[lit-ideas] Re: A Service Profession

Perhaps Mike would wish to apprise us as to why he believes that this vast
quantitative multitude and qualitative array of questions all count as
"philosophical." I have no doubt that the questions identified are of interest
to him, but he as well avers that they are all philosophical questions .....
and thus I balk. For surely there is no analytic relation between questions of
interest to Mike and questions justifibaly deemed "philosophical". We all know
that Mike is a man of many interests - not all of which are strictly
philosophical. (He does write poetry, after all.)

Imagine we were all free to define any question we raised as being a
"philosophical" question. Would the discipline of philosophy thereby be
enhanced or would it be debilitated? 

Now ask the same question about cellular biology. Is there a difference here?

Having just met 36 enthusiastic students, eager to engage in philosophical
questions about teaching, learning, and education.

Walter O
MUN


Quoting Mike Geary <atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>:

> Philosophical questions that interest me:  (1) The obvious one, of course: 
> why is there anything rather than nothing?  (2) What does "is" mean? That 
> is, is it possible to define existence?  I'm thinking no.  (3) Does anything
> 
> have meaning in and of itself, that is, outside the meaning we ascribe to 
> it?  How could we know that?  (4)  Doth God exact day labor, light denied? 
> That is to say, is there any moral concept that is not culturally 
> contingent?  How can we know that?  (5)  Is a thought a thing?  Does it have
> 
> existence?  That is to say, is intentionality just another form of 
> masturbation?  (6) Where do new ideas come from?  Heidegger seems (it seems 
> to me) to suggest they develop out of a misunderstanding of words / 
> concepts -- is creativity then a child of ignorance?  (7)  Belief in a god 
> is shared by something like 90% of the human race.  Why?  And why is it that
> 
> the extremist religious fanatics are almost always men?  (I say it's fear of
> 
> women -- is religion then but a male bulwark against their own cupidity? 
> Surely it is.)  (8)  Was Michael Jackson a real human being or a product of 
> Pixar?  I can't decide --  his life was so screwed-up that it had to be 
> fiction, either that or it had to be true.  I'm glad I wasn't Michael 
> Jackson.  He must have gone thru hell many, many times in his life.  But 
> watching him perform was equivalent to what philosophy means to me.  See if 
> you can decipher what that means.  Let me know.  I need to know.
> 
> Mike Geary
> Memphis, Tennessee,
> but intentionalitaly
> still in the saddle
> in Seattle
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Walter C. Okshevsky" <wokshevs@xxxxxx>
> To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>; <Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx>
> Sent: Saturday, June 27, 2009 1:30 PM
> Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: A Service Profession
> 
> 
> > Walter indeed is saying that the discipline of philosophy is not itself a
> > service profession. It comes to be addressed as such when its resources, 
> > forms
> > of analysis, etc. are deployed by an applied field of learning, such as
> > education, medicine, law, nursing, engineering, journalism, escort 
> > services,
> > etc.. Not that there's anything WRONG in that.
> >
> > Being a discipline rather than a field of learning, the "good" of 
> > philosophy is
> > not to be measured by any changes or states of affairs in the world it may
> > bring about. The moral and epistemic worth of the "results" produced by a
> > discipline rest intrinsically within its pursuit as a practice of 
> > scholarship.
> >
> > Walter O
> > MUN
> >
> >
> >
> > Quoting Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx:
> >
> >> In a message dated 6/26/2009 3:15:26 P.M.  Eastern Daylight Time,
> >> atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
> >> Are you or is Walter  saying that philosophy is not a service profession?
> >> If
> >> so, then what  the hell good is it?
> >>
> >> health service, name given generally or  specifically to the aggregate of
> >> public (as opposed to private) medical  facilities available to members 
> >> of a
> >>
> >> community
> >>
> >>
> >> Yes. I think it _is_ an Americanism. Cfr. above.
> >>
> >> I have to search 'service to mankind' -- I hadn't thought about that. 
> >> Geary
> >>  is a noble one.
> >>
> >> J. L. S
> >>
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