I am currently reading a book called, "Do You Think What You Think You Think?" by Julian Baggini. It is a Philosophy for Dumbies type of book that is very fun, easy and interesting to read. Each chapter has a exercise that basically takes your philosophical temperature for a different basic general philosophical topic.
If you are interested in the exercises, check out: www.doyouthinkwhatyouthink.com
I want to share part of chapter 6 with you:
"One difficulty with encouraging philosophical self-examination is that many people miss the point of it. You question the reasons for believing God exists and they assume you are trying to convince them he doesn't. You question our capacity for rational thought and they assume you are trying to say they are stupid. You question the rational basis for taboo and they assume you're trying to overthrow them all and campaign for a nation in which incest, pedophilia and desecrating graves are the norm."
"It would be pointless to think the unthinkable if you never allowed for the possibility that the unthinkable might sometimes be true."
"......the main purpose of probing our ideas and values ever deeper is not to change them but to understand them." (Baggini, 105-106)
I include this quote because it articulates perfectly how I feel about many of my posts. I have wanted to do this for a long time. I have longed for these types of conversations. This blog has provided that.
I wanted to post a personal Thank You to Comoprozac, Nathan IV, Jenn (dailyliving), douglas, beam, sven, katejack, anonymous, any other commentators and future commentators!!!!!!!!!!!
You have given me a forum to express these thoughts and I appreciate it! I wish there was an easier way to display recent comments to old blogs to keep some of those old conversations going. I still am interested in people's opinions regarding morality, taboo, religion and so on. But while I seek this, keep reading and commenting.
3 comments:
You're welcome. I'm glad you're taking off with this forum.
Sometimes I'll link a post back to a previous post to continue a discussion.
If you click on the title of an old blog post, it will take you to a page where there is only that one post and its corresponding comments. Then, copy the URL. When you start a new post, you can highlight some words and link those to this older post. this way you can continue an earlier conversation. Clear as mud?
One other thing you might want to try is using a reader. A reader can allow you to keep up with your favorite blogs or even news sources.
No problem Huey John. I enjoy posting a comment (as you can probably see). I honestly made myself sometimes write comments on this and daily living's blog because I need to learn how to type faster. I would type pages out of books sometimes just to practice. And I still suck haha. That book does sound pretty sweet and I'll admit it feels a little over my head right now but I get the gist of what your saying in that last quote - "To understand the thoughts and ideas." I'll keep commenting.
Thanks Zac, I need to figure that stuff out. I appreciate it and will use it.
Nathan, I'm glad this is helping your effort to type better. Keep bringing it! All of this stuff is over my head as wel. I have to reread those pages 3 and 4 times sometimes before I get it and even then I just move on hoping I got it right.
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