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"A life without philosophy is a wasted life."

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 I am really interested in what people think about this one. If a person just lived, and did not ever think about the life he lived, does that mean he wasted his life? Even if he lived happily?

 Let's assume that there is a shepherd that only lives and doesn't think about life, and there is a scientist who is trying to understand the world and thinking deeply about life itself. It is true that the shepherd will have a very simpler understanding of life and will never be able to know what the scientist knows. But can't the same thing be said about the scientist as well? The scientist, by understanding life at a deeper level, has destroyed it's simplicity and he will never be able to live like the shepherd. Both lost something.
RS_master
  1. Live Poll

    "A life without philosophy is a wasted life." do you agree?

    12 votes
    1. yes
      33.33%
    2. no
      41.67%
    3. don't know
      25.00%



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  • piloteerpiloteer 1577 Pts   -  
    The shepherd wouldn't have lost anything, because the shepherd never had it to begin with. Also, the shepherd still could potentially gain any knowledge that the scientist has, but the scientist cannot unlearn what he already knows (barring some kind of brain injury, perhaps due to some kind of horrific fiery car crash caused by texting and driving).
  • Life without philosophy is life without nothing, because philosophy is a deep opinion that you think it can help you in my opinion. I think like this. I think every life is meaningful. Thanks!
  • OppolzerOppolzer 191 Pts   -  

    My view of a life without philosophy is a state of existing, but not living. It is with philosophy that we understand the meaning of our potential. A life without philosophy means a life without ever asking the question “why?” Without the logic and search for truth that is associated with philosophy, you are susceptible to being fed lies without knowing  ‘why.’ In this generation, if you have a mind that can think, it seems that philosophy is inevitable.

    The philosopher Plato said, “Without knowledge, we live in a cave.” Within the cave, we only see the shadows of real things, but not themselves. With philosophy, we have the chance to see real things outside the cave.

    PlaffelvohfenMayCaesar
  • funpersonfunperson 66 Pts   -  
    I think a life is fulfilled if the person living it has no regrets and the people around him believe he utilized his potential to the fullest. Doing that doesn't really require one to think about the concept of life at all. You could be a musician or a comedian, or a politician or a scientist, all of those could involve philosophy but it's not a requirement.
  • MayCaesarMayCaesar 5967 Pts   -  
    I somewhat disagree with the second paragraph. My professional career is that of a physicist, but at the same time I enjoy a lot of simple activities. There are many things you can enjoy when you know how to live in the moment and focus on small details.

    I can enjoy pretty much any activity one can think of. For example, yesterday I had a thrill washing dishes. When I started washing them, I noticed that the dishwashing soap made a lot of bubbles in water, and those bubbles were peculiarly distributed. I was curious how exactly they were distributed and why - so I intently observed them and tried to come up with some explanation of what I was seeing.
    I did not figure out many patterns and, overall, did not get any answers - but seemingly mundane process turned out to offer a lot of hidden enjoyment.

    Many people go about their life without noticing the world they are living in. But if you focus on the world around you, you can find a lot of things of interest no matter what your lifestyle is and no matter what the current activity you are doing is.

    In case of being a shepherd, I could look at the behavior of individual sheep and try to connect it to the behavior of the sheep as a group. It probably would get boring eventually, but then I would come up with some other subject to explore. And the opportunities are nearly limitless in this.
    Eventually I would want to change the environment, of course - but that is just me; I am a restless soul and I need to always be moving somewhere. I wouldn't say it is because my life lost its simplicity, but, rather, it is because my life was never supposed to be static.


    To summarize, simplicity and complexity are somewhat intertwined. Simple things put together result in complexity, and complex things put together often form simple groups.



  • PlaffelvohfenPlaffelvohfen 3985 Pts   -   edited February 2019
    From my absurdist point of view, Existence is futile and meaningless. So ultimately, a life cannot be "wasted" per se... That said, if meaning can be found or rather, applied, to anything, it can only be so within our limited space-time frames. Philosophy is, in my humble opinion, the best tool to experience the unfathomable depth of Existence and offers a cosmological palette of meanings that we can apply to things with which we fill the flow of our own fleeting existence. 

    A life without philosophy makes me feel sad...
    " Adversus absurdum, contumaciter ac ridens! "
  • wolfie100wolfie100 8 Pts   -  
    @AlexOland

    Both did not lose anything. 
    What makes human beings humans is the curiousity. 
    Not every person is wired in the same way. 
    Some people do not like to think at all. I have met those people and I become shocked to see why don't these people at least ponder for some time about the life they are living. 

    At night times, sometimes I look at the stars and question our whole existence. Who created us? Who others are there? What are we all doing here? 
    If GOD creates us, who created him? and many more questions. 
    But, there are people who care about the simplest things in life. 
    So, if he is getting satisfaction by living his life in whatever way he desires, then why does he need to think about philosophy and all that? 
    So, every human beings are wired differently. Look and research about 16 mbti personality types. There are many links which you can find on google. 

    Hope I have helped.

  • JoshBaileyJoshBailey 37 Pts   -  
    I find trying to answer this question to be particularly straining. Per its definition in historical context, philosophy is a science explaining nature, existence, and reality. So if one lives, one does actively participate in understanding their world. Even in the example given, both the shepherd and the scientist had a self-explanation of their existence. Regardless of the amount of time dedicated to trying to understand their lives, they had an understanding of it. This understanding could be described as their own personal philosophy. I abstained from voting because the question is moot within this argument. One cannot live a sentient life without their own personal philosophy, and as such, the statement is a contradiction. 
  • RS_masterRS_master 400 Pts   -  
    Say you have 1 life. In that life what is the point? Soon Earth will either be swallowed by the sun or the Sagittarius A* (our black hole). We are only humans and we might know a lot but sooner or later we will die out. What is the point if we live for about 80 years.
    On the contrary some say our sole lives forever and we might get another life as an alien. Then another life being an alien then a human... e.t.c In that case you probably won`t miss anything.
    Some say our sole goes to heaven/hell forever were you can do anything at all and there is a point like the previous scenario.
    
    As a whole we do not know which won of these multiple scenarios is correct.
    
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