tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post1606245536251845719..comments2024-03-14T04:16:20.472-07:00Comments on In Socrates' Wake: If solitude dies, does philosophy go with it?Michael Cholbihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02012523929044363216noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post-32034682114362825752009-02-24T11:41:00.000-08:002009-02-24T11:41:00.000-08:00Good point Ethics Girl! Dialogue and community are...Good point Ethics Girl! Dialogue and community are essential to the philosophic process.<BR/><BR/>I've always been a bit disturbed by the atomistic image of Descartes all alone in his stove-heated room wondering if anything really exists. <BR/><BR/>A bad starting point for a social animal!Dr. Matthew Wionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06250689234468638382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post-58237846643356708892009-02-24T06:31:00.000-08:002009-02-24T06:31:00.000-08:00I'm not too sure whether there hasn't been too muc...I'm not too sure whether there hasn't been too much emphasis on solitude in the past. After all, collaborative thought can be extremely exciting and useful.<BR/><BR/>Fair enough, we need to have a balance between the time we spend by ourselves and the time that we spend with others, but we can moderate that ourselves, and the fact that we have so much opportunity to engage with so many other people has to be a good thing.<BR/><BR/>I make no disguise of the fact that I think western philosophy has traditionally been dogged by a single minded egocentric individualism that separates people from each other and from the world that they inhabit. Perhaps too much time locked away in one's private cell could have this effect?Ethics girlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17798099918612490108noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post-45568820772255089942009-02-19T23:43:00.000-08:002009-02-19T23:43:00.000-08:00This is an extremely important question. I wonder ...This is an extremely important question. I wonder if the loss of solitude will kill philosophy, or at least diminish it. <BR/><BR/>I also wonder if we can even have real solitude, without that is joining some spiritual order.<BR/><BR/>Also interesting is what happens to our notions of the self now that social networks like facebook and myspace - not to mention YouTube - have radically altered the suppossed distinction between the Public and the Private - some might say even abolished it.Dr. Matthew Wionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06250689234468638382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post-82777582705414238462009-02-11T06:55:00.000-08:002009-02-11T06:55:00.000-08:00Emerson: It is easy in the world to live after the...Emerson: It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.<BR/><BR/>So, don't worry about it. Solitude will find those deserving of it.Thom Blakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00842876720820172673noreply@blogger.com