As my back hurts, I called in sick today
So I’m very tired of Hegel, so to break it up, I began
another book, “Philosophy, as a way of life” by Pierre Hadot.
As I read it, I came across a very interesting idea.
“Now we have a better understanding of atopia, the strangeness of the
philosopher in the human world. One does not know how to classify him,
for he is neither sage, nor a an like other men.”
It is this atopia, that I wish to write about.
The strangeness of the philosopher in the human world! What a concept.
Indeed, why should one even think about philosophy when there is money to
make or deals to make or to influence others, so to make money……….
But he is not a sage… and the sage in the Greek world was the highest form
of what a man could be. But the philosopher is not a “regular” man either.
How do we account for such a person? What can we do with a person who has
rejected the values of their society? This smacks of the highest crime in the modern
world, disobedience. What is wrong with someone whose chief goal isn’t making money?
I have rejected modern values as being nihilistic… the pursuit of money/profits
to the negation of people and their values is nihilistic.
But I am not a sage for I haven’t listed any alternative values to
substitute for our nihilistic modern values………
Instead I have done something different. I have engaged in
getting people to see their own possibilities. I have offered up
the ancient method of philosophy which is philosophy as a way of life.
The modern world sees philosophy as a outside of yourself understanding
of abstract idea’s that don’t have any meaning in one’s direct life…
Philosophy is an abstract discourse into several area’s of inquiries
that have no impact in one’s life. One might study Epistemology,
the philosophical study of knowledge, which dominated philosophy
for two centuries, from Descartes to Kant. One might study Metaphysics,
which is the branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of existence, of being.
Now one might study ethics, which is the study of moral values and rules.
One can study Logic which is the study of rationality and seeks the basis
upon which rational discourse if possible. Logic has dominated the philosophical
scene for over a 100 years and has lead to no great understanding of who we are
and what are our possibilities…We have political science which is the study
our political environment and its possibilities and we have Aesthetics which is
the study of beauty and taste and understanding the criteria of standards
we use to study and understand beauty. This understanding of Aesthetics
has pretty much fallen by the wayside in favor of other idea’s, mostly
logic.
In each of these is the abstract understanding of our lives… we can study
philosophy in terms of these abstract idea’s and still be terrible human beings,
because our study of philosophy is about an intellectual understanding of philosophy,
not a emotional or philosophy as a way of life… Philosophy done intellectually,
as it has been done in the modern age, engages the brain, but not how we live or
how we should engage in our lives… You can study philosophy and not have
it engage in any way, shape or form in your life. It is just an abstract study
that means nothing in our lives. We can study philosophy and commit crimes
like murder or torture or rape because the study of philosophy is not engaged
in who we are or how we should engage with the modern world.
Philosophy is an abstract study about an abstract subject which engages
in the world abstractly. When I proclaim one should, know thyself, it is
not about an abstract engagement with who you are as a person, I am Kropotkin
and I believe in……… No, it is about knowing who you are as a person, I am
Kropotkin, and I am not taking philosophy seriously because I can read the most
profound philosophical message and then go out and engage in the world
in a most superficial manner with no thought as to what is my responsibility
to become a better person, a more philosophical person. I can read the most
profound message and then lie, steal, cheat and yes, even murder because
the philosophy I read, is read superficial and doesn’t engage me on a personal
level…I don’t need to take philosophy seriously. I can read it the modern way
which is to say, it doesn’t involve me as a way of life. Philosophy is simply
another subject to study like knowing the declaration of independence
was written in 1776. It doesn’t affect or matter in my life in any way, shape or form
that the declaration was written in 1776. It is just a date which as no
meaning in my life. It doesn’t change or impact or involve me on any other level
outside of being information that I happen to know. My actions nor my behavior
will not be any different because I happen to know the year of the declaration
of independence and the same can be said about philosophy.
Descartes created the modern notion of the body/soul problem.
what does that actually mean to us as human beings is unimportant
because it is simply a fact to know, not to engage with or to
change one’s life, but simply just to have a fact and knowing that
fact changes nothing in my life and philosophy done right should
change and move and shake one into beliefs and actions that make
a person become more engage with their life.
Philosophy should become a way of life, not just facts to know……
Kropotkin