{"id":4483,"date":"2018-06-17T13:51:07","date_gmt":"2018-06-17T13:51:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2018\/06\/17\/politics-and-philosophy-3\/"},"modified":"2018-06-17T13:51:07","modified_gmt":"2018-06-17T13:51:07","slug":"politics-and-philosophy-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2018\/06\/17\/politics-and-philosophy-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Politics and Philosophy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Politics is a practical game. One has to win to be effective. Merely to have the better set of ideas and policies is to fail. Philosophy, however, is not about winning. It is about ultimate understanding, spiritual self-transformation, and wisdom. A politics fully informed by insight and understanding would be ideal if it were not impossible. This 'ideal,' however is not an ideal for us. Nothing counts as an ideal for us if it is unattainable by us.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ars longa, vita brevis<\/em>. The same is true of philosophy. The philosopher has time and takes his time. Hear Ludwig Wittgenstein, Culture and Value<\/strong> (University of Chicago Press, 1980), p. 80: Der Gruss der Philosophen unter einander sollte sein: "Lass Dir Zeit!" "<\/em>This is how philosophers should greet each other: Take your time<\/em>!"<\/span><\/p>\n

The philosopher can resist the urge for a quick solution. He takes his time because he is a "spectator of all time." (Plato, Republic<\/em>, Book VI) He's in the game for the long haul, for the 'duration.' After his death he is still in the game if his Nachlass<\/em> is found worthy. He may concern himself with the questions of the day, but he never loses sight of the issues of the ages. And he has an eye for the presence of the latter within the former.<\/span><\/p>\n

In politics we have enemies; political discourse is inherently polemical. But there are no enemies in philosophy. For if your interlocutor is not a friend, then you are not philosophizing with him. Ideally, philosophy is the erothetic love of truth pursued either in solitude or  among friends who love the truth more than they love each other.<\/span><\/p>\n

Amicus Plato, sed magis amica veritas<\/em>. (Cf. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics<\/em> 1096a15; but the thought is already in Plato at Republic<\/em>, Book X, 595b-c and 607c. I am tempted to say that everything is already in Plato . . . .)<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\"Adams<\/a><\/span> <\/a>
<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Politics is a practical game. One has to win to be effective. Merely to have the better set of ideas and policies is to fail. Philosophy, however, is not about winning. It is about ultimate understanding, spiritual self-transformation, and wisdom. A politics fully informed by insight and understanding would be ideal if it were not impossible. … Continue reading “Politics and Philosophy”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-metaphilosophy","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4483\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}