philosophical inquiry

Guest

i pose a question to you all, at what point does philosophical inquiry become insane rambling?
example, Socrates was thought to be insane by a large portion of people in his society. but now today we use his practices in teaching and politics.

Admin Posts : 343 Reputation : 6 Join date : 2009-03-04

I think by the very nature of philosophy your question is moot. i mean philosophy is dedicated to the pursuit knowledge by any means. time and time again people have been labeled as insane because of their radical view, only to find out later that their view has changed the course of life as we know it. eg Galileo or Eisenstein or socrates. If it wasn't for the unhindered pursuit of knowledge where would be? a racist, conservative society bond to rigorous thought processes. as long as one is able to construct a cogent argument with a means of justification and proof, i believe it qualifies as philosophical inquiry.

Posts : 2 Reputation : 0 Join date : 2012-08-08

Until you reach some dedicated truths by a special method of cognition. That method dictated by the philosopher, of course. Think Descartes and his inquiry into the cogito, or Leibniz and his account of the subject's complete notion. This is just dipping our toes in an epistemological ocean, of course.

Free will? or will we ever be free...

Admin Posts : 343 Reputation : 6 Join date : 2009-03-04

lol kipper, you kinda confused me, wanna clarify?

Posts : 2 Reputation : 0 Join date : 2012-08-08

Well Descartes said I think, I am. (or the common misinterpretation, I think, therefore I am). How did he reach that conclusion? Only by following his reasoning in the Second Meditations of Philosophy (the book where he comes up with that argument) can we clearly and distinctly understand the truth he was trying to arrive at. Thus we have arrived at a truth though a specific form of reasoning guided by our fellow philosophers.

and insane ramblings in philosophy? ask any of the Medieval era philosophers and you will get your fair share of crazy.

Admin Posts : 343 Reputation : 6 Join date : 2009-03-04

I believe it is possible to arrive at and understand the conclusions if there is a clear and distinct premise as well as a logical methodology. as per medieval philosophers, you mean someone like peter damian, or more like thomas aquinas?

Posts : 2 Reputation : 0 Join date : 2012-08-13

read some duns scotus and you'll know about medieval ramblings

Admin Posts : 343 Reputation : 6 Join date : 2009-03-04

Hey lemonlime, sorry it took me so long to reply, I've been reviewing some of his work, you mean this guy right
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/duns-scotus/

Some of his work does seem a bit peculiar but i still would not regard this as insane ramblings, He makes cogent arguments about metaphysics and semi logical arguments for epistemology.