Critique My Philosophy of Life?

[Philosofer123]

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 have just verified that Ctrl-C does, in fact, work on my Google Doc. If I can find a way to make copying and pasting easier, I will do so.

[JimC]

The world is full of disabled functions...

[Hermit]

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 have just verified that Ctrl-C does, in fact, work on my Google Doc. If I can find a way to make copying and pasting easier, I will do so.

Of course it works for you. It's your account. For everybody else it doesn't because they don't log into your account with your password.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

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 have just verified that Ctrl-C does, in fact, work on my Google Doc. If I can find a way to make copying and pasting easier, I will do so.

It may work for you but not for others. You will have different permissions, as the creator of the doc. Has anyone else tried this?

[JimC]

Perhaps your philosophy of life should include a little more tech-savvy?

(actually, I can't fucking talk, I have vast gaps in my tech-savvy...)

[Philosofer123]

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 have just verified that Ctrl-C does, in fact, work on my Google Doc. If I can find a way to make copying and pasting easier, I will do so.

Of course it works for you. It's your account. For everybody else it doesn't because they don't log into your account with your password.

No, I accessed the document outside of my account, and successfully used Ctrl-C.

I am afraid that I cannot help you further.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

I am afraid that I cannot help you further.

I guess I will have to be philosophical about this in that case.

[FBM]

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!

I read through it and found quite a bit, practically everything, agreeable. After reading a bit, I wasn't surprised to find references to Epicurus, the Buddha and CBT. It looks like a fairly robust and comprehensive approach. It would be a bit presumptuous for me to suggest any constructive criticism, but since that's what you're looking for, I'll try.

There seems to be a strong emphasis on reason over emotion. I'm wondering if that is actually in line with life as it is experienced.

Also, it is heavily dependent on the phrase, "I believe..." Seeing as how your stated purpose is to live well, and that you acknowledge how important peace of mind is in success of that sort, I would suggest that you have a look at Pyrrhonism, if you haven't already. RebeccaSmick and I had a very interesting and productive (for me) discussion about it a few years ago: http://rationalia.com/forum/viewtopic.p ... 45#p374692

[Philosofer123]

I read through it and found quite a bit, practically everything, agreeable. After reading a bit, I wasn't surprised to find references to Epicurus, the Buddha and CBT. It looks like a fairly robust and comprehensive approach. It would be a bit presumptuous for me to suggest any constructive criticism, but since that's what you're looking for, I'll try.

There seems to be a strong emphasis on reason over emotion. I'm wondering if that is actually in line with life as it is experienced.

Also, it is heavily dependent on the phrase, "I believe..." Seeing as how your stated purpose is to live well, and that you acknowledge how important peace of mind is in success of that sort, I would suggest that you have a look at Pyrrhonism, if you haven't already. RebeccaSmick and I had a very interesting and productive (for me) discussion about it a few years ago: http://rationalia.com/forum/viewtopic.p ... 45#p374692

Thank you for reading and commenting, FBM.

Yes, many of the techniques in the document for eliminating negative emotions are cognitive in nature. I have found these techniques to be effective in practice. If you are aware of other types of techniques, please do share.

I am familiar with Pyrrhonism, and I have read Outlines of Skepticism by Sextus Empiricus. My problem with Pyrrhonism is its dogmatic insistence that knowledge is impossible, which is the foundation for its practitioners' complete suspension of belief. I am more optimistic about the prospects for knowledge, and feel comfortable with the beliefs that are stated and supported in my document. Fortunately, I find my beliefs to be helpful in eliminating negative emotions, as discussed on page 6.

[pErvinalia]

This sounds like the kind of thing I need to read. I'm a moral relativist / existentialist / sometimes-nihilist. But my negative emotions mean I won't be able to get through the document..

[FBM]

I read through it and found quite a bit, practically everything, agreeable. After reading a bit, I wasn't surprised to find references to Epicurus, the Buddha and CBT. It looks like a fairly robust and comprehensive approach. It would be a bit presumptuous for me to suggest any constructive criticism, but since that's what you're looking for, I'll try.

There seems to be a strong emphasis on reason over emotion. I'm wondering if that is actually in line with life as it is experienced.

Also, it is heavily dependent on the phrase, "I believe..." Seeing as how your stated purpose is to live well, and that you acknowledge how important peace of mind is in success of that sort, I would suggest that you have a look at Pyrrhonism, if you haven't already. RebeccaSmick and I had a very interesting and productive (for me) discussion about it a few years ago: http://rationalia.com/forum/viewtopic.p ... 45#p374692

Thank you for reading and commenting, FBM.

Yes, many of the techniques in the document for eliminating negative emotions are cognitive in nature. I have found these techniques to be effective in practice. If you are aware of other types of techniques, please do share.

No sweat. I find it very interesting. Since you mentioned meditation, I'm wondering what sort you either practice or recommend. There are various practices and objects of meditation. I've found meditating on the inevitability of death to be very helpful, for example.

I am familiar with Pyrrhonism, and I have read Outlines of Skepticism by Sextus Empiricus. My problem with Pyrrhonism is its dogmatic insistence that knowledge is impossible, which is the foundation for its practitioners' complete suspension of belief. I am more optimistic about the prospects for knowledge, and feel comfortable with the beliefs that are stated and supported in my document. Fortunately, I find my beliefs to be helpful in eliminating negative emotions, as discussed on page 6.

I'm not sure how you could read Outlines of Skepticism and come away with the idea that Pyrrhonism claims to know that knowledge is impossible. That's one of the main issues that they would criticize the dogmatic Skeptics about. I gathered quite clearly that the hypothetical Pyrrhonist would suspend judgment on this point in particular.

[Tero]

What meaning does "I believe" have to anyone but you?

[JacksSmirkingRevenge]

Have you tried wanking?

[FBM]

What meaning does "I believe" have to anyone but you?

Well, that's the problem of other minds. I can only infer from repeated patterns of syntax that another mind might mean something similar to what I mean when I use the words. But, of course, I can't be sure of that. I think Sextus Empiricus (last known Pyrrhonist) addressed that question directly, leaving it unanswered except for an elaboration of the dilemma.

[laklak]

Some people sit and think. I drink.