Between chatting with @fcukforcookies and watching Th Good Place (no spoilers here for the uninitiated, but everyone should watch that show imo), I’ve been thinking a lot about brushing up on philosophy since I’m familiar with some names and thought thanks to a cool little book called Sophie’s World (also recommend) and various self-directed cultural studies, but I am curious to learn more.
So while I do that, I figured I’d make a thread to discuss what your thought are on philosophy, including:
Did you learn about philosophy in school? If so, was it helpful? If not, would you have liked to?
Who are your favorite philosophers and what did they believe? Do you agree?
What’s your personal life philosophy, if you had to sum it up?
Do you think people do good things for good reasons, or primarily selfish ones? Why?
I would have loved to learn about philosophy in school! But unfortunately, I was one of those people who wanted to study everything all at once and I didn’t get to take it for A-Levels (the last 2 years of school). When it came to university, I had other priorities in the subjects I chose. It was always an option! Just not one I took.
I don’t know many philosophers by name. I know many schools of thought, but I’m a bit ignorant when it comes to who helped to found them. I’d love to know more, but I just don’t know where to start! And I always get pulled into anarcho-socialist stuff when I try, which is probably not the best for trying to get a well-rounded worldview, only reading opinions I already agree with
Hmm. I’ve never really thought about that! That’s a really interesting question. I know my life is dictated by learning, teaching and helping others. I feel like my life is meaningless if I’m not either giving to or taking from the pool of knowledge. That’s probably quite a middle-class, privileged point of view, now that I think about it.
I think people are inherently good and capitalism causes them to act in selfish ways. I mean, when people lack empathy, we consider it to be an issue. We label them as different. An anomaly. Psychopaths and sociopaths. So if most people have empathy, I feel like it makes sense that they’re keen to treat others well, since it’s not nice when you feel empathy for someone who was hurt by you.
I am a huge fan of a leftist YouTuber who talks about politics through a philosophical lens. He’s an actor who studied philosophy at uni, so his production value is fantastic, too. He started his channel as a way of giving people his philosophy education without the debt they’d have to do through to go to university, in light of student fees in the UK being tripled to £9000. His name is Philosophy Tube (or Oliver Thorn)
Of course, ContraPoints also does similar content. I love her, too, but I have a soft spot for Philosophy Tube
I learned some philosophy at school. In a sense, I would say it was helpful. It also started my interest in greek culture back then. I tried to learn as much as I could about Greek culture and mythology as possible when I was younger. Still look it up even todays time. I would say what I learned was morals from what I looked up and it opened up more doors to knowledge I didn’t know at the time.
Hmm my personal philosophy is learn from your mistakes and keep going. Don’t let others break you down when you are st your lowest. I go by this basically everyday.
I would say Aristotle because I read more about him than most other greek philosophers. I agree with some of his teachings but others part could be questionable. I can’t exactly remember all I learned during school before 2012. I just remember knowing a lot about Aristotle though.
I believe most people do good things because of good reasons. Now, there is a lot people out there that take advantage of people for doing the right thing. Though I feel many people do the right thing out of the kindness of their heart. This might sound naive but it’s just how I feel on the subject at hand.
This is a quote from Aristotle: I had to look it up to remember it.
There was a philosophy course at my school when I was in 6th grade, but I was too young to attend it (you had to be at least in 9th grade for it) and they cancelled it when I was finally old enough for it… I would have loved to learn something philosophy related because I love to learn about other people’s thoughts and world views
I don’t have a favourite philosopher since I don’t really know any philosophers apart from the really famous ones
I don’t really have one it would probably be something like make others happy but don’t forget about your own well-being and try to not follow emotions too much because they often lead to bad descisions
I would say that most people do good things to benefit themselves in some way. It’s only a side effect for them that others benefit from it too. Almost no one I know would do something without at least something small like validation in return, our society just works this way
I did two years of Philosophy in school alongside religious studies, and it was incredibly beneficial! I loved almost every second of it!
Personally I’m of the opinion that in terms of philosophy the person doesn’t matter, it’s only the overall ideas that matter in a broader social sense. Totally not because I can’t remember any names off the top of my head or anything. Totes
Maximise contentedness
I think people are a lot more complicated than being able to file them down enough to say that motivation comes from one thing for absolute certain. I would personally say there’s a mix of several things that come together to make what we know as a ‘person’. Personhood is also societally constructed, by the way, as are the ideas of ‘good’ and ‘bad’
But I think everyone has a massive mix of conflicting motivations for different things. I belileve it’s in human nature to be good, to be virtuous, to be selfish, to be selfless, to be heroic, or to be vindictive.
I do love some good philosophy!
I second Ollie as a fun modern philosophical source! Especially a lot of his earlier stuff, it’s very similar to the stuff I did in school!
That’s awesome and am going to check him out for sure so I can answer my own questions. (Also side note: the increase in fees suck but omg my university was $50k per year - thank goodness for financial aid and scholarships and a rich distant relative who didn’t have kids of her own and boo loans)
Im inclined to agree when I’m feeling a bit cynical. Because even doing “good” things usually makes people feel good about themselves, so there’s always a bit of a benefit, even if it’s not monetary or anything. And yep, our society “works” but fails us a bit because of this.
But when I’m feeling optimistic, I think tat people can be “good” even if their motivation is a bit flawed. I’m happy about the emergence of b-corps (companies whose primary goal is to good AND make money, unlike non-profits), but still the cynic in me comes out and thinks that it’s because “doing good” is trendy and therefore profitable…
That’s true. We’re not even conscious of all of our own motivations to do something, let alone someone else’s motivations.
We’re a complicated bunch for sure. But I I agree with this!
I would have loved to learn something philosophy related because I love to learn about other people’s thoughts and world views 
it would probably be something like make others happy but don’t forget about your own well-being and try to not follow emotions too much because they often lead to bad descisions 
- thank goodness for financial aid and scholarships and a rich distant relative who didn’t have kids of her own and boo loans)
