If both relate to belief, what is the difference?
If both relate to belief, what is the difference?
Religion is a particular application of philosophy.
Violence is never the right answer, unless used against heathens and monsters.
Without rational thought.Originally Posted by P-O
Religion prescribes a way of life. Other philosophies may not.
Some people don't want to follow a certain way of life prescribed by a religion, but otherwise they agree with it (e.g., one believes in the Christian God but refuses to love).
It's why religions don't appeal to many people. They don't want to be constrained by behaviors under inconvenient conditions.
Screw it. I know that this is a philosophy forum, but religion is about control, period.
Philosophy is and has always been nothing more than a cosmetic, maybe the original cosmetic.
Last edited by Johnny; 04-11-2014 at 02:21 AM.
What's the difference? It's just soda, bro.
Never thought about religion being about control. In contrast, I suppose philosophy is more about an attempt at understanding.
It just seems like religion is born out of philosophy and therefore I agree:And it does seem like philosophy isn't constrained in its growth to change and morph and adapt. Religion on the other hand seems to be locked down, more static. And maybe because of the large amounts of elapsed time between its initial philosophical beginnings and it current practical application, religion may only seem to be:I guess what bothers me at the moment are behaviors which seem to be "religious behaviors" such as the attempt at pushing one's beliefs onto others in a fanatic way. And that makes me worried my enthusiasm towards therapy has become a religion. I guess like most Christians who believe everyone could benefit in having Jesus in their life, I believe everyone could benefit by seeing a therapist. So, what would separate my belief in the goodness of talk therapy from religion?
The observable, repeatable, and scientifically verified long-term benefits of therapy, perhaps?
Empty your mind. Be formless. Shapeless. Like water. Water can flow, or it can crash. Be water, my friend.
Well philosophy is a broad area. Some parts are tangential to religion, obviously. Philosophy 'relates' to belief insofar as philosophy is predicated upon the application of axioms in a rational system. It's just that these axioms are a) amendable to skeptical discussion b) generally more reasonable - the coherence of logic or the use of empirical sense data seems far more motivated than any of the a priori bullshit religion throws out. But philosophy is more than just a belief, it is a habit of mind, a discipline of open discourse, and the category of the sort of beliefs that gain even partial acceptance require motivation. Philosophy studied belief - epistemology - as its own subject, it doubts itself and reflects back on its own presuppositions. Religion does none of this.
The philosophical tradition, or underlying motivation in Western philosophy is what sets it apart. Philosophy in the Western tradition has been defined on skepticism, the use of rationalism to understand and the logical joining together of the elements thereof. Philosophy so thought is very different to religion because religion demands an adherence to faith, belief in something without any evidence. You mention the proto-history of the rationalism of religion - the very fact that it has, since, in many cases refused to be questioned, pulled apart - and most importantly have its creed openly debated, even ridiculed in a public arena set it apart from philosophy as such. Dogma is antithetical to philosophy as such.
I think this is where people get confused about philosophy... whilst some traditions of it have tried to make positive statements about the world these are always motivated by the distinctly negative aspect of skepticism, an attempt to gainsay an unthinking assumption, and thus the history of such thought - and skepticism, empiricism and rationalism are the seedbed from which modern scientific knowledge grew - leads towards a greater mental habit, namely a questioning of one's assumptions and attitudes to the world, and not taking any statement of truth merely at face value because it is motivated by authority. It is the development of an independent faculty for understanding reality. One in which, I grant you can, without the correct discipline lead to absurdity (read any postmodern philosopher), but which is the removal of the presumption of religious or societal 'truth'. Socrates was executed for a reason.
Last edited by ferrus; 04-11-2014 at 10:44 AM.
Die Logik ist keine Lehre, sondern ein Spiegelbild der Welt. Die Logik ist transcendental. - Wittgenstein
Philosophy as a Way of Life
In the West, before it was subordinated to Christianity and exiled to the university, philosophy was something you lived. It was much more than sitting around arguing about ideas irrelevant to how one lives.
As has been said before comparing science to religion:
Philosophy is questions that may never be answered.
Religion is answers that may never be questioned.
Die Logik ist keine Lehre, sondern ein Spiegelbild der Welt. Die Logik ist transcendental. - Wittgenstein
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