Someone once asked me who my favourite philosopher was over a game of pool. While usually quick witted, I was a bit taken aback at my uncharacteristic lack of a response. Though I uttered something foolish (not uncharacteristic) like Aristotle, I've come to the point where I need to set the record straight.
I am my own favourite philosopher.
Arrogant, sure, but honestly, can it be any other way? I remember being taken aback by the sheer simplicity of the question and the complicated answers it entailed: well, so and so was good on this point, but lack this and this, this guy was competent at this business, but an idiot on that, etc. And so as I weighed my response, I came up with the first name that I had the least problems with that I could think of at that moment. I missed, though, the idea that I, myself, choose bits and pieces of the philosophical smorgasbord of my experiences to create some semblance of a philosophy that I must base my decisions upon and weigh my existence against. While it may not be a perfect system, full of omissions and falacies due to my god given ignorance, it is a working system. A system in progress.
It kinda of bothers me the name dropping that invariably happens in philosophic discussions with those initiated in the arcane realm of Philosophy. "Blah blah blah Schopenhauer, Nietzsche blah. Blah Husserl blah Ponty blah blah." I don't really give a good god damn who said what, only if it has some personal significance and relevance to the discussion at hand. And while I love philosophy, for it's efficacy and it's dream of delving into the human condition and find what that really is, I hate - hate - the intellectual pissing contest it more often than not becomes.
What I do love is finding people that express their own views of their experiences and involve philosophic notions to explore the meaning or significance of that experience. It's rare, but it's out there. While that may sound like some touchy feely hippy crap, in my opinion, that's all philosophy is. We all have to come to terms with our own lives, and the philosophy of others will always fall short of our needs. We must come up with meaning for our existence so that we can continue to exist, and move forward. And though I give big props to those that came before that helped me become who I am, much love indeed, the ultimate end is a selfish one.
As it should be for us all.
I am the architect of my own best working philosophy.
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