Critique My Philosophy of Life?

Philosofer123
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Critique My Philosophy of Life?

Post by Philosofer123 » Fri Mar 07, 2014 7:11 pm

Over the past few years, I have formulated my philosophy of life, a 13-page document that may be found at either of the following links:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0Byh6JnT ... sp=sharing

http://www.scribd.com/doc/183418623/My- ... hy-of-Life

In the first half of the document, I present and defend the following positions: atheism, afterlife skepticism, free will impossibilism, moral skepticism, existential skepticism and negative hedonism. The second half of the document is devoted to ways to achieve and maintain peace of mind.

I have found the entire exercise to be very beneficial personally, and I hope that you will benefit from reading the document.

I am posting my philosophy to solicit feedback so that it may be improved. I welcome any constructive criticism that you may have.

Enjoy!

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Re: Critique My Philosophy of Life?

Post by PsychoSerenity » Fri Mar 07, 2014 8:45 pm

Welcome Philosofer! Interesting first post...

I've had a glance at your document and I'll probably read more if I've got the time.

One thing I would tend to disagree with is your moral and existential skepticism, but I'm not exactly on firm ground there yet so I'm more than open to being persuaded. As far as moral relativism goes, I tend to see it as an important stepping stone but not the end of the line. I'd take a position similar to Sam Harris's "moral landscape" though I don't think he argues it quite right.

Look forward to see you expanding on your thoughts though. :tup:
[Disclaimer - if this is comes across like I think I know what I'm talking about, I want to make it clear that I don't. I'm just trying to get my thoughts down]

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Re: Critique My Philosophy of Life?

Post by Philosofer123 » Fri Mar 07, 2014 9:07 pm

PsychoSerenity wrote:Welcome Philosofer! Interesting first post...

I've had a glance at your document and I'll probably read more if I've got the time.

One thing I would tend to disagree with is your moral and existential skepticism, but I'm not exactly on firm ground there yet so I'm more than open to being persuaded. As far as moral relativism goes, I tend to see it as an important stepping stone but not the end of the line. I'd take a position similar to Sam Harris's "moral landscape" though I don't think he argues it quite right.

Look forward to see you expanding on your thoughts though. :tup:
Thanks for the warm welcome and for taking a look at my philosophy, PsychoSerenity. I look forward to any additional feedback you may have.

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Re: Critique My Philosophy of Life?

Post by Scott1328 » Fri Mar 07, 2014 9:08 pm

He did a drive by on Ratskep too

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Re: Critique My Philosophy of Life?

Post by PsychoSerenity » Fri Mar 07, 2014 9:28 pm

Scott1328 wrote:He did a drive by on Ratskep too
:hehe: I admit I had suspicions which were confirmed upon googling the thread title.


Not saying you must, Philosofer, but you may do better if you hang around and chat about other things as well. You know we have copious supplies of cheese and bacon here?
[Disclaimer - if this is comes across like I think I know what I'm talking about, I want to make it clear that I don't. I'm just trying to get my thoughts down]

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Re: Critique My Philosophy of Life?

Post by Philosofer123 » Fri Mar 07, 2014 9:50 pm

PsychoSerenity wrote:
Scott1328 wrote:He did a drive by on Ratskep too
:hehe: I admit I had suspicions which were confirmed upon googling the thread title.


Not saying you must, Philosofer, but you may do better if you hang around and chat about other things as well. You know we have copious supplies of cheese and bacon here?
Thank you for the suggestion. As you know, I have posted my philosophy on a number of philosophy discussion forums. My primary interest is to solicit feedback so that my philosophy may be improved, and I feel that posting the entire document on as many philosophy discussion forums as possible is the best way to serve that interest.

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Re: Critique My Philosophy of Life?

Post by Svartalf » Fri Mar 07, 2014 9:54 pm

in depth might be a better way than number of critiques, no?
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Re: Critique My Philosophy of Life?

Post by Philosofer123 » Fri Mar 07, 2014 9:59 pm

Svartalf wrote:in depth might be a better way than number of critiques, no?
Please feel free to critique any part of my philosophy in depth. I choose to post the entire document because it is an integrated whole.

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Re: Critique My Philosophy of Life?

Post by Svartalf » Fri Mar 07, 2014 10:36 pm

Actually, it's tl:dr for me, but I'm waiting for others to bring various pointss in or out of context to nitpick at it.
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Re: Critique My Philosophy of Life?

Post by Hermit » Fri Mar 07, 2014 11:27 pm

Comprehensive, well structured list of what you believe. I see not much more than that, but then, I have only read the first half of the document and skimmed through the second. Lot's of "I believe" in the first few pages. Maybe change the title from My Philosophy to something like Manifesto or Credo. Would look pretty good nailed to church doors.

I wouldn't mind going into a little more detail about what I think of your exposition, but you have copy/paste disabled. I tend to quote the bits relevant to my replies, and I will not spend the time typing them out by hand, so this brief comment is all you'll get from me for now.
I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops. - Stephen J. Gould

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Re: Critique My Philosophy of Life?

Post by Audley Strange » Sat Mar 08, 2014 12:17 am

Welcome.

Not going to read your stuff. I have no interest in reading "your philosophy" and have no idea why it matters to you that others help you revise it.
"What started as a legitimate effort by the townspeople of Salem to identify, capture and kill those who did Satan's bidding quickly deteriorated into a witch hunt" Army Man

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Re: Critique My Philosophy of Life?

Post by Philosofer123 » Sat Mar 08, 2014 12:40 am

Hermit wrote:Comprehensive, well structured list of what you believe. I see not much more than that, but then, I have only read the first half of the document and skimmed through the second. Lot's of "I believe" in the first few pages. Maybe change the title from My Philosophy to something like Manifesto or Credo. Would look pretty good nailed to church doors.

I wouldn't mind going into a little more detail about what I think of your exposition, but you have copy/paste disabled. I tend to quote the bits relevant to my replies, and I will not spend the time typing them out by hand, so this brief comment is all you'll get from me for now.
Use Ctrl-C to copy text. That is the only way of which I am aware to copy text from my Google Doc online.

I look forward to your comments.

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Re: Critique My Philosophy of Life?

Post by JimC » Sat Mar 08, 2014 12:50 am

A critique of my philosophy would probably involve:

* advice to drink less gin
* damning cardigans with faint praise
* a suggestion that centrist politics involves so much fence-sitting that sore balls are a real issue...

:sigh:
Nurse, where the fuck's my cardigan?
And my gin!

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Re: Critique My Philosophy of Life?

Post by Hermit » Sat Mar 08, 2014 12:53 am

Philosofer123 wrote:
Hermit wrote:Comprehensive, well structured list of what you believe. I see not much more than that, but then, I have only read the first half of the document and skimmed through the second. Lot's of "I believe" in the first few pages. Maybe change the title from My Philosophy to something like Manifesto or Credo. Would look pretty good nailed to church doors.

I wouldn't mind going into a little more detail about what I think of your exposition, but you have copy/paste disabled. I tend to quote the bits relevant to my replies, and I will not spend the time typing them out by hand, so this brief comment is all you'll get from me for now.
Use Ctrl-C to copy text. That is the only way of which I am aware to copy text from my Google Doc online.
You have copy/paste disabled, Philo. That's why neither the Copy function (it's greyed out for that reason) in the menu nor Ctrl-C (which is the same function, just using the keyboard instead of the mouse or touchpad) work.
I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops. - Stephen J. Gould

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Re: Critique My Philosophy of Life?

Post by Hermit » Sat Mar 08, 2014 12:57 am

JimC wrote:A critique of my philosophy would probably involve:

* advice to drink less gin
* damning cardigans with faint praise
* a suggestion that centrist politics involves so much fence-sitting that sore balls are a real issue...

:sigh:
Sit down, Jim, and shut up. Nobody asked you what a critique of your philosophy would probably be. :irate:
I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops. - Stephen J. Gould

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