Quote:
Originally Posted by ArtificialBrandon
Blindly following "reason" and rejecting the "irrational" is a dangerous formula in my opinion. Why? Because when examined with rules of logic, life itself is an illogical, absurd enterprise. We struggle to live knowing that we will one day die. Under these conditions, suicide and murder become legitimate, and we rob ourselves of enjoyment.
|
You completely misunderstand me. Logic is but a tool used to meet specific ends. But to me, philosophy's own end is the pursuit of truth; and truth, by its very nature, cannot be irrational. Why pursue this truth? I find it entertaining. But will it actually change anything? Probably not, and this is why it has been pointed out that philosophy is perhaps the most trivial of all pursuits.
It is important to make the distinction between nonrationality and irrationality. A nonrational thing is something which is not deduceded from reason. An irrational thing is something which directly opposes reason and therefore cannot be. Take, for example, belief in God. That would be nonrational, rather than irrational.
Your analogy is flawed, because, of course, you treat logic as if it were something more than a means. Logic cannot be an end in itself; logic must have some goal laid out for its application. I cannot even concieve logic being otherwise.
Quote:
I am an existentialist. I, myself, am the starting point. HUMANITY is the starting point. Ideologies that threaten or devalue the will to live must be disposed of. Ideologies that promote the will to live are to be promoted. Logic is useful, but once you enshrine it as a deity, you threaten life.
|
First of all, are you a humanist or an existentialist? An existentialist would say "a man is the starting point of all things," while a humanist would say "man is the starting point of all things."
I do not enshrine means as a diety. I simply apply it rigorously in order to find the ends which I seek; in philosophy, truth; in life, happiness. Logic is the most efficient way to meet these ends, and hence why it becomes so important.