I can’t tell you verbatim because I don’t speak German, but most translations are along the lines of “And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you.”
Folk philosophy isn’t something I’ve looked into myself, but that’s perhaps because I’ve mostly studied philosophy in academic environment. That said, I think that academic study as a whole is incredibly western-centric, although I’ve noticed a recent conscious effort to break away from that.
I can’t really say a lot about it. After the point of the ontological argument and ‘proving God’, Descartes argues from the perspective of Christian belief. I can’t agree with him on anything which assumes a deity, because I don’t believe in one.
Basically, it was studying theology! I was raised religious, and remained so for a very long time. I was always very questioning, but didn’t see a conflict between my faith and other aspects of the world until I started studying theology in an attempt to deepen my understanding of my own belief system. It just brought up too many questions that I couldn’t answer, and I became unhappy with accepting something for which there was such a lack of evidence.
Another important factor was looking at other religions. Because I went to a Catholic school, where the focus of religious education was on furthering the Catholic tradition rather than teaching about other traditions, it had never really occurred to me that there might be a conflict before. When I looked at other religions properly, I saw the appeal of those just as I did with Christianity and started to think ‘well they can’t all be right!’ And ultimately decided that, for me at least, I could only be comfortable in my religious views if I dropped my faith altogether.
If ignorance is bliss, why on earth would you want bliss?
To make a purpose. I don’t think there’s any meaning other than the one we make for ourselves.
Actually, I don’t. I don’t think that the answer to everything can be found in science (morality, for example, needs something more), but I do think that it goes much further than our senses. Just look at theoretical physics!
I think I’ve answered a similar question before; I essentially respect him as a writer far more than as a philosopher. His cave analogy is fabulous, and his style of writing is one which makes you think. I don’t agree with all of his ideas, but I still like him.
That is a really tough question! There are a lot of people I love that aren’t traditionally called philosopher, like Einstein. I have favourites within particular areas of philosophy, but as for an overall favourite… I’m going to go with Nietzsche. While I love his philosophies, my real reason for choosing him is that I love the way he expresses them. The image of the man in the market place came up in one of my lectures today and reminded me why I love Nietzsche so much!
Hey, thanks a lot! I wouldn’t worry about that, I genuinely don’t believe that anybody really has a full understanding of philosophy. There’s a lot that goes over my head, too! I have a list of promoted blogs which I made some time ago, but I don’t think it’ll be what you’re looking for. My recommendation would be to just read more. It’s almost always the solution when it comes to philosophy. Good luck!
I think that’s a very interesting perspective, and there’s definitely something in it!
University of Leeds, UK
