philosophy is done with words: philosophy is when you ask youself why you believe something. philosophy is the negation of belief, and nothing but that. it has to be done: you have to write a phrase you believe in and then shred that phrase — you never know what you’re talking about, but it always seems to work on even you. why is that?
“philosophy” is a phrase, a word set pointing to both an attitude and an intellectual tool. we sometimes use this tool to destroy other people’s attitudes. that’s not very pure and selfless. i’m being selfish, trying to keep what is mine: my ideas and attitudes… i’m protecting my emotions from incursion. i don’t want to respond to everything everyone says about anything. but, i do. ‘philosophy’ is the tool where i can say to myself, ‘well, i don’t know what music is either… not really,’ and then i become human again. is philosophy a way to rebuff mindless wording? it’s certainly not successful as a way of saying wise things. when the dog hears your ‘fido, good boy,’ does it think you wise?
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philosophy is curiosity.
ok, yes, philosophy, then, if it’s curiosity, immediately — without mediation — looks back at what you’ve just said and shreds it. ‘philosophy is curiosity’ is the opening line of some Kantian novel about falling off a stool. so, ‘what is curiosity’? is the next move i’d make, if i were saying ‘philosophy is curiosity’. cause the point isn’t to say something true — “saying the truth”, that’s theology. the point is to see your own illusions so you can use them creatively to become real.