I have decided to become a professional philosopher

[High-valance]

I am deeply passionate about philosophy and critical discussions. It's almost all I think about all the time anyway and I'm annoyed by some of the idiocy that passes for philosophy these days. So since i've managed to pick up a few skills here and there by just impulsively debating and thinking about philosophy so much as the ADHDer i am, i thought i'd go in and try to clean up some of the mess they've created in academic philosophy.

 

Through getting dragged into philosophical discussions on the internet and listening to various philosophical content and debates on the internet over the years, i have developed strong abilties in

 

Methodological reasoning

conceptual clarity

critical thinking

 

But also some things like wisdom and love of learning.

 

So my strengths already align with the abilities you need as a professional philosopher anyway.

 

And more than that, i'd say that in my own assessment, i have already developed a bachelors level understanding almost entirely on my own without any formal education in philosophy. Although some of the abilities and understanding i've developed go beyond what can be captured in terms of any degree. 

 

In a sense i don't feel like I have a choice. This path has chosen me, even if it sounds corny.

 

Currently my main target is consciousness, the hard problem of consciousness and various philosophical ideas about consciousness, but eventually i also want to address political and societal issues and affect deep change on like a systemic level.

 

Any tips or advice? Of course, l should improve and get a phd in philosophy but besides that general advice what do you suggest i do to ace this LP?

 

 

[Alex4]

On 15/12/2024 at 0:29 AM, High-valance said:

 

In a sense i don't feel like I have a choice. This path has chosen me, even if it sounds corny.

 

 

 

Congratulations man! I'm feeling the same way, but with history. 

[High-valance]

Thank you, and that's awesome! So you're going to be a historian? 

[Alex4]

1 hour ago, High-valance said:

Thank you, and that's awesome! So you're going to be a historian? 

Bit by bit, I'd like to start a history degree at university. I'll do it online so I can combine it with my 9-to-5 job. I sense that my interest may go further.

Do you have a degree in philosophy? You mentioned that you want to do a PhD.

[High-valance]

9 hours ago, Alex4 said:

Bit by bit, I'd like to start a history degree at university. I'll do it online so I can combine it with my 9-to-5 job. I sense that my interest may go further.

Do you have a degree in philosophy? You mentioned that you want to do a PhD.

Nice. Do you have an idea of what impact you want to have ultimately with this life purpose? 

i don't have any degree. I'm self taught so far in what I've learned, which there's still plenty left to do of course. But plan is to get a degree or a couple degrees, yeah, but also just to get really really good at this stuff, as presumebly that will lead to the best opportunities and satisfaction in the career. 

 

Edited Monday at 10:33 PM by High-valance

[Alex4]

15 hours ago, High-valance said:

Nice. Do you have an idea of what impact you want to have ultimately with this life purpose? 

 

Not really  My idea is to do the degree and see where my interest takes me. I hope at least that I like it and learn things that I wouldn't have learned by doing it on my own. Although something that I have seen and would like to change is that in my country historians tend to be conservative and to write in a biased way. I would like to be able to write history books about my country that are well-founded in primary sources, without ideological baggage behind them and easy to read. My role model for this would be historian Adrian Goldsworthy.

 

16 hours ago, High-valance said:

i don't have any degree. I'm self taught so far in what I've learned, which there's still plenty left to do of course. But plan is to get a degree or a couple degrees, yeah, but also just to get really really good at this stuff, as presumebly that will lead to the best opportunities and satisfaction in the career. 

 

sounds good. which other degrees you would like to do?

[High-valance]

On 2024-12-17 at 3:40 PM, Alex4 said:

Not really  My idea is to do the degree and see where my interest takes me. I hope at least that I like it and learn things that I wouldn't have learned by doing it on my own. Although something that I have seen and would like to change is that in my country historians tend to be conservative and to write in a biased way. I would like to be able to write history books about my country that are well-founded in primary sources, without ideological baggage behind them and easy to read. My role model for this would be historian Adrian Goldsworthy.

 

sounds good. which other degrees you would like to do?

Ok, so your mission is sort of to make the history is sort of to make your country less ideological and more truthful in their sense of history or in how that history is derived? 

Can you say which country youre in, by the way?

I mean since the aim is to become a professional philosopher, i'll have to do a phd i, guess. So first step is to get into desired philosophy program/course at university. Thinking in terms of degrees isn't enough, though. I think in terms of getting really really good. I won't go into too much detail on that to not risk giving away too many details from the LP course. I'm actually currently corresponding with a professional philosopher, where we are having like a metadiscussion on what exactly is the hard problem of consciousness. And from that discussion, I'm in a process of generating pretty strong critiques of how it is was originally phrased and how it's commonly interpreted, i'd say. I suspect some of these critiques are original critiques. And I don't have any degrees yet. 

I'd also love to here more about the process you're going through with your LP. 

Edited Wednesday at 09:28 PM by High-valance

[Alex4]

11 hours ago, High-valance said:

Ok, so your mission is sort of to make the history is sort of to make your country less ideological and more truthful in their sense of history or in how that history is derived? 

Correct! Although I am undecided with another purpose that's totally different. I want to at least plant seeds in case opportunities arise in the future. I find it hard to visualize a concrete purpose right now. 

12 hours ago, High-valance said:

Can you say which country youre in, by the way?

Spain.

12 hours ago, High-valance said:

I mean since the aim is to become a professional philosopher, i'll have to do a phd i, guess. So first step is to get into desired philosophy program/course at university. Thinking in terms of degrees isn't enough, though. I think in terms of getting really really good. I won't go into too much detail on that to not risk giving away too many details from the LP course. I'm actually currently corresponding with a professional philosopher, where we are having like a metadiscussion on what exactly is the hard problem of consciousness. And from that discussion, I'm in a process of generating pretty strong critiques of how it is was originally phrased and how it's commonly interpreted, i'd say. I suspect some of these critiques are original critiques. And I don't have any degrees yet. 

Sounds interesting. Would you mind if we speak of this by private message?

[High-valance]

On 2024-12-19 at 10:34 AM, Alex4 said:

Correct! Although I am undecided with another purpose that's totally different. I want to at least plant seeds in case opportunities arise in the future. I find it hard to visualize a concrete purpose right now. 

Spain.

Sounds interesting. Would you mind if we speak of this by private message?

Sure i'm up for that! I don't really know how to do that though. Can we dm from this forum or do we have to give contact information?

[High-valance]

On 2024-12-19 at 10:34 AM, Alex4 said:

Correct! Although I am undecided with another purpose that's totally different. I want to at least plant seeds in case opportunities arise in the future. I find it hard to visualize a concrete purpose right now. 

Spain.

I understand your dilemma. The life purpose course helps if you haven't taken that already. Also as you gain more experience and develop more skill, a purpose will become more and more clear. 

[Hojo]

psychedelics are philosophy 101

[High-valance]

The best introductory course on the topic.