[lit-ideas] Re: A Service Profession
- From: "Walter C. Okshevsky" <wokshevs@xxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, Mike Geary <atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:03:50 -0230
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
> >>
> >> **************Stay connected and tighten your budget with a great mobile
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> >
>
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