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What is philosophy?

Purpose and definition of philosophy

The very definition of philosophy is a question that is debated among philosophers. We are not seeking here to enter into this debate, but to shed light on the approach to life that we propose on this site.

We define philosophy as the attempt to answer two questions:

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How do we cope with the stress of the loss, past or future, of those we love, possibly starting with ourselves?

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How to escape from natural mutually destructive attitudes, namely mainly generalized nepotism as described in the documentary Caribbean primates ?

What philosophy is not

Our definition of philosophy implies that, conversely, we exclude rhetoric, that is to say the art of discourse, because even if it has been taught in many schools of philosophy, it does not remains no less a tool for the conquest of power, which is very often contrary to the second object of the philosophy that we have just presented. The success of rhetoric corresponds to the fact that this is very often what people came to look for in schools of philosophy.

A philosophy finally consistent with the modern scientific method

Physics and mathematics adopted the modern scientific method from the start. For medicine, we had to wait until the 19th, or even the beginning of the 20th century. Based on a vision of humans resulting from work consistent with the modern scientific method, the book From capital to reason brings politics into the fold of modern science. On the same basis, this site brings philosophy into the fold of modern science. Introspection and the merely plausible are no longer enough.

Christophe André's method, based on positive psychology, tends to select, from experiments consistent with the modern scientific method, those which confirm ancestral wisdom. Conversely, our method consists of simply completing the picture of the human outlined by all the experiments consistent with the modern scientific method.

We also warn against all therapies and beliefs that find their scientific justification at the level of neuroscience. This works all the better because when we see an image, we easily believe we have understood. However, just as in computer science, microscopic observation of the structure of the processor says nothing about the algorithm used to make a decision, observation of brain structures does not say much about the functioning of the human psyche in general. Work on cognitive dissonance is much more useful at this level.

How to face death?

We refer here simply to the question 'What is impermanence?'

Why is the question 'How to escape from natural mutually destructive attitudes' so important?

The report Caribbean primates by Jack Silberman and Jean-Christophe Ribot, shows that in a situation of abundance, and in the absence of external threat, it is the nepotistic social attitude adopted by rhesus macaques which creates an environment of extreme stress for all individuals: “While this island could be their paradise, they have made it their own hell. »
Now on the one hand the behaviors of these monkeys are found among us, because their instincts produced by genetics are almost identical to ours, and on the other hand, the technological revolution of the 19th and 20th centuries places us in the same type environment with abundance for all which only depends on our ability to adopt a satisfactory social organization.

Limits of philosophy

In the answer to the question 'How to succeed in life?', we affirm the necessary search for a certain form of minimality, of the simplest pleasures. So what should we do when circumstances are so unfavorable that basic needs can no longer be met?
Our answer is that this is simply the point where philosophy stops, that is to say no longer provides an answer. Everyone adopts an attitude based on their fully integrated social capacities, and above all on the power of their survival instinct which finds itself in opposition to their humanity.

Go deeper

Concerning the second question of philosophy:
Watch the report Caribbean primates by Jack Silberman and Jean-Christophe Ribot, available on Arte replay.
See questions'What is a human?' And 'How to succeed in life?'
Read chapter 22'Citizenship, education and philosophy' from the book From capital to reason.

Regarding the limits of philosophy:
Refer to the book If it's a man by Primo Levi. He describes different attitudes adopted by different prisoners in the face of deprivations which, if not circumvented by one means or another, lead to death.
Also refer to the book The human species by Robert Antelme, to understand the effect of social organization in situations of extreme precariousness (is it the politicians or the common law that exercises power).

 

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