Bioethics and whatnot. I think it is important for everyone to study philosophy.

Pretty name, serunato. Welcome!

I think physics has cut its own course from philosophy and left philosophy to wrestle with the really intractable problems facing mankind in moral forms... Best to you and welcome.

I agree with you. Welcome to the forum.

Agreed. And I think it should start no later than High School, but that's just me.

"Philosophy is the guide to life" is often ridiculed by many, but when the motto is meditated upon seriously and in earnest, it seems to be one thing above all others to be true. When one is able to undertake to participate in a rigourous intellectual discipline, then one can begin philosophy, knowing that the journey is as difficult as it is never-ending.
Welcome to Philforum!
Regards,
John

If I had ever had a job where such good work was already done, and all that was needed was a tweak here and there I would not need philosophy or any other discipline for happiness... It is not difficult, but down hill... I used to follow a crew of guys, that to get their piece count would leave out any piece of Iron they could, essentially, what might be handled by two strong men, safely, or not... If they went bolting up, they would get the easy side and leave the hard... Consider what I mean by that... Two I beams connected through the center of an H column presents some problems especially if the beams have a closure plate on top extending out from the beam center some distance, and then rising at a vertical of four or six inches, level with the finished floor concrete... Okay, so those clown would make the inside and walk, and say they got their bolts when I, following had to pull their bolts, and get the outside holes, under the plate which was the difficult side made impossible when fighting bolts on the inside of the beam... They did not do it right, took time doing it wrong, and it would have been better if they had sat on their thumbs and done nothing because it was necessary to undo what they did to set it right...

Philosophy, even if considered to be only the understanding of existing philosophy is good work... We do not have to start from scratch as so many did... We do not have to tear down the work of centuries as Kant did to build something only slightly more worthy... Philosophy is light work, but it is better if one takes it on after a few life experiences... One must have knowledge to appreciate knowledge, and before people try to think they should know a great deal if they would have their thoughts meaningful...If you understand how ignorance injures, and how much pain is caused when people assert their individualism out of vanity then you will be careful... The worst thing that can be said of some philosophers is that they were not careful...But care should be learned before one does philosophy, and the young are by nature, careless, carefree... They tend to pick up the thoughts of others without criticism... It is a sin, perhaps even a crime...

Who is your favourite author and why?
Please make your self at home,
you are welcome.

Vonnegut for fiction, for many reasons, because he is able to make profound points without coming off as pedantic or arrogant, because he uses intersting vehicles for said profound points, because on some level he speaks to me about the human condition, however you want to define that.

Feynman for nonfiction, because I am a science nerd and he is interesting both on a technical level and as a person.

How about you?

My favourite author would be hard to pin down, but I do love the works of F.W Bain a man who ingeniously links Plato's dialogues with Indian mythology.
Good to have you aboard perhaps you could open a thread called the 'human condition' and it would give you the chance to run wild with your assumptions and conclusions and see how far one can restore you or how far people will go to ignore you.
Good luck and nice response.