutes ago, Davino said:

So I invite you to also sell your philosophical skills as part of what you have to offer to the world.

Idk, it doesn't feel right, as I could be misrepresenting myself.

12 minutes ago, Davino said:

I once received a job offer by a philosopher working in HR for a big company.

I have also had an employer who had a degree in philosophy. He was annoying as he was giving a know-it-all vibe. 😂

But, Idk.

[Davino]

10 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

But it is no business for a philosopher.

Yes, you have the point there. 

What is the business for a philosopher?  Using its philosophical skills for real projects ?

Very few people like you have pulled philosophy as their actual work. I'm curious if you have any advice on the matter. Philosophical counselling sounds interesting but not satisfying. 

I'm exploring to live from philosophy but I hate trying to convince people and all that comes with explaining Truth to others and so on. I don't like those games but if my philosophy is not geared towards others it seems unlikely to bring me profit. If I do philosophy I wanna do it as I love to do it, not to prostitute it. I love so much philosophy that I don't wanna sell it to be able to live out of it. I would rather get my money from something else than to corrupt my philosophy.

[Yali]

3 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

It's hard to say. In some subtle way, sure. But really, my philosophy degree/education was such shit.

what primarily motivates these philosophers? do they just enjoy jerking off using their mind, or do they believe that they are pursuing truth itself? @Leo Gura

 

Edited August 7 by Yali

[Leo Gura]

1 minute ago, Yali said:

what primarily motivates these philosophers? do they just enjoy jerking off using their mind, or do they believe that they are pursuing truth itself? @Leo Gura

 

They fell in the trap of academia. They are not so much philosophers as scholars and historians.

If you wanna be a scholar, it's fine I guess.

Edited August 7 by Leo Gura

[Yali]

@Leo Gura despite not being relevant to the pursuit of truth, do you still enjoy academic philosophy? like would you want to take an academic philosophy course just for the fun of it if you could today?

[Leo Gura]

6 hours ago, Yali said:

do you still enjoy academic philosophy?

No. I can't read academic philosophy because it is such a waste of time and so fundamentally existentially clueless and confused.

6 hours ago, Yali said:

like would you want to take an academic philosophy course just for the fun of it if you could today?

No

[nerdspeak]

Studying academic philosophy at a small liberal arts college -- like Reed, Williams, Wesleyan, Oberlin -- is probably a lot better than at a big research university like UCLA.

Profs at small colleges are less attached to scholarly one-upmanship and more into the subject matter itself, and the teaching of it. That said, I was taught mostly by boomers, who had a much more chill and exploratory education than people educated after the 1973 oil crisis. 

GenX and millennial professors had to go through so much angst to get their jobs, that even Reed profs are now probably ruthlessly careerist and highly specialized like the profs at R1s. 

Edited August 7 by nerdspeak

[Nemra]

In the first year of university, I saw how much dogmatic and close-minded most of the professors can get. Mine was more of a Soviet-style university, which is still being modernized.

Edited August 7 by Nemra

[nerdspeak]

41 minutes ago, Nemra said:

In the first year of university, I saw how much dogmatic and close-minded most of the professors can get. Mine was more of a Soviet-style university, which is still being modernized.

At the BA level in Europe, there are so many students per professor in the first couple years that the only way to teach is to just drill the rote basics and have the students feed it back on the exam. 

It doesn't mean the professors are dogmatic as people -- they're not. They just have very little time per student and want to make sure they get the basics. 

Edited August 7 by nerdspeak

[Nemra]

@nerdspeak

I understand. They are surviving as well.

However, I wouldn't go to any other university where I'm from because they are so lost in groupthink.

Edited August 7 by Nemra

[Ayham]

6 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

No. I can't read academic philosophy because it is such a waste of time and so fundamentally existentially clueless and confused.

 

@Leo Gura i think the value of it is not in that in it gives truths or clues, but rather the way it expands your capability to think and challenges your worldview.

Yes the linguistical complexity is unnecessary but it makes you think stuff through, it is a form of contemplation on it's own, aside from making you more nuanced in your vocabulary.

Yes most philosophers are clueless about truth because truth lies outside rational thinking, which is what spirituality is for.

So in my opinion, academic philosophy for intellectual understanding + contemplation for direct grasping + spirituality for truth = good.

[Leo Gura]

As I said, it is good for learning formal rigorous thinking/rationality.

Learning rationality is useful. Learning rigor is useful for STEM type fields.

Edited August 7 by Leo Gura

[ICURBlessings]

Hi Nemra

I wonder if looking into the topic of "Autodidacticism" - which is Self-education as in education without the guidance of masters (Old days) and in our modern time it is without professors  and/or institutions - would help?

Here I can speak with experience as I have lived as an Autodidact and a Polymath. Polymaths are often autodidacts.

Here is a list of famous autodidacts:

Abraham Lincoln

Albert Einstein - taught himself algebra, Euclidean geometry, and calculus when he was 12. He also independently discovered his own original proof of the Pythagorean theorem, and he had worked through a geometry textbook he was given by his family tutor, Max Talmud.[64] When Einstein was 14 years old he says he had "mastered integral and differential calculus".

Allan Watts

Alfred Russel Wallace (Co-discoverer of Natural-Selection with Darwin)

Benjamin Franklin

Bill Gates

Bruce Springsteen

Buckminster Fuller

David Bowie

Edison

Elon Musk

Ernest Hemingway

Frank Loyd Wright

Frank Zappa

Galileo

Gustave Eiffel – The engineer who designed and built the Eiffel Tower

Henry Ford

Hermann Hesse

Jimi Hendrix

Johnny Depp

Julian Assange

Karl Marx

Le Corbusier

Leonardo DaVinci

Mark Twain

Malcolm X

Michael Faraday

Neil Peart

Nikola Tesla

Oprah Winfrey

Orson Welles

Russell Crowe

Sean Parker - Former President of Facebook,

Steve Jobs

Steven Spielberg

The Wright Brothers

Van Halen

Vincent Willem van Gogh

Walt Disney

William Blake

This list should tell you that Autodidactism is much more common than what one would assume. It often emerges from the lower and working class of society, where formal education is an unattainable luxury – although this is far from being a rule. An autodidacts will not let an obstacle such as a lack of financial resources stop him from learning. Until the advent of the Internet, Libraries were an important source of freely accessible knowledge. And the Internet is the new catalyst bringing to fruition the golden-age of autodidactism.

When one is young it is very difficult to know if Autodidactism is one's call. For me it was much later in life that I figured this out about my learning-style.

Here is a list of some of the personality characteristics that are more or less typical of autodidacts:

Self-motivated and NOT correlating learning to earning a degree: An autodidact is driven by passion, self-discipline, and internally-sourced interest to engage consistently in his studies. His motivation for the acquisition of knowledge is not for the pride of owning degrees or titles, or from pressures imposed by an external authority; but for the sake of knowledge itself.

Curious: Autodidacts have a strong desire to learn about the world and the various subjects they’re pursuing.

Disciplined: They hold themselves accountable to do the readings and work that they promise themselves they will do.

Systematic: Autodidacts study plans are internally formed and self-directed. Rarely they follow a rigid methodology of learning; but rather an elastic and malleable structure that is spontaneously and naturally formed, and which is adaptive to the continuously changing circumstances of life.

Goal-Oriented and Focused: Autodidact naturally set learning goals to guide their studies and their study plan. Being focused on something is not a part-time state of mind, but a continuous way of being.

Resourceful: They know how to find study materials, often free or affordable ones, that will help them reach their goals.

Natural Learner, fast and efficient who has a passion for diving deep into a subject with a great ability for absorption and and above average retention: Rarely an autodidact will be content with a ‘little’ knowledge, or a superficial degree of knowledge. Typically they strive for the core knowledge, and for the most advanced knowledge on a subject. Being on the cutting edge of a subject is natural for an autodidact.

Stands above & beyond the paradigm of ‘victimization’: Typically, an autodidact has no time, not even an instant, to feel sorry for himself. Being paralyzed by a sense of victimization is not a state on the palette of Autodidactism. Any and all obstacles that stands in the way of an autodidact is perceived as a welcomed challenge, and an opportunity to learn something new, or to learn something more deeply. An autodidact continuously shifts the obstacles that continuously emerges into a series of opportunities that shapes one’s life. Where most see complications, the mind of an autodidact sees avenues of potentials.

Life-long learner: An autodidact does stop being one. He or she does not retire at one point in her or his life from the pursuit of knowledge.

Polymath: Rare an autodidact limits himself to a single subject of knowledge

 

There are some advantages to being an autodidact - one being to choose the subject of study, their studying material, and the studying rhythm and time.

Autodidacts may or may not combine formal education, as a complement avenue of learning.

 

The horizon of Autodidacticism has been transformed by the advent of the Internet. As one of the effect of the Internet - A robust Fact-Checking ability has become an essential skill and a requisite for Autodidacticism. In our modern time an Autodidact must know how to detect and recognize misinformation and disinformation - which is prevalent in the medias BUT also exist in a very special form within some scientific fields - especially those of medicine; nutrition; climate-science; among others.

In fields like Art and Craftsmanship there are huge advantages to be an Autodidact.

...And Autodidactism is also a subject of Philosophy :-)!

 

... if you are an Autodidact type of learner you will not escape that destiny... 

[Leo Gura]

@ICURBlessings Awesome!

Edited August 9 by Leo Gura

[ICURBlessings]

25 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

@ICURBlessings Awesome!

Thanks Leo Gura - much appreciated feedback!

[CARDOZZO]

2 hours ago, ICURBlessings said:

Hi Nemra

I wonder if looking into the topic of "Autodidacticism" - which is Self-education as in education without the guidance of masters (Old days) and in our modern time it is without professors  and/or institutions - would help?

Here I can speak with experience as I have lived as an Autodidact and a Polymath. Polymaths are often autodidacts.

Here is a list of famous autodidacts:

Abraham Lincoln

Albert Einstein - taught himself algebra, Euclidean geometry, and calculus when he was 12. He also independently discovered his own original proof of the Pythagorean theorem, and he had worked through a geometry textbook he was given by his family tutor, Max Talmud.[64] When Einstein was 14 years old he says he had "mastered integral and differential calculus".

Allan Watts

Alfred Russel Wallace (Co-discoverer of Natural-Selection with Darwin)

Benjamin Franklin

Bill Gates

Bruce Springsteen

Buckminster Fuller

David Bowie

Edison

Elon Musk

Ernest Hemingway

Frank Loyd Wright

Frank Zappa

Galileo

Gustave Eiffel – The engineer who designed and built the Eiffel Tower

Henry Ford

Hermann Hesse

Jimi Hendrix

Johnny Depp

Julian Assange

Karl Marx

Le Corbusier

Leonardo DaVinci

Mark Twain

Malcolm X

Michael Faraday

Neil Peart

Nikola Tesla

Oprah Winfrey

Orson Welles

Russell Crowe

Sean Parker - Former President of Facebook,

Steve Jobs

Steven Spielberg

The Wright Brothers

Van Halen

Vincent Willem van Gogh

Walt Disney

William Blake

This list should tell you that Autodidactism is much more common than what one would assume. It often emerges from the lower and working class of society, where formal education is an unattainable luxury – although this is far from being a rule. An autodidacts will not let an obstacle such as a lack of financial resources stop him from learning. Until the advent of the Internet, Libraries were an important source of freely accessible knowledge. And the Internet is the new catalyst bringing to fruition the golden-age of autodidactism.

When one is young it is very difficult to know if Autodidactism is one's call. For me it was much later in life that I figured this out about my learning-style.

Here is a list of some of the personality characteristics that are more or less typical of autodidacts:

Self-motivated and NOT correlating learning to earning a degree: An autodidact is driven by passion, self-discipline, and internally-sourced interest to engage consistently in his studies. His motivation for the acquisition of knowledge is not for the pride of owning degrees or titles, or from pressures imposed by an external authority; but for the sake of knowledge itself.

Curious: Autodidacts have a strong desire to learn about the world and the various subjects they’re pursuing.

Disciplined: They hold themselves accountable to do the readings and work that they promise themselves they will do.

Systematic: Autodidacts study plans are internally formed and self-directed. Rarely they follow a rigid methodology of learning; but rather an elastic and malleable structure that is spontaneously and naturally formed, and which is adaptive to the continuously changing circumstances of life.

Goal-Oriented and Focused: Autodidact naturally set learning goals to guide their studies and their study plan. Being focused on something is not a part-time state of mind, but a continuous way of being.

Resourceful: They know how to find study materials, often free or affordable ones, that will help them reach their goals.

Natural Learner, fast and efficient who has a passion for diving deep into a subject with a great ability for absorption and and above average retention: Rarely an autodidact will be content with a ‘little’ knowledge, or a superficial degree of knowledge. Typically they strive for the core knowledge, and for the most advanced knowledge on a subject. Being on the cutting edge of a subject is natural for an autodidact.

Stands above & beyond the paradigm of ‘victimization’: Typically, an autodidact has no time, not even an instant, to feel sorry for himself. Being paralyzed by a sense of victimization is not a state on the palette of Autodidactism. Any and all obstacles that stands in the way of an autodidact is perceived as a welcomed challenge, and an opportunity to learn something new, or to learn something more deeply. An autodidact continuously shifts the obstacles that continuously emerges into a series of opportunities that shapes one’s life. Where most see complications, the mind of an autodidact sees avenues of potentials.

Life-long learner: An autodidact does stop being one. He or she does not retire at one point in her or his life from the pursuit of knowledge.

Polymath: Rare an autodidact limits himself to a single subject of knowledge

 

There are some advantages to being an autodidact - one being to choose the subject of study, their studying material, and the studying rhythm and time.

Autodidacts may or may not combine formal education, as a complement avenue of learning.

 

The horizon of Autodidacticism has been transformed by the advent of the Internet. As one of the effect of the Internet - A robust Fact-Checking ability has become an essential skill and a requisite for Autodidacticism. In our modern time an Autodidact must know how to detect and recognize misinformation and disinformation - which is prevalent in the medias BUT also exist in a very special form within some scientific fields - especially those of medicine; nutrition; climate-science; among others.

In fields like Art and Craftsmanship there are huge advantages to be an Autodidact.

...And Autodidactism is also a subject of Philosophy :-)!

 

... if you are an Autodidact type of learner you will not escape that destiny... 

Awesome post.

Welcome to the forum  

[Nemra]

@ICURBlessings 

Hi. Great post!

2 hours ago, ICURBlessings said:

Autodidacticism

I have never heard of that term before.

For example, I've been teaching myself to play the piano without relying on traditional methods to the point that I can learn by hearing and I'm discovering things that are or could be already out there.

2 hours ago, ICURBlessings said:

The horizon of Autodidacticism has been transformed by the advent of the Internet. As one of the effect of the Internet - A robust Fact-Checking ability has become an essential skill and a requisite for Autodidacticism.

I'm often shocked that people don't fact-check.

Edited August 9 by Nemra

[ICURBlessings]

2 hours ago, CARDOZZO said:

Awesome post.

Welcome to the forum  

Thank You CARDOZZO!