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i know philosophy is always seen as pretentious and boring, and some of it is, but we are SO privileged to have access to a written history dating back millennia of the pursuit of understanding humanity. the fact that we have wanted to understand what it means to be human so badly that we have been writing about our theories since the moment we created written language is a philosophy in and of itself. find what studies of thought you relate to the most! marxism, nihilism, absurdism, existentialism, feminism, whatever! find the beauty in thought!
philosophy does not always have to be 800 page books of some old dead white guys dense musings. plenty of novels cover philosophical issues, like piranesi by suzanna clark. reading philosophy, in my experience, helps expand your empathy and understanding of the human condition while helping you discover yourself as well. read with purpose! it's a magical thing.
please share your favorite philosophical texts you've read with me :) i'm always looking for new ones <3
Jan 8, 2025
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Unless you plan to go into academia.
Canadian here: Phil was useful in the grand scheme of things, but what stuck on a Self developmental level is what can be learnt by self directed study.
If you can, do a humanities degree! That way you can study art, literature, music and not just the latest breaking nonsense from cog sci.
Caveat: my school lent analytic. If yours doesn’t, it might be more interesting. psych Has broader appeal skills that are more practical and applied.
Aug 30, 2024
I have two philosophy degrees so I guess this isn’t that niche for that area. But I have a Plato tattoo. Plato’s Symposium (the Rowe translation) is my favourite of his works, closely followed by the Phaedrus. He’s so silly and weird and gay and i like that. My masters thesis was a metaphilosophical look at why Plato and Simone de Beauvoir wrote fiction - which was pretty stupid tbh because it meant my research material was like a million books and I cannot read a million books. We may blame Plato for the evil that is Western Analytic philosophy, but that’s so funny to me when he was essentially writing little plays about his teacher and friends. If you’ve only attempted The Republic and were like what the fuck, I don’t blame you. Most of his dialogues are really short, that one was just him trying to write a treaties or whatever, bless.
Apr 5, 2024
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depends on if you think freudian/psychoanalytic thought is philosophical or not, but i enjoyed quite a lot (as someone coming from a more psychological/lit criticism angle)
Feb 29, 2024
Top Recs from @sbonifazi
this idea of "you don't owe anyone anything" came about through the social media therapists that try to diagnose complete strangers with a multitude of issues and complexes. all it has done has made selfish people more selfish and divided us as a community.
you do not owe everyone everything, but if you consider yourself part of a community, a society, you do owe everyone something. at a base level you owe people kindness, respect (as long as they haven't lost the right to it), and basic human decency. you owe your loved ones even more.
stop being selfish and rude in the name of treating your so-called "people pleasing."
Feb 4, 2025
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if one more person tells me to turn one of my hobbies into a business i'm gonna go berserk. is nothing sacred in this late stage capitalist hellscape?
Feb 3, 2025
i swear to god it's upside down and it makes me giggle every time i see it. pls tell me you see it too and i'm not crazy. i love it.
Mar 24, 2025