If you want to study philosophy, find some other people who feel the same way, and make sure you’re well away from authority figures of any kind. Learning is fragile and too much contact with a social hierarchy can kill it.
I’m not taking a philosophy class, but one that has many philosophers in it, and I do think there’s value to them. Just because you take the time to learn about older thought traditions doesn’t mean you have to agree with them-it just makes you more aware of what’s out there. The idea that learning about the history of modern thought is pointless- or worse, some sort of mental sellout- strikes me as a sad sort of willful ignorance.
Or, as Chesterton put it, the artist loves his limitations because that it was makes his perticular section of art what it is. “The essance of a painting is in the frame.”
Take enough of them and philosophy class is extremely useful. People used to sit around and spend all their spare time building theories as close to logically sound as possible. The trick is not getting lost in words used but focus on the idea behind the words.
The chances of you developing the most sound philosophical paradigm is excruciatingly slim compared to all other methods of thought ever developed by others. It’s not impossible, but does demand a very high view of one’s self.
I was innocently clicking through a bunch of old comics, minding my own business, and was suddenly hit by a gigantic allegorical brick of literal profundity. This comic is change-your-life kind of thoughtful.
March 18, 2009
One day maybe I’ll study interesting things like this in my philosophy class. :)
May 11, 2009
a philosophy class is an unlikely place for studying interesting things, philosophy among them.
you can study philosophy almost anywhere, but in philosophy class it will be especially difficult.
August 8, 2009
If you want to study philosophy, find some other people who feel the same way, and make sure you’re well away from authority figures of any kind. Learning is fragile and too much contact with a social hierarchy can kill it.
October 2, 2009
Perhaps you should study Cat and Girl, Genny.
That’s more philosophical than your silly classes.
October 4, 2009
I’m not taking a philosophy class, but one that has many philosophers in it, and I do think there’s value to them. Just because you take the time to learn about older thought traditions doesn’t mean you have to agree with them-it just makes you more aware of what’s out there. The idea that learning about the history of modern thought is pointless- or worse, some sort of mental sellout- strikes me as a sad sort of willful ignorance.
December 18, 2009
kiwi, i love you.
philosophy, i love you too.
/philosophy major rant
March 5, 2010
Or, as Chesterton put it, the artist loves his limitations because that it was makes his perticular section of art what it is. “The essance of a painting is in the frame.”
March 11, 2010
This has got to be one of my favorite Cat & Girl strips. So profound!
But maybe I’m just saying that because I saw it posted on a teacher’s door once, and it was thus my first Cat & Girl strip.
January 25, 2011
Take enough of them and philosophy class is extremely useful. People used to sit around and spend all their spare time building theories as close to logically sound as possible. The trick is not getting lost in words used but focus on the idea behind the words.
The chances of you developing the most sound philosophical paradigm is excruciatingly slim compared to all other methods of thought ever developed by others. It’s not impossible, but does demand a very high view of one’s self.
September 19, 2013
Thinking outside the box gives you “Water World”?
February 13, 2015
I was innocently clicking through a bunch of old comics, minding my own business, and was suddenly hit by a gigantic allegorical brick of literal profundity. This comic is change-your-life kind of thoughtful.