World Philosophy Day

In 2002, the United Nations established World Philosophy Day on the third Thursday in November. What do you think about that? Why do you think about that? How do you think about that? Do you think? Is it worth thinking about? Or is it all being and nothingness? While that may sound confusing to some and meaningless to others, it fascinates me.

Philosophy comes from the Greek meaning love of wisdom. Many think it wiser to ignore the pedantic musings of how and why we think. Life is for living, not for reflecting. From my first exposure to thought and reasoning, I was hooked like a rockfish nipping at a thumper squid jig.

For me it began with
epistemology. How do we know? We use our senses - sight, sound, touch, smell and taste. But those can be fooled. Echoes and optical illusions are only two examples. Perhaps all our sensuous experiences mislead us. Yes sensuous, not sensual, but that gets into semantics which is more of a linguistic issue. However, linguistics overlaps into logic.

This illustrates what I love about philosophy. The answer is never the answer. A philosophical
discussion's goal is not solution. The goal is more discussion, debate and conjecture. Truly a luxury for the loquacious; a treat for the talkative, an entertainment for the expansive. Metaphysics, ontology, eschatology, ethics, invite all to a dialogue. No wrong answer exists. Though Woody Allen admitted to failing a metaphysics exam for cheating. He looked into the soul of the person next to him.

The horrors of industrialization and war at the dawn of the 20th century opened the philosophical world to nihilism, existentialism, absurdism, et al. My personal introduction to those disciplines corresponded with my exposure to the philosophies of the Far East, Vedanta, Nyaya, Buddhism, Zen, etc. Those opened a world of thought alien to my experience, yet the ideas struck a harmonious chord in my psyche.

This musing is not meant as an introduction to philosophy, but a nod to today as World Philosophy Day. Not matter what you believe, remember that others may share a different view on why we are here. Just some food for thought. As ever - BB

"Compared to your scream/The human dream/Doesn't mean shit to a tree" - Paul Kantner & Grace Slick, Eskimo Blue Day