Introductions and General Comments

[Kristina]

Well, hello! Let me introduce myself - my name is Kristina, and I am student of philosophy, which is why I was immediately drawn to join this group. Also, English is not my native language, so first of all I want to apologize in advance for any mistakes I make or for the narrow scope that fact puts me in, in trying to express myself.
I think there are two reasons why philosophy became fascinating subject for me, and both of reasons can be traced back to childhood. First reason is that feeling of wonder and curiosity, feeling that I think is essential to human nature and (besides moral feeling) separates humans from other beings. Second reason is existential despair one feels when confronted with his own mortality, change and passing of time, which I felt quite early in my childhood. I remember vividly first time I realized what death really is, I was only 5, I think, looking pictures in book and saw a picture of a human skeleton, and at that moment I felt that everybody must die, and that death is literally the end, that there was not more to it or after it. That feeling haunt me while I was growing up, which lead me to start asking questions 'why?' and 'what is the point of life if it must end?', which later lead to more specific questions like what existence itself means, what does it mean to be human being, how one must live etc. Although I think there can never be definite answers to those questions, nevertheless, they are well worth pursuing them. Because, existence and life itself in its diversity are wonderful thing, that never cease to stop making us wonder and amaze us.
Even tough I study philosophy, I think of myself as an amateur in that field and always will, because in philosophy one can never come to the full comprehension, but that is not its deficiency comparing to other sciences, quite the contrary.
So, that is about enough for introduction, I hope we will have good and constructive discussions :)
I made my profile here some time ago, but didn't used it really, until yesterday. Finding this group is a good start to keep me interested.
Cheers!

[Paul]

Kristina wrote: "Well, hello! Let me introduce myself - my name is Kristina, and I am student of philosophy, which is why I was immediately drawn to join this group. Also, English is not my native language, so firs..."

Hey Kristina!

so you're a student of Philosophy? do you mean that you are studying Philosophy in school? If so, that's really cool! How is that going for you?
Where do you go to school at?

who are some of your favorite philosophers?

[Martin]

Another introduction: I became interested in philosophy late in life (I'm in my 70th year now), in the sense that instead of merely having an educated interest in it, it now suddenly seems vital, and I spend many waking hours wrestling with its problems.

I'm very impressed with the high level of discussion here, and the atmosphere of educated politeness among the posters. All of this I think stems from Tyler's energy in getting it going five years ago. So thanks to Tyler.

The only person I know here is "Everyman", who is/was in the Shakespeare Fans group.

[Kristina]

Hello Paul!
Yes, I study philosophy on the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade (I'm from Serbia, Belgrade is our capital city). I'm now on my third year, and it's going quite well :) It a bit hard for me to answer who my favorite philosophers are, because now I'm trying to get to now different philosophies and to understand.

Hello Martin, and welcome! It's never late to get interested in philosophy, because, for me, questions that philosophy asks are somehow in our very nature.

[Tyler]

Let me extend my welcome to all of you who have posted introductions recently -- Hassam, Oceans, Stephan, Paul, Arghya, Kristina and Martin. Thanks, too, for your kind comments.

Kristina has started the latest thread here, the one on philosophy in motion pictures. I'm glad for this new discussion topic and I see some people are already posting to it.

Keep in mind that if you have a topic you'd like to discuss and you don't see a thread for it, you can always start one, as Kristina has done. I'm impressed by the variety of subjects members have already thought of. Also, members can add books to the bookshelf, and that will give all of us new ideas for our reading.

Again, thank you the introductions. It's gratifying that people from such different backgrounds find common ground in their interest in philosophy. But, of course, this is something philosophy does particularly well.

[J.]

Hello,

I'm just a guy who thought that reading the works of philosophers would help me sort out life. Instead, it has left me listening to an ongoing argument between Marcus Aurelius and Friedrich Nietzche, in the back of my head.

[Martin]

Hello J. Who would you say had the upper hand in the argument at the moment? (I'm rooting for Marcus Aurelius...)

[J.]

Martin wrote: "Hello J. Who would you say had the upper hand in the argument at the moment? (I'm rooting for Marcus Aurelius...)"

Hello Martin,

Usually, the emperor controls the debate, but the german is like a pitbull. I think that I keep coming back to them because they are fairly well matched. As opposed to Kant vs. Bentham, that match-up ends with Jeremy sitting in a closet with his head between his feet.

Out of curiosity, which philosophers do you often juxtapose?

[Martin]

You are well ahead of me, J, I struggle to understand any of them.

I do contrast Russell and Coplestone, because of their debate on the existence of God (reproduced in Russell's "Why I am not a Christian"), but all I know of Coplestone is his contribution to this debate.

[J.]

Don't worry about it, Martin.

I really don't know or understand that much. And as near as I can tell the great minds of philosophy that we are following, had plenty of trouble working it out themselves.

[Duffy]

This reminds me of a passage in End Zone, where one of the lineman comes out with "Who was the greater man, Marcus Aurelius or Edward Gibbon? Take your time, the answer is not as obvious as it first appears." (Forgive the paraphrase.)

[J.]

Duffy wrote: "This reminds me of a passage in End Zone, where one of the lineman comes out with "Who was the greater man, Marcus Aurelius or Edward Gibbon? Take your time, the answer is not as obvious as it fir..."

I can think of two funny reasons for Gibbon.
1) Gibbon can get people to read 1,800 pages, while Aurelius can only get people to read 250 pages.
2) Gibbon was an englishman and member of parliament who had the cojones to publish volume I of "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" in 1776.

[Luna]

Hello !

I am indeed new to philosophy. I must admit that I have become interested in philosophy through hermeneutics, more precisely philosophical hermeneutics.

I am used to names such as Descartes, Plato, and all the famous philosophers, but I never really read their works. It was Heidegger who made me take philosophy seriously.

[Logan]

How's it going, guys?

I got into philosophy at a young age, but I read it piecemeal, in the same capacity I might have read old Victorian novels: it was good stuff, but not the best. In other words, I know almost nothing about philosophy. My primary interest is in ancient languages. I know Latin fairly well, am re-learning Greek, and have dabbled in Hebrew and Anglo-Saxon. In the midst of getting my undergrad degree in Liberal Arts (I was an anarchist at the time) I was injected with a powerful dose of Friedrich Nietzsche (The Gay Science, The Birth of Tragedy, Human, All Too Human, Beyond Good and Evil). I've been edging away from the strong smell of Nietzsche lately because frankly he's just too much for me right now. But he did reawaken my truest passion, classical literature. I'm getting a degree in epic poetry now, and I'm hoping to supplement it with some studies in political philosophy, as I was also given a brief introduction to Leo Strauss and realized that philosophy is really where I want to be.

The plan from here is to go for a graduate degree in classics and study the philosophers (especially the presocratics, Plato, Aristotle, all that good stuff) in their original tongues. I'm no philosopher, and though I'd like to be a professional scholar it seems that poetry is my fate, Homer and Hölderlin my heroes. For now, however, I'm just trying to establish a lay of the land, understand what I've gotten myself into and where I'm going. Heidegger, Nietzsche, Hegel, Machiavelli, Augustine, and Plato all seem pretty distant right now, but I want to keep them in mind as I move forward. I'm here to discuss and primarily to learn, because Lord knows you can't get a real education in four years.

[Tyler]

Hi Logan --

Welcome to the group. I recently read a history of the English language and became interested in its Anglo-Saxon origins, too. As well, I think political philosophy is an unavoidable part of the response to the old question, "What should man do?"

Feel free to post anywhere; if you don't see a topic you like, you can start your own thread. Again, thanks for your post and welcome to our forum.

[Alan]

Logan, your background in ancient languages will be invaluable in your study of ancient philosophy. With regard to your interests in Nietzsche and in Leo Strauss, you might be interested in reading my April 19, 2014 post in another thread in this group: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/....

[Alan]

Addendum: Logan, as you probably know, the Loeb Classical Library reproduces most of the writings of the ancient philosophers and poets in their original languages with English translations on the facing pages: the Loeb editions can be located on Amazon by entering "Loeb Classical Library" in the publisher field in the Amazon "advanced search." The Loeb translations are not always the best, as most of them were done by nineteenth- or early twentieth-century British scholars who assumed that their readers already knew Greek and Latin from years of training at the exclusive English prep schools ("public schools"). The Loeb translations were therefore more in the nature of interpretations rather than literal translations. For the most part, the Straussians have produced the best English translations, following Strauss's emphasis on literal translations (to the extent possible). I have recently discovered the translations of Joe Sachs, formerly of St. John's College (apparently now retired). I am not sure whether he can be described as a "Straussian" (similarly, I'm not sure I can describe myself as a "Straussian"), but his translations appear to be quite good and in the Straussian literal translation tradition (though some of the Straussians have competing translations, e.g., as with Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics). I have some knowledge of Attic Greek but no knowledge of Latin. I have found that Aristotle is fairly easy to read in Greek, especially when comparing the Greek to a good English translation. Plato (who is much more literary than Aristotle in the extant writings of the two philosophers, Aristotle's dialogues having been lost) is more difficult, and the poets are even more difficult.

[Cathy]

Hi all, I'm starting Grad School and will be taking a class in philosophy. I have managed to escape philosophy courses all my life and I thought I might read a few of the basic books so I won't be so dumbstruck when class begins. Any suggestions on what to start with?

[Tyler]

Cathy wrote: "Hi all, I'm starting Grad School and will be taking a class in philosophy. I have managed to escape philosophy courses all my life and I thought I might read a few of the basic books so I won't be..."

Hi Cathy --

Welcome to the group. This thread has some good suggestions.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

The bookshelf, too, has a section listing introductory reading. I wouldn't try to read anything overly long for an introduction to philosophy.

[William]

Cathy, what philosophy course will you be taking? That makes a bid difference in terms of what readings might give you a good background for the course material. Alternatively, you might want to contact the professor for recommendations or start the assigned readings early.

[Cathy]

Tyler wrote: "Cathy wrote: "Hi all, I'm starting Grad School and will be taking a class in philosophy. I have managed to escape philosophy courses all my life and I thought I might read a few of the basic books..."

Thanks!

[Cathy]

Cathy wrote: "Tyler wrote: "Cathy wrote: "Hi all, I'm starting Grad School and will be taking a class in philosophy. I have managed to escape philosophy courses all my life and I thought I might read a few of ..."

Great idea; I'll contact the instructor and she suggests.

[A.]

I just joined this group--I've been on Goodreads for a while and am just now starting to explore groups here. My first real encounter with philosophy was in a first-year university logic course that I passed by the skin of my teeth and felt like I understood nothing. Eventually I realized some of it had sunk in and was actually useful. A few years later, I had to take a philosophy of language course for my degree. It took about half the semester for anything to start making any kind of sense, but then I suddenly realized philosphy was fun and interesting. In grad school, I took another language philosophy course, followed by a directed study in semiotics. Semiotics seemed to really tip the balance for me. I suspect that if I end up doing a Ph.D at some point, it will lean towards philosophy and have something to do with semiotics.

Lately I've been steadily adding to my collection of philosophy texts. I lean towards semiotics and aesthetics, and while I disagree with him quite frequently, I'm extremely fond of Nietzsche. I read a lot of Peirce and Deeley and am currently making my very slow way through Buber's "I and Thou."

I thought some of the discussions here looked interesting, and I need more motivation to finish reading some of the works on my bookshelf; it's harder to do when I don't have someone I can really discuss it with.

[William]

Yes, philosophy is more interesting and profitable when you have other people with whom to discuss the ideas. Keep us posted on your reading.

[Robin]

To be honest, I am not a philosophy person. Except for knowing philosophy is about trying to come up with answers to life's big questions I don't know anything about this subject. Though that is a great excuse to join a group that is about the subject you don't know much about.
I am new to reading as well. I know how to read and I have read books when I was a kid. Growing up that changed to text books and magazine articles. Though recently I have wanted to read more for fun. Problem solving and thinking about things have always been a pleasure. So, philosophy seems like something I would find a-lot to chew on. I'm happy to be apart of this group and reading about your posts in the forums. Hopefully I can soon add to the discussion.

[Bob]

Thanks for creating this group. I have not delved deep into philosophy though lately I have been getting interested in looking into deeper concepts. This interest was spurred on by watching You-tube videos.
This might seem odd to most people because what comes to mind surrounding you tube is cat videos and people doing stupid stuff on camera. Though it is also the world's soup box. From people trying to debunk evangelical Christians through hard science to people giving snappy slide show presentations on the meaning behind playing video games.
I found this type of entertainment to be fascinating.
The questions that I'm most interested in exploring are ones concerning it's self with art, being an illustrator and artist this area has my attention and what philosophy has to say about it. (Looking at my big book of Art Theory). Also being a Gamer I'd like to explore philosophy questions that look at if Games are Art and how do they serve each other into today's world of electronic stuff.
I am unsure if this subject is appropriate for philosophy but I find it fascinating.
Among other areas of philosophy, the meaning of existence, is of interest to me. Though that is probably the 'biggy' in philosophy.

[R.J.]

I welcome Robin and Bob's inquiries as to what philosophy can offer and I really believe it can help them . After I entered my philosophy course at University I found that it gave me an analytic power I did not have before - after the course many things looked different. For example, in seeing the movie The Matrix one can understand the world could be an illusion and many philosophers pondered on this question, the most famous being Rene Descartes who said (in french & latin) "I think therefore I am" - which rules out the illusion - unless you consider some of the skeptical philosophical objections such as 'does "I" exist?' (!) - my own interest is in blending philosophy with science and maths to reach real world conclusions. For example, taking Bob's interest in Art - here perhaps Fractals could provide a link between Art, philosophy, maths and science in that Fractals are definitely artistic and can be works of art in themselves whether man made or occurring in nature (from landforms, coastlines to plants and animals). They derive from mathematics but it seems that they define biological forms from biological growth to how a heart beats linking to science - the link to philosophy? - Fractals have been called the "thumbprint of God" so the philosophical significance may provide more meaning than mere Fractal mathematics.

regards

RJ

[Stephie]

I don't believe I've introduced my self yet.

I am completely self-taught. I have never taken any philosophy class. This might be because I didn't want a teacher telling what to think, which is probably groundless.

I am attracted to philosophy, because, in my mind, it is all about asking questions. This I love to do. My girlfiend once described me as a big question mark. I find questions to be more important, than answers. My motto might be: The only good answer is one that leads to another question. I found this quote in my email: "Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers." — Voltaire. I would also have to say - woman.

The topics I am most interested in (no particular order) are:
1. Philosophy of Mind
2. Philosophy of Religion
3. Epistemology
4. Philosophy of Mathematics
5. Ethics
6. Philosophy of Science.
7. Scepticism

My views in general:
I am a realist when it comes to science; I think science describes the real world well enough. In ethics, I'm mainly atrracted to virtue ethics (ala Aristotle); although consequentialism has some value for me. Therefore, my day to day actions are guided by pragmatism. In philosophy of mind, I am a materialist of some kind--brain=mind. My belief, as far as the philosophy of religion is concerned, is atheism--there is no god(s). Epistemology is a jungle.

Not all my philosophical positions are fully compatible, but I am okay with that. Paradoxes and contradictions don't bother me, over much.

If there is any overall guiding principle in philosophy, it would be metaphysical naturalism, and I love for to be challenged; although, I am firm in my beliefs, I find nothing wrong with examining them when there is reason to do so.

[Stephie]

R.J. wrote: "I welcome Robin and Bob's inquiries as to what philosophy can offer and I really believe it can help them . After I entered my philosophy course at University I found that it gave me an analytic p..."

I've never heard of that quote about fractals before. I am a bit surprised by this because I programmed fractals into art, so I've read quite a bit about them. Do you know who said this, or do you have a source?

I will have to say, I don't believe they are the grand solution.

[R.J.]

I agree they are not the grand solution. I think the atheist version is "fingerprints of nature" but I do not know the origin of the widely quoted "thumbprint of God" description of Fractals.
As you like questions , regarding the materialism of brain and mind, what scientific explanation do you have for the story about Pamela Reynolds (featured also on the BBC) shown in this video?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GleW0...

[Hazuki]

I'm doing Ethics and Philosophy for A Level so I thought joining this group might be useful :)

[Stephie]

R.J. wrote: "I agree they are not the grand solution. I think the atheist version is "fingerprints of nature" but I do not know the origin of the widely quoted "thumbprint of God" description of Fractals.
A..."

I'll try to get back to you on this one.

[Rahul]

Philosophy,I believe, it attracts people when they are in need of a support, something to hang on when they are in the verge of falling into a dark, deep and deadly pit. It hit me hard as soon as I realized I was going on a wrong path, maybe towards that pit. . That's when philosophy aided me.
My first read was of Robin Sharma, and don't know what happened after that; something was filled in me. I felt complete at that moment. Some out of my many questions were answered. Some kind of relief I felt that moment. It was my 17th book in my life. But still, like first love, I still am stuck to it. If this is what I feel for just a single book, I wonder how it would be to keep reading such books. :)

I'm Rahul from India, by the way. . :D

[Robert]

Hi, everyone! I love philosophy and have been hard at it for about 39 years now... and have only just scratched the surface.

I'm such an addict that my preferred car listening material is NOT a book on tape or even NPR... but Nigel's "Philosophy Bites" podcast. I heartily recommend it. It's for everyone who cherishes calm, rational, quiet conversation about things that matter in life.

[Olga]

According to Ayn Rand, Physichs and Philosophy are two most important sciences in the world. I'm not really good at Physics, so now I'm working on my Philosophy :)

[Adam]

Olga wrote: "According to Ayn Rand, Physichs and Philosophy are two most important sciences in the world. I'm not really good at Physics, so now I'm working on my Philosophy :)"

If I recall correctly she wanted to study Mathematics and believed it was one of the most philosophically important subjects, but she wasn't able to figure it out very much.

[Olga]

Adam wrote: "If I recall correctly she wanted to study Mathematics and believed it was one of the most philosophically important subjects, but she wasn't able to figure it out very much. "
Many philosophers were also mathematicians. Or the other way around. That can't be just a coincidence

[Karin]

Tyler wrote: "So ... how did you become interested in philosophy and its many children? Are you new to the subject? What part of philosophy do you like best? Which topics do you want to find out more about?

Yo..."

I was born with a philosophical nature and bent, and the only course I aced in college was a methodology course; had I only known that taking classes involving thinking would be much easier for me than courses involving memorization, I'd have probably majored in it. I may have trouble remembering someone's names or historical dates, but I can read a book on philosophy and understand it without prior instruction (annoying, isn't it?). I am not keen on postmodernist philosophy, and hope that's okay, too, because I'm happy to agree to disagree.

That said, and I hope people aren't antagonistic to this here, I ended up moving to Christianity. However, I'm still interested in the history of thought, how philosophy shapes societies now and in the past, how it underpins scientific paradigms, polities and many other facets of human life.

I'm joining this mainly to see what's up on this group. I'm moving here from my old reading forum, Shelfari, and am happy to have found this group.

By the way, while I loved reading Socrates, etc, I got so fed up with Plato's style in The Republic, that I tossed it aside half way through, but I am considering rereading it once I read a couple of other books sitting unread on my self (one by Sir Karl Popper that I bought not too long ago; I"ve only ever read one chapter in it, prompted by debates over the origin of life and me being the only one in that discussion to ask where and when the concept that all true science must be falsifiable arose--thanks to some of the ID books I read, I found the source), the other's title and author I can't remember off the top of my head, but it was highly recommended by a friend, and it's been sitting on my shelf for about 7-8 years).

So, one of the things I hope to get out of this is more motivation to get back to reading more philosophy, etc.

I'm not sure what area of philosophy I like best, since I have a love/hate relationship with it.

[Sasha C.]

So for all of you who've been with interest in philosophy for a while...

Do you have a single philosopher (or a select few) with whom you identify and share values / outlooks the most? Or do you generally survey the field and get bits of pieces of your favorite thoughts from various places? Or do you not have "favorites" at all, and it's more like a passive observance of human nature through a series of various lenses?

[Amit]

HI! I am Amit, an academic social scientist and educational administrator based in India. Joined this group recently to connect to a community of avid and interrogating minds that are both open as well as sensitive. Look forward to exchanges with members that enlighten and empower.

[Turbulent_Architect]

Annelida wrote: "So for all of you who've been with interest in philosophy for a while...

Do you have a single philosopher (or a select few) with whom you identify and share values / outlooks the most? Or do you ..."

I have sort of been climbing a ladder of favourites, so to speak. It all began when I encountered Peter Singer in first year university. I was sympathetic to his utilitarian position and applied myself to reading almost all of his published works. He was my favourite for a while.

Soon, however, I found that I was unable satisfactorily to ground my largely utilitarian position. This led me to the writings of R.M. Hare. I was taken by his rigour and clarity, and his position seemed to me to be a very large step in the right direction. I again applied myself to reading almost all of his published works. He was my favourite for a long time.

Hare's linguistic approach led me to the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein, my next favourite. Then the insufficiencies of the ordinary-language approach led me to want to replace the linguistic foundations of Hare's ethics with phenomenological ones. This led me to Merleau-Ponty, another favourite. The next rungs on the ladder were Jürgen Habermas and Charles Taylor, both of whom are in some way achieving a similar synthesis of universalism and phenomenology. This is where I am now.

[[deleted user]]

Hello. This seems like a nice group! I studied political theory in school, but I am much more interested in AI, and things of that sort these days. I am still interested in the political theory side of things as it pertains to peace-building and the improvement of the human condition throughout the world, however, but I am currently mostly interested in various other topics, such as linguistics (the structure of language and communication), and cognitive modeling.

Cheers.

[Cody]

Howdy. I have no formal degree in philosophy, but I did focus my studies on philosophy in so much as I could getting my associates, and the time I did spent at university was mostly spent expanding upon the education in philosophy.

I didn’t finish with university, and philosophy is my hobby, not my profession. However, I am actually working on building a formal moral philosophy of my own design based on my own studies. I've been thinking on the matter for many years, but I've just started taking formal notes and started to flush it out properly.

The main thrusts I'm aiming upon are to prove most systems of morality, or ethics if you prefer, are left lacking because they either focus on intentions or on consequences. I don't think this is correct, I strongly feel it is both. Society presupposes both by using both.

I am of a mind that if I believe morality is a real thing, then any theory I come up with about it has to match how we actually deal with morality, as people and societies. On top of that, I have a hunch that the idea of "gray morality" is merely an illusion. I'm on a quest to discover the different source of gray morality and dispel them as only appearing gray for this, that, or the other reason. A daunting task that may prove to be fruitless.

However, for the most part, I am planning on observing and absorbing. I'll probably be background. I'm just bothering with this post at all just to let people know who I am, and why I'm here. and maybe to say who I am if I do happen to post.

[Mark]

I am currently interested in the way the history of western philosophy is presented books written for a general audience

Hi, Jan,

of course you dont need me to point this volume out to you, but what do you think of Russell's History of Western Philosophy? I found it absolutely fascinating, well-written and in-depth. General introductions into the history of philosophy, in my view, necessarily cannot go deep and only skim the surface, leaving you wanting more. For an introductory text, I think Russell delivered a total gem.

The other thing that I find unsatisfactory about intros into the history of philosophy is that they - again necessarily, driven by their chosen purview to talk about the history - do not talk about themes in philosophy. A brilliant text that I think gives an exemplary overview is Philip Hübl Folge dem weißen Kaninchen: ... in die Welt der Philosophie. I think this is only available in German but I see you are reading Dutch so the chances are that wont be a problem for you.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Folge-dem-we...

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

I'd be interested to hear how your project is shaping up... Keep in touch, cheers, Mark.

[Eileen]

I just joined this group and look forward to the possibility that it will return to being substantively active as it appears it was a couple of months ago.

[Jack]

Hi there,

I am a philosophy and theology teacher and am just getting my head around the goodreads discussion groups. I am really looking forward to getting involved in these discussions.

I am also seeking (if you are interested in philosophy) some people to review my new book. It is an adventure story, based around many of the topics that I have seen on these threads, and is meant as an introduction to Philosophy - so I need people who are either familiar with these topic, or would like to know about them - I need to see if the text works as an introduction. I can send a FREE!! mobi file or a free paperback book to you if you are in the UK. (If you want to look the book up it is called 'Jack's Path' by Jack Pilgers on Amazon). If you are interested let me know adn I would love to hear from you.

I hope you are all well and safe.

Jack

[A Tidal Wave]

Hey guys,

Am from India, currently pursuing a degree in law (1st year student here) .

I always found the questions put forward in philosophy very intriguing and it was only recently that I have started reading more and not just web surfing articles to find answers or to study.
So in order to learn and gain more perspective, I wanted to find a community that has more advanced knowledge and willingness to put forward arguments, it was only then that I remembered of goodreads. So yes am very new to goodreads.

Currently there is a lockdown in my country due to Coronavirus pandemic due to which by now my classes are online and has left me with plenty of time to dig into philosophy even more.

Am fond of gaining different perspectives and I love to ask questions. Other than philosophy, my interest lies in various other humanities as well like political science, political ideologies, metaphysics and also quantum physics. I also have a lot of interest in psychology and studied it for 2yrs in my plus two including political science and history.

[Rhonda]

A Tidal Wave wrote: "I always found the questions put forward in philosophy very intriguing ....Am fond of gaining different perspectives and I love to ask questions. "

Excitement and interest is critical to the success of any group and especially in philosophy. Answering questions takes only a moment, but the asking of questions, especially the right questions, is a lifelong journey. I can only say that your lovely attitude is a breath of fresh air.

I have thought that this group has developed a high degree of cynicism in the past few years. I think it was Oscar Wilde who suggested that one had to let people be right because it gave them compensation for not being anything else. May God help us from becoming self-righteous.

It is the sharing of serious issues that is important, not that we should best one another in argument, but that we come to fundamentally understand that, by the grace of God, we are all part of the same human planet, each seeking answers to things about which we only have a glimpse of understanding.

[A Tidal Wave]

Hey Rhonda, I agree with your kind words and thank you for the heads up, I really value it.

Hopefully we get along well and like you said be successful at seeking answers about which we only have a glimpse of understanding and of course it shall all be done by the grace of God.

Also, just wondering what makes you think that this group has developed a high degree of cynicism and why?

[Jimmy]

One of the things that would help here is for a group of co-moderators to help out. That would be up to Tyler, the current moderator, to set up. I run the Green Group, and we have a group of moderators, so we have very few problems and keep up with management of the group.