Philosophy! Philosophy!
If you've ever had the pleasure of visiting the Philippines, then it's just possible you may have come across the expression "philosophy! philosophy!" - although the pronounciation is often 'fill-oss-oppy'. It's generally used to dismiss what another is saying as being more complicated than necessary, the added implication being that they don't know what they are talking about, either. It reminds me of than idiom of speech (Jewish, I think) in which a word is repeated, but with the initial consonant replaced with 'schm' - as in 'vegan-schmegan', for example - not only because of the repetition but also because of the scornful disdain it carries with it.
Despite the risk of catching a broadside of "philosophy! philosophy!", I'm planning a series of posts which could concievably be tagged philosophy. But bearing in mind that I have no qualifications* in the field, I plan on tagging them filosopy! in recognition of the fact that I probably don't know what I'm talking about! That said, and with the full knowledge that I may well make what might be called 'schoolboy errors' by the professionals, who could chuckle over them as they rip 'em to pieces, I'll add that it's not intended to be a treatise but rather a series of mental observations, Hopefully I'll manage to express myself without over-complicating things.
As a taster, here's a quote from Soren Kierkegaard, someone I previously knew next to nothing about other than that he was a philosopher who, apparently, died at the age of 42 in 1855.
There are many people who reach their conclusions about life like schoolboys; they cheat their master by copying the answer out of a book without having worked out the sum for themselves.
I rather like that, and imagine the people he was talking about might well be the ones who go around disparaging anyone who attempts to do the working out for themselves with a barrage of "philosophy-schmilosophy!!", or something similar. Be that as it may, his words prompted me to find out a bit more about him.
That's him, as sketched by his brother, Niels, in about 1840. It turns out that he was nothing like I'd imagined from reading his quoted words. Wikipedia describes him as "a Danish Christian philosopher, theologian and religious author interested in human psychology" and also as someone who "didn't want to be a philosopher in the traditional or Hegelian sense" or "to preach a Christianity that was an illusion". It seems he and I have some things in common, except I'm not Danish, or a Christian philosopher, or a theologian. Neither am I a religious author, nor was I born to an affluent family, and I didn't die at 42. Also, I don't want to preach Christianity because I think it IS an illusion. But more about that later. You can check him out on Wikipedia
In the meantime, here's Van Morrison searching for the Philosopher's Stone. Take it away Van...
* If the 'University Of Life' crossed your mind, go into a dark corner right now and slap yourself severely!
The song Philosopher's Stone comes from the Wonder Boys soundtrack available here
