How will you celebrate?
November 21, 2013 9:20 AM   Subscribe

Today is World Philosophy Day. Celebrate by reading the Euthyphro, Al Jazeera's Defense of Philosophy, or the first chapter of the new book Why We Argue? (And How We Should.) But don't just sit there interpreting the world! The point is to change it, so maybe spend some time advocating for early-childhood philosophy education.
posted by anotherpanacea (34 comments total) 22 users marked this as a favorite
 
Well it is about time for people to recognize philosophy!
posted by grubi at 9:33 AM on November 21, 2013


If I had known about this earlier I would have celebrated by paying tribute to Descartes and staying in bed until noon.
posted by needled at 9:36 AM on November 21, 2013 [4 favorites]


Today is World Philosophy Day

Or is it?
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 9:47 AM on November 21, 2013 [7 favorites]


Still reading Kant here....I made it all the way through the Transcendental Analytic....it turns out to read really well on the Kindle. You can take it a screenful at a time, until you can't take another screenful. Then it saves your place.
posted by thelonius at 9:50 AM on November 21, 2013 [3 favorites]


If I had known about this earlier I would have celebrated by paying tribute to Descartes and staying in bed until noon.

I personally filled a cup with sugar and poured coffee over it, as I myself am more of a Kierkegaard guy.

Also, it's Voltaire's birthday, and I can't help but think that somehow he's trolling us with this from the grave.
posted by Lutoslawski at 9:53 AM on November 21, 2013 [1 favorite]


I phoned in to work to say that I couldn't make it because all motion is impossible. My boss is apparently more of a Heraclitus man, he was pretty convinced I was fired.
posted by Hoopo at 10:08 AM on November 21, 2013 [10 favorites]


I plan on not speaking at work all day, unless someone brings up something about the world being a totality of facts.
posted by Lutoslawski at 10:32 AM on November 21, 2013 [1 favorite]


Ah... Euthyphro was the second philosophical dilemma I "self-discovered" (the first being Pascal's Wager).

It was the Euthyphro dilemma that really got me to think long and hard about whether I really believed in a deity... I remember learning that it had a name when I first was online and talked to this girl who was going to Wake-Forest for Theological Studies. She was probably one of the coolest Christians I knew. Opened my mind up to understanding more about Catholicism from my sheltered Fundi Protestant upbringing.

But yeah, I remember asking my youth pastor this, and his response at the time was "well, if God declared torture good, then it must be good because God declared it thus"... I don't expect a master class in theology from a youth pastor from the midwest, but ... would have been nice to see a bit more and have more of a discussion on this issue.

Diogenes and Heraclitus are my two faves. I do like to entertain neo/techno-Platonism now and then.

YAY PHILOSOPHY!
posted by symbioid at 10:40 AM on November 21, 2013 [2 favorites]


The Guardian link about philosophy workshops for elementary school kids is great.
Studying philosophy cultivates doubt without helplessness, and confidence without hubris. I’ve watched kids evolve to be more rational, sceptical and open-minded, and I’ve seen them interact in more fair-minded and collaborative ways. As one 10-year-old said, “I’ve started to actually solve arguments and problems with philosophy. And it works better than violence or anything else.”
Hell yes. I want my kids to experience such a workshop.
posted by Sleeper at 10:40 AM on November 21, 2013 [4 favorites]


I don't think I've read the Euthyphro. I remember one my conclusions after reading the dialogues being that while he probably shouldn't have been put to death for it, Socrates was kind of an obnoxious dick who I would not particularly want to hang around with.
posted by Hoopo at 11:08 AM on November 21, 2013 [1 favorite]


Does anyone know of a US foundation or non-profit that supports teaching or fostering philosophical thinking in non-school settings (adults, prisons, web site courses, anything)?

I found the Squire Family Foundation, which promotes teaching philosophy in elementary or secondary schools. However, I'm particularly interested in supporting this outside of schools. Not only do schools seem a little overscheduled, but I think people should have a chance to learn about philosophy even after they're grown up.
posted by amtho at 11:47 AM on November 21, 2013


By singing "The Philosophers' Drinking Song."

A good friend of mine recently accepted a dream job on the faculty of a university in Australia. I couldn't believe how few people got my jokes about his having to change his name to Bruce.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 12:00 PM on November 21, 2013 [5 favorites]


Diogenes and Heraclitus are my two faves

Diogenes the Cynic is, I believe, best enjoyed from a distance.
posted by thelonius at 12:13 PM on November 21, 2013 [1 favorite]




I was going to say that because it's not at all proven that this post isn't a figment of my imagination, I wouldn't be doing anything special to observe a day that may or may not actually be A Thing...

but then the links to some old faves like the Philosopher's Drinking Song and the Philosophy Match demonstrated clearly that the outside world does indeed exist, cos I couildn't think up such cool stuph on my own.

G'day, Bruce.
posted by Artful Codger at 12:55 PM on November 21, 2013 [2 favorites]


In honor of the day I've covered a photo hanging on my wall - a famous one of Marlene Dietrich, taken by photographer Horst Paul Albert Bohrmann - with a painting of Rene Descartes...thus putting Descartes before the Horst.
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:01 PM on November 21, 2013 [3 favorites]


that the outside world does indeed exist

In honor of this day now for the rest of the day I will just stare at one hand and then the other.
posted by Lutoslawski at 1:01 PM on November 21, 2013 [1 favorite]


in honor of this day I will recall vividly the horror and disgust I felt in graduate level philosophy classes, where people claim to care about liberty and justice but don't do anything about it besides writing 20 page assaults on other hypocrites.
posted by serif at 1:08 PM on November 21, 2013


By singing "The Philosophers' Drinking Song." yt

Pardon me, but it's the Bruces' Philosophers Song.
posted by grubi at 1:11 PM on November 21, 2013 [1 favorite]


Did any other former philosophy students think back, shudder, and think, "Never again."
posted by One Hand Slowclapping at 1:20 PM on November 21, 2013 [1 favorite]


needled: "If I had known about this earlier I would have celebrated by paying tribute to Descartes and staying in bed until noon."

I am sad that this comment did not get more favorites because I literally LOLed.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 1:33 PM on November 21, 2013


Nobody would decide the value of books by rating professors of literature, and no-one should value philosophy by their view of the noodlings of academics in philosophy departments.
posted by Segundus at 1:36 PM on November 21, 2013


Does anyone know of a US foundation or non-profit that supports teaching or fostering philosophical thinking in non-school settings (adults, prisons, web site courses, anything)?

Self-link.
posted by anotherpanacea at 1:47 PM on November 21, 2013


I guess it's civil that the Aljazeera article diplomatically suggests:

"we shall defend it existentially, that is, as an invitation to become thoughitful and critical members of a democratic society"

....but, but I sputter but, on Philosophy Day at least shouldn't there be some small consideration given for the Philosopher Kings?
posted by sammyo at 2:30 PM on November 21, 2013


Socrates was kind of an obnoxious dick

His mode of life was to wander around town, questioning luminaries from all walks of life, and showing that they had absolutely no idea what they were doing. Paraphrasing some book I read last year, this is an effective way to make enemies.
posted by thelonius at 2:50 PM on November 21, 2013 [1 favorite]


Die Emanzipation des Deutschen ist die Emanzipation des Menschen. Der Kopf dieser Emanzipation ist die Philosophie, ihr Herz das Proletariat. Die Philosophie kann sich nicht verwirklichen ohne die Aufhebung des Proletariats, das Proletariat kann sich nicht aufheben ohne die Verwirklichung der Philosophie.--Marx
posted by No Robots at 2:55 PM on November 21, 2013


Socrates was kind of an obnoxious dick

A lovely little thinker, but a bugger when he was pissed.
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:40 PM on November 21, 2013 [1 favorite]


Also, it depends what you mean by 'day'
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 3:46 PM on November 21, 2013


"Sokrates – der erste freie Mann" / Constantin Brunner.
posted by No Robots at 3:53 PM on November 21, 2013


Diogenes the Cynic is, I believe, best enjoyed from a distance.

Don't treat him like a dog.
posted by ersatz at 4:21 PM on November 21, 2013 [1 favorite]


"Philosophers have hitherto only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it." - Marx
posted by graymouser at 5:49 PM on November 21, 2013




Does anyone know of a US foundation or non-profit that supports teaching or fostering philosophical thinking in non-school settings (adults, prisons, web site courses, anything)?


School of Practical Philosophy
posted by sweetkid at 7:03 PM on November 21, 2013


His mode of life was to wander around town, questioning luminaries from all walks of life, and showing that they had absolutely no idea what they were doing. Paraphrasing some book I read last year, this is an effective way to make enemies.

It's hard to say what Socrates really did, but Socrates as written by Plato had a philosophy beyond "nobody knows anything". He had a particular view about the nature of reality and used questioning to teach it. The questioning method makes more sense if you consider that Plato/Socrates believed that all knowledge was a recognition or memory of forms that we knew before we were born.
posted by empath at 10:52 PM on November 21, 2013


Alas, World Philosophy Day right when my first semester of college-level philosophy classes end.

I used to find philosophy fascinating, but this semester killed it. Maybe I'm going about it the wrong way, but that's for AskMe. Now, off to convince myself again of some of the joys of philosophy with some @KimKierkegaard on twitter.
posted by undue influence at 9:03 AM on November 22, 2013


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