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@Khethil,

Khethil wrote:

The more I learn, experience and delve into the philosophy of things, the more I'm seeing that the answer to virtually any question could rightly be answered as:

[CENTER]I don't know[/CENTER]

[CENTER]and/or[/CENTER]

[CENTER]It Depends[/CENTER]

So much for the search for knowledge?

We have reached a similar stage my good friend.

Philosophy is a really long joke with a fuzzy punchline. It's fun to tell and retell but the punchline is still going to be the same.

@Icon,

A joke, kinda like The Aristocrats. It's always the same joke, but all the jokers tell it in their own, unique way.

@Didymos Thomas,

Didymos Thomas wrote:

A joke, kinda like The Aristocrats. It's always the same joke, but all the jokers tell it in their own, unique way.

Exactly. Then you have those who listen expecting a different outcome. That's the best part.

@Khethil,

Khethil wrote:

The more I learn, experience and delve into the philosophy of things, the more I'm seeing that the answer to virtually any question could rightly be answered as:

[CENTER]I don't know

and/or

It Depends
[/CENTER]

So much for the search for knowledge?

Hmm. Does that mean that the answer to the question, "What is the capilal of The United States?" is, "I don't know" or, ""It depends"? Most teachers would not accept that answer from a nine year old.

@Icon,

I've never seen Philosophy as the search for knowledge, i have always seen it as the fight for relationship and reconcilliation.

I quest to relate to my experience and the world around me as to form an understanding of form and function. I then must reconcile my understanding with my sense of self or my sense of humanity.

Knowledge is created more than it is discovered, and hence I feel that Philosophy is a wonderful creative tool.

@Khethil,

You're not supposed to find answers. The questions are for their own sake.

@Phosphorous,

Phosphorous wrote:

You're not supposed to find answers. The questions are for their own sake.

Why is that?

@kennethamy,

I don't know how to answer this it depends on how or why you made this statement..:perplexed:

@xris,

If the the search for knowledge ultimately provides only with such answers as "It depends", perhaps it is the very nature of searching for knowledge that it is the virtue, not finding it.

@Parapraxis,

Isn't the answer "It depends" useful knowledge in and of itself. If life has an unavoidable amount of ambiguity and or relativity, seems to me that it is useful to know that it does and not align one's self in a fundamental camp of any sort.

@GoshisDead,

GoshisDead wrote:

Isn't the answer "It depends" useful knowledge in and of itself. If life has an unavoidable amount of ambiguity and or relativity, seems to me that it is useful to know that it does and not align one's self in a fundamental camp of any sort.

Very true.

David Hume made this point in his Enquiry that philosopers should be "modest in their pretensions" lest they encounter someone of an "inquisitive disposition" who will "push them from every corner".

@kennethamy,

kennethamy wrote:

Phosphorous wrote:
You're not supposed to find answers. The questions are for their own sake.

Why is that?

Why are you asking that question?

@Phosphorous,

Phosphorous wrote:

Why are you asking that question?

Obviously, because you made that absurd statement.

@kennethamy,

kennethamy wrote:

Obviously, because you made that absurd statement.

lol. People ask questions because they desire knowledge, right? That doesn't mean that the question isn't important. With all the talk about finding the "ultimate answer", people are putting all the importance on the "answer", but don't make that mistake. Questions are important too.

The funny thing, however, is that we are born experiencing things. If only the answers mattered, we could've called experience itself "the answer" and left it at that. But we persist in asking questions. And for what?

I think it's because you enjoy asking questions. You're curious. And if we ever did find the "ultimate answer", the lack of questions would be pretty depressing, wouldn't it?

@Phosphorous,

Phosphorous wrote:

lol. People ask questions because they desire knowledge, right? That doesn't mean that the question isn't important. With all the talk about finding the "ultimate answer", people are putting all the importance on the "answer", but don't make that mistake. Questions are important too.

The funny thing, however, is that we are born experiencing things. If only the answers mattered, we could've called experience itself "the answer" and left it at that. But we persist in asking questions. And for what?

I think it's because you enjoy asking questions. You're curious. And if we ever did find the "ultimate answer", the lack of questions would be pretty depressing, wouldn't it?

I did not say that only answers to questions matter. Or any of the other stuff you are saying. I just pointed out that to say that you are not supposed to find answers is absurd.

@Parapraxis,

Parapraxis wrote:

If the the search for knowledge ultimately provides only with such answers as "It depends", perhaps it is the very nature of searching for knowledge that it is the virtue, not finding it.

... likely true. Or that realization that comes from discovering that such 'large answers' don't really exist in any iron-clad form.

For others: We're not talking about Philosophy somehow being equated to any search for any answer per say; this is epistemology. We're talking about how knowledge is acquired, gained and the source of such. The topic has to do with this: As one realizes the complexity and dependent nature of 'knowing' anything, it can have a rather large effect on our ability to know at all. Is this correct? Does it matter? Yada...

Nothing to rock the house here, but an interesting implication nonetheless methinks.

Thanks

@Khethil,

Khethil wrote:

The more I learn, experience and delve into the philosophy of things, the more I'm seeing that the answer to virtually any question could rightly be answered as:

[CENTER]I don't know[/CENTER]

[CENTER]and/or[/CENTER]

[CENTER]It Depends[/CENTER]

So much for the search for knowledge?

This conclusion is an epistemological evaluation in itself.

The goal is not to find answers but to simplify the questions themselves. In so doing we will illuminate answers more practical than we had anticipated. Only the ideologue rejects a simpler question in place of an answer.

@rhinogrey,

Khethil wrote:

As one realizes the complexity and dependent nature of 'knowing' anything, it can have a rather large effect on our ability to know at all. Is this correct? Does it matter? Yada...

I think that's the most important realization.

This is why Socrates professed to know nothing. This is why philosopher after philosopher has taught that we should find out for ourselves: study, understand what others think, but find out for yourself. Independent thought and what not.

@Didymos Thomas,

Didymos Thomas wrote:

I think that's the most important realization.

This is why Socrates professed to know nothing. This is why philosopher after philosopher has taught that we should find out for ourselves: study, understand what others think, but find out for yourself. Independent thought and what not.

Socrates was, of course, being disingenuous, and ironic. He knew lots of things. He knew he was an Athenian, that he lived in Greece, that he was a male, and ever so much more. What he had in mind when he said he knew nothing needs interpretation. He probably meant that he knew nothing of importance, and that knowing he was a male wasn't an important piece of knowledge. He was probably talking of philosophical knowledge of some kind. He may also have meant that his knowledge was not absolutely certain knowledge. It is difficult to say. In the dialogue in which he expresses this, he is contrasting himself with others who claim to know things which he clearly thinks they do not know, and he interprets the Delphic Oracle who tells him that he is the wisest man in Greece as meaning that he is the only man in Athens who knows he knows nothing but that he knows nothing.

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