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Single Idea 9778

[filed under theme 1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 3. Philosophy Defined ]

Full Idea

I think I truly became a philosopher when I realised that there is no dialogue in philosophy. Plato's dialogues are clearly fakes, with one guy talking most of the time. ...Philosophy as an interdisciplinary project is the ultimate nightmare.

Gist of Idea

There is no dialogue in philosophy

Source

Slavoj Zizek (Conversations, with Glyn Daly [2004], §1)

Book Ref

Zizek,Slavoj: 'Conversations with Zizek (with G.Daly)' [Polity 2004], p.41


A Reaction

This goes against all my prejudices in favour of teamwork and mutual criticism (e.g. Idea 1576), but I was a bit shaken by it, and have begun to wonder whether I must just face up to the solitary nature of the enterprise.

Related Idea

Idea 1576 If each of us can give some logos about parts of nature, our combined efforts can be impressive [Aristotle]


The 32 ideas with the same theme [attempts to define the whole subject of philosophy]:

A philosopher is one who cares about what other people care about [Socrates, by Foucault]
Philosophy has different powers from dialectic, and a different life from sophistry [Aristotle]
Philosophy is a kind of science that deals with principles [Aristotle]
Absolute thinking is the thinking of thinking [Aristotle]
Carneades' pinnacles of philosophy are the basis of knowledge (the criterion of truth) and the end of appetite (good) [Carneades, by Cicero]
The task of philosophy is to establish standards, as occurs with weights and measures [Epictetus]
Philosophy is knowing each logos, how they fit together, and what follows from them [Epictetus]
Even pointing a finger should only be done for a reason [Epictetus]
What fills me with awe are the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me [Kant]
Philosophy is the conceptual essence of the shape of history [Hegel]
Philosophy is exploration of the rational [Hegel]
Philosophy considers only the universal, in nature as everywhere else [Schopenhauer]
Everyone is conscious of all philosophical truths, but philosophers bring them to conceptual awareness [Schopenhauer]
Philosophy is distinguished from other sciences by its complete lack of presuppositions [Feuerbach]
Philosophy is no more than abstractions concerning observations of human historical development [Marx/Engels]
Philosophy is the study and criticsm of cultural beliefs, to achieve new possibilities [Dewey]
Philosophy verifies that our hierarchy of instinctive beliefs is harmonious and consistent [Russell]
Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language [Wittgenstein]
The main problem of philosophy is what can and cannot be thought and expressed [Wittgenstein, by Grayling]
I say (contrary to Wittgenstein) that philosophy expresses what we thought we must be silent about [Ansell Pearson on Wittgenstein]
All thought about values is philosophical, and thought about anything else is not philosophy [Weil]
Philosophy is a department of logic [Ayer]
Suicide - whether life is worth living - is the one serious philosophical problem [Camus]
Critical philosophy is what questions domination at every level [Foucault]
Philosophy is just a linguistic display [Derrida]
Traditionally philosophy is an a priori enquiry into general truths about reality [Katz]
Most of philosophy begins where science leaves off [Katz]
Who cares what 'philosophy' is? Most pre-1950 thought doesn't now count as philosophy [Fodor]
Philosophy is a concept-creating discipline [Deleuze/Guattari]
There is no dialogue in philosophy [Zizek]
Maybe what distinguishes philosophy from science is its pursuit of necessary truths [Sider]
Philosophy is the most general intellectual discipline [Horsten]