Poll of the Day > Why does it feel like philosophy is both the most and least important thing?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I mean, philosophy provides very little practical benefit on its own... but it's also the backbone of any serious discussion about anything.

I see it both ways and it's confusing

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Can you give an example? Maybe philosophy is too broad of a subject. There are different branches of philosophy. Logic for one has practical uses. Where as ethics seems more hypothetical.

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All the useful elements of philosophy have been drawn out and labeled as math and science

Everything that remains is basically unimportant

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SKARDAVNELNATE posted...

Can you give an example?

Well, an example I'm tending to on r/debatereligion; some people argue that there doesn't need to be evidence for gods, that it's a philosophical issue... and I ain't having any of that, they're being weaksauce

But then someone will come along and be like 'should people pretend to believe in a god for the social benefits' and that's a compelling question that requires analysis.

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If god/s are about belief, then the actual existence of god is irrelevant, since the belief in the god itself is what is important and alters the way humanity acts.

So therefore, do you even need to believe in god, to believe in the importance of society believing in a god and following the religion surrounding the god? Your lack of belief in the god, doesn't invalidate the fact that many believe, and alter their actions based on that belief, and therefore, you believing in a "religion" surrounding a god is just far more important than the belief in the god itself.

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Lokarin posted...

some people argue that there doesn't need to be evidence for gods

That depends on the gods. The Greek and Romans were gods of something. Usually some natural phenomenon that there wasn't another explanation for. As such the phenomenon itself was the evidence for their existence. For the biblical God proof is sometimes antithetical and faith takes its place.

This touches on psychology and sociology. It demonstrates something about the limit on effort people will put forth and what people will except when that limit is reached. It shows how today might have accepted something that will be seen as false in the future.

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No, it's just the least important thing. Philosophy is something you adopt and think about after basic needs are covered. It can never rank among the most important things. At best, it can be seen as a way to help improve how people live their lives, but there are already a lot of other things.


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philosophy has no right answers, only wrong answers (which is fine that's just what it is). as soon as it has right answers it starts being something else, like science.

and it's still very useful despite having no right answers, since it does definitely find and identify wrong answers. and some answers are less blatantly wrong than others, and some while insufficient are still decently applicable and useable.

Clench281 posted...

Everything that remains is basically unimportant

not unimportant, just unanswered for the time being, but still under discussion.

can we build fully conscious AIs is still a philosophical question for the time being, since it doesn't seem like everything we know about the brain and AIs should be able to result in something like consciousness. how is that even possible? how can there possibly be conscious experience from regular matter that's just arranged the right way? what is going on there that we're missing?

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