The Philosophical Man

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HumbleThinker's picture
The Philosophical Man

Philosophy (from Greek φιλοσοφία, philosophia, literally "love of wisdom") is the study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. The term was probably coined by Pythagoras (c. 570–495 BCE).

A philosopher is someone who practices philosophy, which involves rational inquiry into areas that are outside either theology or science.

Mankind has evolved brains that allow for higher cogitative ability than any other known species on the planet. Although human and animal brains share a lot of similar neurological properties, there have been studies pinpointing areas of uniqueness in the human brain. Animals are clearly able to think, love, solve problems, use tools, etc. But it is generally believed in the scientific community that the level to which an animal can perform these tasks is underwhelming when compared to humans. As far as we can determine, humans are the only animals capable of philosophy.

So human kind has evolved the capability of philosophizing, meaning it is important for our survival and propagation. Many topics in philosophy will forever remain non-physical. Concepts of the soul, social ethics, moral reasoning are examples of this. Socrates and other philosopher's have made arguments on what they think is true regarding these topics, but they can not be proven using any scientific method, and many remain debated to this day.

It appears to me, there is a general contradiction here. If every claim has to be empirically proven with physical evidence in order to believe it, then how do we address any of the non-physical concepts of life? Your personal viewpoint on all of these concepts literally change the way you see the world and interact with the physical space. How do you know what you believe is true? And doesn't the very idea that we have evolved the capability to philosophize suggest that we need to continue doing so? But if we run our live's believing only that which is physical and measurable, then what do we do with philosophical thought?

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toto974's picture
Hello,
HumbleThinker's picture
The definition of Physical is
sujandinesh22's picture
@OP
HumbleThinker's picture
"Not necessarily.
turning_left's picture
I don't see the problem here.
HumbleThinker's picture
"The soul is a concept humans
turning_left's picture
It was a sloppy claim. I can
Empedocles's picture
@Stone Jade
turning_left's picture
"The Bible 'soul' is the life
Empedocles's picture
@Stone Jade
toto974's picture
@Empedocles
Empedocles's picture
@Talyyn
toto974's picture
Ok thanks, is it what you
David Killens's picture
At the age of 70, Socrates
HumbleThinker's picture
"Philosophical thought can
David Killens's picture
"Do you believe there is
HumbleThinker's picture
"You appear to be tossing the
David Killens's picture
I was referring to philosophy
LogicFTW's picture
@HumbleThinker Original Post:
David Killens's picture
@HumbleThinker
HumbleThinker's picture
@David
CyberLN's picture
HT, the notion of superiority
HumbleThinker's picture
I hear ya Cyber, I do. Albert
CyberLN's picture
You’ll need to define
HumbleThinker's picture
Interesting. Is there a
CyberLN's picture
I’ll iterate: how are you
HumbleThinker's picture
Let’s go with the Merriem
Nyarlathotep's picture
Since you've suggested humans
CyberLN's picture
HT, really? Wealth, favor,
HumbleThinker's picture
Guys. Are you being honest?

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