> On Tuesday, October 7, 1997 10:43 PM, Nathaniel Hall
> [SMTP:natehall@worldnet.att.net] wrote:
> > Ultimately it is ones philosophy of life , explicit or implicit ,which
> guides
> > one's choices. Which is why philosophy is the most important subject a
> person
> > can learn!The Nateman
>
> What is your scientific evidence for this assertion? Do you have a study
> showing a correlation between amount of philosophy studied and ANYTHING?
>
How about a little experiment. We take a common people with a common language
and on one side we make the prevailing philosophy say Marxist, and the other
side of the barrier erected we make them democratic capitalists. But this
experiment has been done! East and west Germany, North and South Korea, China
and Hong Kong. The important thing to note here is that it's not the amount of
time one spends studing philosophy (The communists called it Ideology and made
its citizens spend all kinds of time learning it) but whether or not ones
beliefs are based on something real. In this case the correlation of sucess
was clearly on the market side of the experiments.
> And what is an "implicit" philosophy of life? Do you see how you could
> substitute any other noun phrase for "philosophy of life" and have an
> equally valid assertion?
>
> "Ultimately it is one's belief in God, explicit or implicit, that guides
> one's choices."
> "Ultimately it is one's influence of the planets, explicit or implicit,
> that guides one's choices."
>
> When you use the word "implicit," you are creating something where nothing
> exists. "Implicit" is a subjective adjective. The implication is inferred
> by the observer and nowhere else, otherwise it would be "inherent." And if
> you're saying that everyone has an inherent philosophy of life, I claim
> that you are being as mystical as those who say everyone has an inherent
> divine spirit guiding them.
>
Let me put it this way then. Not everybody has sat down and read a book on
philosophy. They have however watched movies , TV , and/or the actions of
other people all thier life. If one picks up ones beliefs in such a piece-meal
fashion what would you call the conglomerate that results? One only has to
pick up the latest issue of USA today to see that people already have all
sorts of opinions, where did they get them from? Do you know anybody who has
no opinion on anything? The Nateman