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Being Philosophical 

 

What does it mean to be philosophical? 

     Philosophy is known as the love of wisdom. The term originates from Greek, 'Philo" the love of, and 'Sophia,' wisdom. Dictionary.com defines wisdom as "the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment" and "the soundness of an action or decision with regard to the application of experience, knowledge, and good judgment."

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     In Plato's dialogue The Apology, Socrates states, "an unreflected life is not worth living." (38a) In reflection, I may now ask myself, 'what are my terms?" In order to know what it is i am thinking or talking about, I must first have an awareness of what it is. Thus, reflection comes before everything else. 

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PRINCIPLE #1: REFLECTION

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Definitions

      As shown above, it is important to clarify our terms, meaning define them. In Plato's Academy, an inscription above the entrance stated, "Let no one who is not a geometer enter." At the time, those who practiced geometry were the mathematicians. Mathematicians always define their terms, Let X = (some number like 3). If we do not define our terms, we cannot solve problems, reach agreements or come to an understanding. 

     Let us begin being philosophical with the principle of defining our terms. 

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PRINCIPLE #2: DEFINE YOUR TERMS

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Academic vs Practical Philosophy 

     Academic philosophy is based in the history of conceptual analysis which focuses on the nature of definitions and the meaning of terms. This encompasses both analytic and continental philosophy. 

     Practical philosophy is focused on what we learned from the definition of wisdom from dictionary.com and other concepts within the history of philosophy found in Eudaimonia, existentialism, stoicism and others.

     The Philosophy Society is focused on developing our skills in applying practical philosophy. It is what is missing philosophically in an educational context, where all education has historically and contemporarily in philosophy has been and is academic. 

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 One can engage in wisdom on their own or with others. Being wise on our own would be the soundness in our judgments, decisions and actions. Being wise in a group, would similarly be the soundness of the group, their judgements, decisions and actions. 

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     For a society of philosophers to exist, they must understand what it means to be philosophical. Being philosophical has many components. Firstly, it is a mindset towards one’s beliefs and the beliefs of others.

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The Goal of Philosophizing

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Value of Understanding 

      The value of understanding is beyond our own belief and the belief of others. Through communicating, we can achieve a greater perspective and connect all information together. The understanding is how everything fits together, as Wilfrid Sellers states, "The aim of philosophy, abstractly formulated, is to understand how things in the broadest possible sense of the term hang together in the broadest possible sense of the term." (Science, Perception and Reality pp. 7)  

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Empathy: To See Another's Perspective

     To best understand others, empathy is required. This means that we make an effort to see from the other's perspective. To do this, listening to them is necessary. When we listen, we are paying attention to the structure of their belief system. Active listening will require some patience to 'hear out' the other person as they communicate. A person will believe one idea because of some other idea, something someone told them or they read, or experience they have had. It is important to have a full picture of what they see before we interject, disagree or comment on their perspective. 

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Disagreement

When others disagree with us, we make an effort to understand what the content of their disagreement is. 

     To show understanding, we can summarize the points or arguments of the other person. If we have accurately summarized their argument, they would agree that we have. Usually, a sound minded person will say, ‘yes, that is what I am saying’ and most often be thankful that you listened comprehensively to their views. If you did not understand, the inaccurate summary will show how far you got in your understanding of their views so that you can continue your dialogue from that point to reach a position of understanding. Once the other person acknowledges that you do comprehend what they are trying to communicate, then it is effective to discuss any issues you sense from that view through disagreement, confusion, or simple clarification of terms. 

     Sometimes an argument is based on evidence and we would need to follow certain scientific principles to determine the quality of that evidence. This takes training to determine what kind of evidence is factual and how it fits within an individual's belief system. At the very least, you and this person you are having a discussion with can engage in the evidence together, and come to agreements one step at a time. This may be a long process, but it is worth it if your goal is to be philosophical.

 

The Socratic Method 

     Being Socratic is another fundamental approach towards philosophy. This means that you do not make assumptions based on what the other person is saying. To engage socratically, would be to ask questions specifically based on the statements of the person you are having a discussion with. Not imposing our own judgments on the views of others is essential to understand what the other person is trying to communicate. 

     This means that we have to transcend our own personal view, at least momentarily, to empathize or see things from the perspective of the other person. From an empathetic viewpoint, we can ask questions to clarify the meaning of specific words or phrases that are used in their overall argument or belief system. For example, if someone says, “All those grubbers are eating my chips!” and you want to engage Socratically, you could ask, “what do you mean by ‘grubber?’ If the person says, ‘Oh, that is what I’ve always called the squirrels since I was a kid and when I go to the bathroom and leave my snacks on the table outside, the squirrels eat them while I am gone.” Our effort to Socratically clarify the meaning of an unknown term has now allowed us to understand what the meaning of the statement the person is communicating. 

     This method applies not only to ambiguous terms, but also to terms that are part of our everyday language. Sometimes a person will be using a word or term differently than the way that you use or understand it. If you clarify, instead of imposing your own judgment and understanding, then you will have a better sense of the meaning of the other person’s expression. 

 

Meaning and Critical Thinking

     Meaning is essential to being philosophical. To be philosophical is to make an effort to understand the meaning of words, terms and even behaviour. We communicate non-verbally and there is a large element of psychology, the study of human behaviour, in being philosophical.

     To understand meaning there are two fundamental questions we can ask as philosophers: 

          1) What do you mean? and

          2) Why did you say it? 

          (Dr. Richard Berg, 2006-7 Lakehead Lectures) 

When we approach a discussion with an attempt to clarify the meaning of a person’s expression, we will have a better understanding of what they mean. In this context, we are explicitly asking them about the meaning of their statement. This is an effort for them to provide more context to the statement so that we can draw upon more information to understand its value within an overall network of beliefs or statements. 

     If we can understand how a specific belief fits within an individual's network of beliefs or belief matrix, then we will have a better sense of the function of that specific statement within the individual's overall worldview. 

Your belief matrix is all of the beliefs that you hold. These beliefs can be coherent, incoherent, logically knit together or not. Many of our beliefs may have emerged without our knowing because of childhood socialization and influences. Many beliefs can also be in place because they hold emotional value and have not yet been formulated into a reasonable manner. 

     This is one of the fundamental, self-interested, reasons we learn critical thinking: the evaluation and assessment of beliefs, claims, arguments and evidence. We learn critical thinking so that we can gain autonomy and a choice over the beliefs we have. If you have never examined the beliefs you hold, how do you know that they are really good for you or even make sense? 

     To apply critical thinking to our beliefs means that we are willing to open ourselves up to scrutiny. We are allowing ourselves and others to examine our beliefs and determine how reasonable they are. Learning and applying the skill of critical thinking is fundamentally tied to being philosophical. If a person does not critically think, we could say that they are not a philosopher. 

     There are several tools of critical thinking that help us in our evaluations like formal logic, an awareness of logical fallacies and even understanding our cognitive biases and heuristics. Learning not only what these tools of critical thinking are, which would be knowledge, but how to apply them, wisdom, is fundamental to being philosophical. If you want to be a philosopher, it requires you to understand the critical thinking method and learn to apply it to every and all beliefs that you and others have. It is a filter that you use to make sense of the world and yourself. 

     The second question, “Why did you say it?,” is also very important to our understanding of the meaning of others. This is because sometimes the person may not have the words to express the thought or fragment of idea that they feel. So, you can probe into what their motivation for saying such a statement is. If there is a sense of trust within your dialogue, we hope that both parties are being honest. This is not always the case and our previous critical thinking skills can help us in determining if what one says really makes sense. Sometimes it will seem incoherent for them to say X when they did it because of Y. Then we can resort back to our socratic approach and clarify the confusion. 

     People who are manipulative, usually psychopaths, sociopaths and narcissists, will attempt to deceive others from their true motivations. In these contexts, the philosopher can still sort through the confusion by challenging the actions, behaviour and statements that the person communicates. Soon, contradictions in behaviour and statements will arise and it is up to you, the philosopher, to respectfully inquire why what is being said is contradictory or incoherent. The people who suffer from the pathology I mentioned above will soon realize that they cannot manipulate you because of the philosophical method that you are applying in conversation with them. 

     There is one other main reason why someone may not tell you the truth: they may not feel comfortable with you. If you attack them with verbal assaults through, for example an ad hominem, attacking someone’s character instead of understanding their argument, they can feel that you are being malicious and not feel safe divulging vulnerable information. This is why it is essential for philosophers to approach our dialogues with respect and compassion. 

     If we do not tell the truth, no real meaning can be achieved. To do this we must treat the other person with respect and dignity. It is not right to misrepresent the position of the other person so that we can illegitimately ‘win’ the argument. That is unfair and not philosophical. It is also evidence of two fallacies: the straw man and red herring. 

     The straw man is when we build up an incorrect position of the other person that is founded upon a false premise or misinterpretation. Once the other person identifies that you have created a false image of what they are saying, your misunderstanding of their point burns up like a ‘straw man.’ The red herring fallacy occurs when we create an argument that is irrelevant to the point that the person is trying to make, as if we are chasing a red herring fish down the wrong river. 

     To avoid these fallacies, and many others, it is essential to make an effort to understand exactly what the other person means. To do this, we must listen to what the other person is saying and make efforts to clarify our comprehension with them to ensure that we understand. 

 

The Philosophy Society

     The Philosophy Society is people who are committed to being philosophical and becoming philosophers. That means they utilize the method of ‘Being a Philosopher’ I have just explained. If you are not ready or cannot follow the method above, we do not look down upon you but have compassion for your unphilosophical state. Whenever you are ready to take hold of your own life and mind, we will always welcome you to our group. 

     Let it be known that this group is a group that is founded upon Philosophy. It is not here as a mechanism that falls to the weaknesses of the human condition. We are gathering together to practice the method I have described so that we can all become better people. It is not a place to become fanatical and arrogant about our beliefs. That is unphilosophical and what we are actively trying to prevent in the society we live in. 

     Being open to discussion and compassionate to those we are speaking with, using the principles of reasoning and critical thinking, will only allow our society in general to advance to a more accepting and understanding position. Only by being philosophical can we all get there. The true society is the Philosophy Society for it is the only one that is able to deal with all the diversity and variation that comes with the uniqueness of our individual humanity. 

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Purpose

     The purpose of the Philosophy Society is to establish a community of philosophically minded individuals who come together to

 

Mode (How we relate): practice skills of empathy, understanding, respect, and compassion.

 

Purpose: 1) Mental Health for Ourselves and Others

     2) Sound Community 

     3) Meritocracy 

     4) Autonomous Democracy 

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We follow certain principles as we discuss any and all topics of our beliefs like any subject from the history of philosophy, religious views, ethical dilemmas, personal life issues, and most importantly, the Good Life. 

     Philosophy is the love of wisdom. It is wise to learn how to analyze concepts and find answers to the fundamental questions in the history of philosophy. This information is what is predominantly taught in universities. However, the Good Life is also wise. There is more to philosophy than what we speak; the good life is a way of living. If we cooperate together, we can work on developing an understanding of the good life and support each other in its pursuit. The university is focused on teaching philosophical reading comprehension and writing. The Philosophy Society is focused on teaching and learning how to live well. 

     Aristotle’s eudaimonia or living well, is the first time a philosopher discussed the good life. Expanding on Aristotle’s conceptualization, the good life is not only a virtuous life of contemplation. The Good Life necessarily includes an understanding of mental health for mental illness is not good. To truly understand what the Good Life means, one also is required to understand mental health. The Philosophy Society is committed to supporting each other in pursuit of the Good Life. Positive psychology focuses on the science of eudaimonia or living well and a lot of empirical evidence can be found in the literature as support for the goals of the Philosophy Society. 

     Much of contemporary therapy and treatment plans in the mental health profession are founded and based in the Aristotelian Nicomachean Ethics, Stoic philosophy of Epictetus, and Existentialism. The Philosophy Society can provide the necessary environmental factors for recovery from many mental health issues and teach proactive skills to prevent the future occurrence of mental illness. The Philosophy Society is committed to providing an environment where every member has the opportunity for the Good Life, including practicing the skills that are necessary for mental health. Participation in the community itself will invariably increase one’s mental health and the Philosophy Society’s structure is designed with a proactive and retroactive mindset to increase our mental health and wellbeing. This is the Philosophy Societies purpose: the bridge between the average person in society and the mental health profession. 

     For those who suffer from extreme mental health issues, the Philosophy Society will do what it can but ultimately the individual will invariably be directed towards a professional who can best help them. The goal is to create a social context where everyone in society can live the Good Life. Through our philosophical practice, we can not only discuss important issues but offer support to each other with the two thousand years and counting of human wisdom and the contemporary science of psychology. Philosophy is more than just reading and writing, it is a way of life. 

 

If you came to philosophy for the truth, the Philosophy Society is where you will find it. 

 

“The tao that can be described 

is not the eternal Tao.  

 

The name that can be spoken  

is not the eternal Name.  

 

The nameless is the boundary of Heaven and Earth.  

The named is the mother of creation.  

 

Freed from desire, you can see the hidden mystery.  

By having desire, you can only see what is visibly real.  

 

Yet mystery and reality  

emerge from the same source.  

This source is called darkness.  

 

Darkness born from darkness.  

The beginning of all understanding.” 

 

Chapter 1

Tao Te Ching, 

Trans., J.H. Mcdonald 1996    

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Practices: 

     In our discussions we agree on certain practices that are a meta or higher ordered set of rules we follow to maintain a sense of harmony with our group. Harmony is based on group cohesion. Society is all humans so keeping us together is the fundamental principle. 

 

1) Self-Mastery

     Commitment to training one’s present self in becoming our best self in a group setting. We all have our weaknesses and through the awareness of others we can increase our own awareness. There is an element of practice that is necessary for one to develop certain skills and refine our beliefs such that they make sense not only to ourselves but others. In a group setting, where members are attending to one speaker at a time, we can offer valuable feedback to the speaker such that they can learn about themselves with the goal of improvement in mind. 

 

2) Reason

     It is essentially important to make sense of what we think, believe, and say. It is equally important to put effort towards making sense of what others think, believe and say. Arrogance, incredulity, delusional thinking, psychosis, infallibility and other forms of being ‘out of touch’ with how reality appears to us, is a weakness for all human beings. The Philosophy Society is committed to providing a social context where we actively practice and train these tendencies out of our character. The Philosophy Society can also be seen and used as a lab for university students to practice their skills in comprehension. 

     Logic can be used in an abusive manner if we solely focus on the words a person is communicating with and not clarify the intentions behind those words. Communication is a skill and we have to practice understanding our feelings and beliefs such that we can arrange our language in such a way that it makes sense. The Philosophy Society is committed to being reasonable but not at the cost of disregarding the meaning of the speaker or misrepresenting what a person is trying to say. If something does not make sense, this is not a debate, it is a discussion and dialogue. We are making an effort to help each other find the correct words to make sense of our thoughts and feelings. Reason is a tool that utilizes logic, critical thinking, and an awareness of logical fallacies that can be used for the good of everyone involved. The Philosophy Society is committed to using our reasoning skills for the betterment and development of understanding our own beliefs and thoughts and those of others. 

     Some arguments or beliefs can be a priori, meaning that their truth can be understood without evidence or experience. An example of an a priori truth can be found in mathematics like 1+1=2. No experience is needed for this understanding. However, much of our beliefs and knowledge must be founded upon evidence. The Philosophy Society is founded upon determining legitimate reasons for our beliefs and knowledge. In many cases, we will be evaluating the integrity of evidence that supports our beliefs which constitute the truth of our knowledge. 

 

3) Openness to Criticism and Feedback

     The only way for us to improve in a group setting is for us to be open to criticism and feedback from others. Certain predispositions in personality make this difficult. We commit ourselves to learning how to respectfully and compassionately give others feedback in such a way that they are able to understand that feedback. 

First, we must actively listen to what others say in order for our feedback to be relevant to them. Once we have comprehended the other’s viewpoint or belief, we can then summarize what we think they mean and await confirmation that we understand. If they agree that we do actually understand them, then we can communicate issues in reasoning for the benefit of clarity and improvement of their communication. 

     The purpose of our discussions is not ‘being right’ but coming to an understanding together. Everyone makes mistakes, and how we deliver feedback to each other can promote our growth and give us the opportunity for constructive development. There is a difference between giving feedback with the intention for the other’s benefit versus criticizing someone to illegitimately bolster our own sense of self esteem or intentionally/unintentionally cause harm. 

     Our beliefs are an integral part of our identities and how we understand the world we live in. Utilizing compassion and empathy is essential to ensure that our motivations are in line with a harmonious effort for the benefit of the group. We will be mindful if one of us strays from constructive criticism and criticize the criticizer if they are abusing the power of criticism. This is no place for ridicule but an environment for learning. 

 

4) Education and Training

     The Philosophy Society is committed to an educational framework that dispels any form of indoctrination. We are actively training ourselves to detect indoctrination, propaganda, or informational coercion such that we promote and empower the individual autonomy of every participant. A democracy can only be legitimately founded upon the votes of its citizens if those citizens are informed and knowledgeable about the issues that their state must make decisions on. Not only does our political system require us to temper our minds to the skills of critical thinking, every human being is cursed with cognitive biases.

     A cognitive bias is an informational short cut in processing that gives up informational accuracy. Our brains use more glucose, energy, than any other organ in our bodies so it conserves energy anywhere it can. This conservational approach our brains have comes at a high cost: we are prone to being manipulated, deceived and coerced by our own brains and minds. Advertising and political propaganda are based on using our cognitive biases against us to influence our decision making. Only through training our awareness in a group context can we have a chance to overcome these biases and be prepared for whatever the future may bring us. 

     The Philosophy Society is committed to practicing an increase in our self-awareness by identifying any kind of bias we may observe in ourselves or others. Assuming that we follow the procedure for giving constructive feedback, we have an opportunity to become a better version of ourselves, when working on our inherent weaknesses together. We can create a better democracy and life for ourselves, if we understand the nature of our own ways of seeing the world. 

 

5) Behaviour

     Some behaviour is problematic for our ability to live the Good Life. Assuming a commitment to observation, discussion and feedback we can help each other improve our behaviour and the behaviour of others. Everyone makes mistakes but a commitment to a responsibility for our mental health means that if we engage in harmful or self-destructive behaviour, we will be open not only to feedback but a commitment to change. If we take a self-determined approach to training ourselves with the help of feedback from others, we can make a difference in our mental health and attainment of the Good Life. 

If someone becomes a danger to others and is unable to change their destructive behaviour, the public events are not the place for them.      Certain forms of mental illness mean that those conditions put others at risk of harm. Every person will be given the opportunity for feedback and growth, but if an individual lacks the capacity for agency to control their behaviour, then they will not be able to attend public events. 

     Part of learning the Good Life is conflict resolution and how to deal with interpersonal issues. Learning emotional intelligence, accurate observational methods, and how to communicate in a conflict resolution manner is essential to living the Good Life and being mentally healthy. Everyone has behaviour that can be improved on and as a group we can foster behavioural development for all members. 

     For those who have self-destructive behaviour, they will be referred to the appropriate mental health professionals so they can have access to the best practices in the mental health profession. If the person has gained agency over their behaviour, learned self-control, and does not pose a risk to others, they will be welcomed back to public Philosophy Society events. Ostracization, scapegoating, ingroup/outgroup bias and other forms of social exclusion are not conducive to a harmonious lifestyle nor the Good Life. Hence, even though conflicts may arise, we will work through them together and proportion any participation based on commitment to self-improvement. 

 

6) Community

     Human beings are social animals. It is important for our society to have values we can use to harmoniously grow together. There are fundamental properties of the human condition that we all share. However, we are all unique individuals who have autonomy that is to be respected. If the philosophers cannot learn to get along and develop a community based on the principles of the Philosophy Society, how can we expect anyone in our world to? People come to the philosopher’s for wisdom and it is our responsibility to the world to find a way to bring everyone together. If we are able to emulate the principles of the Philosophy Society, then we will be role models for others and can demonstrate how to live the Good Life. 

     We have the power to change and save the world. Who else is more equipped to make a difference than those who understand the problem? If we can learn to understand each other and find a harmonious way of existing based on the common fundamental properties of the human condition, we can look forward to our future as a species. We will forever be faced with challenges as organisms in the cosmos. Only together can we survive. 

 

References

Sellers, Wilfrid. Science, Perception and Reality. Ridgeview Publishing, California. 1991

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Lao Tzu, Trans., J.H. Mcdonald, Tao Te Ching. 1996

https://www.unl.edu/prodmgr/NRT/Tao%20Te%20Ching%20-%20trans.%20by%20J.H..%20McDonald.pdf

 

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