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Western philosophers in ten minutes [Videos] (youtube.com)
6 points by lindbergh on Nov 22, 2015 | hide | past | favorite | 3 comments



6-minutes or so of Jean-Paul Sarte was really fun! I enjoyed it immensely, thank you. Though philosophy has rarely delivered in the past 2,000-years-or-so... [1], the purpose of philosophy is to Guarantee the user a serene death [2] I would like to add that perhaps all these different philosophical viewpoints may aid an individual with a "mission statement" for a serene life?

[1] Francis Harry Compton Crick

(I read the quote in an interview)

[2] Gore Vidal: Novel: 'Julian' Quote: http://www.gorevidalpages.com/1964/10/julian-by-gore-vidal.h...


There are only two fundamental positions in philosophy from which all else derives; the primacy of existence versus the primacy of consciousness. In ancient times the former was staked out by Aristotle and the latter by Plato. On this basis Aristotle created deductive logic and taught man how to think and by the same token Plato invented praying and taught men to wish. In modern times the primacy of consciousness view was picked up by Kant and the primacy of existence position was defended by Ayn Rand. Everyone else is mere footnotes in the history of Western thought.





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