The Purpose of the Forum

Connor, why would you say we are behind the curve?

"We" do you mean TOTJO, all jedi, or the human race?

Who is leading this "curve" for you to say we are behind? In your opinion, of course...

Let me tease you a bit, and say, "ooo, a few months? You probably are leading the pack"... Just kidding.. Its a good topic, thanks..

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First, things are going as they "must", as they are "able"...

But as V said, there is always room for improvement...

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You said;

But, a lot of us are coming up with arguments that have either led to dead ends or have been disproven by the greatest minds the world has ever known.

Have great minds never been wrong?

These great minds have built up the foundation upon which we build...

I didn't know that, Descartes, although credited, never actually said, "I think, therefore I am.".. This was a summation of his work.. According to what I read, although I do allow for more knowledge, :lol:...

I didn't even know who Descartes was, lol, till after joining TOTJO...

I'm here, like the rest of us, to get answers for myself, and help anyone I can....

So, by rehashing these arguments and discussions, with new dance partners, new perspectives are born... At least for me, hopefully for others.....

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Let's look at those great philosophical minds of the past...

Some lead to great scientific discoveries, to revelations of our world... About things off of our world, and we built on these discoveries....

But, they (the thinkers) were pretty lonely...

No one to bounce ideas off of and get feedback...

So, they, pretty much, were seen as crazy...

But we are less so (less lonely... thanks in large part to the internet), and collectively, are building "a great mind"...

If Socrates (first to pop to mind) was as great as credited, then what if he had a thinking buddy? Or 12 guys to spout his words too? Or a website's worth of armchair philosophers? Or, a community?

Our [insert number] of collective jedi minds are bringing a greater number of people to this point...

After all, two heads are better than one.. Three are better than two... Four.. You get it...

And, someone will find the key to the next step...

I think rather than being "behind a curve", we are all at a line, a fence, trying to figure out how to get to the other side...

Individually, some of us are behind the curve...

Collectively, we are the curve...

And we are not done...

We are building our density before the explosion....:lol:...

It may not happen in my/your/my grandkids lifetime, who knows...

Philosophical questions are perennial. They are not as much solved as discussed. That is why the same questions are asked again and again.

Philosophy is more a conversation and some conversations do not have an end or goal. Like a journey, value can be found in the going, and not only the destination.

If there were only one answer then philosophy as a conversation could then be thought of as efficient, but there is not one answer, so there is no need to apply the value of efficiency. Efficiency and progress are philosophical values and so are themselves subject to the conversation. If one is to value them over some other philosophical assumption then they should be defended. For example, "Efficiency is good because..." or, "Progress in philosophy is valuable because..."

Philosophy is the love of wisdom, and so this shared Jedi conversation, our Forum, is one form of the expression of this love.

If there is a particular point that a philosopher has made about a subject we are discussing, then I would suggest that you post it if you think it will help the discussion. Perhaps people talk about the same thing a lot of the time because actually these 'answers' aren't so universally known. Perhaps Jedi ask these questons more because we don't have a tendancy to assume that we have such answers in the first place.

Nietzsche, an influential philosopher by any standards, proclaimed that "God is dead" and for him and a close circle of academics this was true. But try telling that to the other 95% of people on the planet.

You may question the practical applicaton of philosophy, of which there is a lot beyond metaphysics, but there is certainly no one answer, nor should I hope that we ever provide only one answer to the enquiring mind.

Alan wrote: Philosophy is more a conversation and some conversations do not have an end or goal. Like a journey, value can be found in the going, and not only the destination.

I think a good example of this would be Plato, his writings were in conversational format (dialogues) even if they didn't represent actual conversations. His writings gave you both sides of the discussion.

Why talk to anyone about anything?

efficiency is not your way, because if that is true, you never ask, what you ask...
your way is not mine
your true is not mine.

one person, one individual, one life, one world, one way, just for that an each person
no way to have a true Philosophy answer for all of them.
this is why, there is no such real true answer.
A Philosophical answer can fulfill you, not me. I have my own true, life, way, different than yours.
there is no such thing as consensus, for many answers
this is why, there is no definitive answer.

this is not math
culture, age, religion, family, are factors that can change the perception of the same fact.
so easy, so efficient, i am not god, and I let the people BE. I don't have the true, and I like to hear what others say, to evaluate, that change me, mutate me, so many times in life, and hopefully keep happening, if someone reach a point, when someone think the true is only one, and definitive..... it is closed person, with a not really good perception of the world... maybe that person, live in a crystal globe


And " The Purpose of the Forum" maybe you need to read the FAQ?, intro? or the IP? to find the answer for the title,
and again, why you are in this forum? answer it..., maybe is the same for me.... maybe not

I hear ya.
Most of the time, I respond because I am interested in a response, I am interested in what others have to say...
Our ability to respond can be seen as efficient...
Responsibility....