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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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Ah I’m sorry to hear that’s been your experience, alas there are students (and more rarely, but not never) academic philosophers who behave that way. I tend to see it as a sign of insecurity, they are worried about staking their own claim, and want to at least appear learned...

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... I think philosophy can be what you want, and often is.

@AlbertLEtranger

already recommended getting into the philosophy community here and the SEP plato.stanford.edu/index.html as a resource. I’d second that. I’d add that Philosophy Compass is good too onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/174799 ...

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I'm gonna ask you to do more explaining in this twitter format, if that's ok? The thing I like is something like "searching for consistency," actively, and I don't really see why a lot of philosophy history is necessary for that. What is the point of philosophy, to you?

6:57 AM · Oct 18, 2019

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I think philosophy is a pretty heterogeneous field, but personally I hope it’ll help me clarify and evaluate principles that I can use to help me live or carry out tasks better. I work in philosophy of science, so often it’s scientific concepts in particular I’m interested in.

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I see philosophy not just as a way of critically examining both the world and the way I look at the world, but also as a source of valuable insights that can, as Liam says, be used in more in my day-to-day setting.