Just me or is philosophy actually a complete shitshow? When I was younger I really wanted to major in philosophy because I thought it was "learning to think real good about abstract stuff", but eventually found out it was "quoting other famous people's stuff at each other"
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As much as I shit on the rationalist community, this is a big part of why I love them - on a whole, they're a level of well-read and nerdy and *don't* pull the philosopher namedropping card. It's glorious.
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Try to get them to elaborate on said person's ideas. If they can't, and they only back quotes up with other quotes, then you have your answer.
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I think it’s largely just an appeal to authority.
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I think considering most knowledge is built upon previous knowledge, this isn’t surprising nor should it be criticized? I don’t know. Also philosophy is the oldest “science” so it shouldn’t be surprising that someone already said it, and said it better.
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This doesn't seem to explain why, when I ask 'why is the sky blue?', the standard physicist answer isn't to name-drop five different scientists, but is instead to drill down on relevant facts. More relevant is presumably that philosophers have converged a lot less on consensus.
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The "serious academic (or not) study" of anything lends itself to two archetypes; those content in showing they've read & perhaps ~understand the material & those who strive to create; though most "creators" abide by the 10% rule & the former even more so in accurate recall.
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This is why calling something "derivative" is both a high compliment & low brow insult. The notion that "building on previous ideas" is somehow unoriginal and thus less-than the ideas they built on as a rule is ridiculous. That's how growth works.
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I think what you’re talking about can happen in many fields - it’s the Zen concept of “beginner’s mind”: "In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert's mind there are few." If we’re overstudied we can become rigid and unoriginal in our thinking.
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There are ways to study lots and also maintain beginners mind, but it’s challenging
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I think it's rarely jiu-jitsu. Usually some mix of: (a) 'I have positive affect for author X, like if I were really into Batman comics and loved chances to bring it up'; (b) intelligence signaling; (c) academic norms where source-citing rewards the source and eases fact-checking.
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