80% of People Quietly Despise Their Lives

Re:80% of People Quietly Despise Their Lives by akavi on Monday September 12, 2011 @08:30AM (#2986940)

Can somebody explain to me why we allow philosophers to make explicitly positive claims about the mind and psychology without empirical evidence, when were they to do the same thing with regards to, say physics (claiming perhaps that "the sun has a will to orbit the earth"), we'd rightly reject them for lack of proof?

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Re:80% of People Quietly Despise Their Lives by telemachos on Monday September 12, 2011 @09:15AM (#2987118)

Well, first, there might be some things about human psychology that we can figure out a priori. Notice I said "might". I don't think it's obvious that we should rule out the possibility, at the very least.

More generally, it's just not true that all scientific work (including physics) is done completely by means of empirical research. See Wikipedia's entry on "Thought experiment" for some good cases[1].

I'm not arguing for or against this particular bit of Nietzsche, but I think HN sometimes overvalues empirical or statistical study above all else.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought_experiment

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Re:80% of People Quietly Despise Their Lives by onemoreact on Monday September 12, 2011 @11:20AM (#2987575)

That Wiki link needs to be editied. EX:

consequences:In terms of their theoretical consequences, thought experiments generally:

challenge (or even refute) a prevailing theory, often involving the device known as reductio ad absurdum,

Hmm, you could replace device with logical falicy but then it does not say what they thought it did...

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Re:80% of People Quietly Despise Their Lives by BoppreH on Monday September 12, 2011 @12:05PM (#2987775)

Reductio ad absurdum is not necessarily a fallacy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reductio_ad_absurdum

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Re:80% of People Quietly Despise Their Lives by joshklein on Monday September 12, 2011 @12:26PM (#2987844)

There are different disciplines within the field of philosophy. The scientifically-minded philosopher might be interested in Metaphysics & Epistomology, or roughly, "what we know and how we know it". A standard approach in these fields is to address the Skeptic; someone who logically disagrees with the fundamental assumptions of the philosopher. This is where you get someone like Descartes writing "I think therefore I am" as a starting point for further arguments.

Other disciplines are less concerned with Truth (big "T") so much as they're focused on practical lessons on how to live life.

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Re:80% of People Quietly Despise Their Lives by mattgreenrocks on Tuesday September 13, 2011 @12:21AM (#2989929)

Yeah, it's almost like there are truths that aren't empirically verifiable!

Oops, I forgot: reductionism is the modern dogma. Carry on.

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Re:80% of People Quietly Despise Their Lives by mynameishere on Monday September 12, 2011 @12:16PM (#2987821)

No answer you get to this will possibly contain empirical evidence or any scientific rigor, and yet you asked it hoping for information. Philosophy isn't science. It's not much more than unusually thoughtful literature. But that's still useful sometimes.

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Re:80% of People Quietly Despise Their Lives by Hisoka on Monday September 12, 2011 @09:26AM (#2987152)

Just ask yourself if it's true for you. If so, it's highly likely it's true for the general population.

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Re:80% of People Quietly Despise Their Lives by jpdoctor on Monday September 12, 2011 @09:56AM (#2987274)

> If so, it's highly likely it's true for the general population.

I'm like me, therefore everybody is like me?

If true, that should scare the bejesus out of all of you.

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Re:80% of People Quietly Despise Their Lives by sliverstorm on Monday September 12, 2011 @01:18PM (#2988054)

I suspect your parent was simply mocking philosophers.

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