Favorite (Mode/Form/Style) of Philosophy

Hello.

This poll is designated for the form of philosophy that most closely represents your principles of character, and of your outlook of the external world and of inner thought processes. Please, describe your position on this thread by providing some key points of your chosen philosophical form such as the example points of:

1. Aesthetics
2. Metaphysics
3. Ethics
4. Hermeneutics
5. Ontology

Note: Due to the poll limit of 10 options, I could not include some other philosophical traditions such as Scholasticism, Stoicism, Epicuranism, Pyrrhonism, Existentialism, German Idealism, Kantian thought, Leibnizian thought, etc.

Thank you.

Aristotelian thought is my answer.

To tell the truth, all the philosophical traditions, schools and movements are equally enjoyable for me, however, my choice went to Platonic thought.



I admire Ciceronian thought as a great synthesis of Greek and Roman thought, and his works of the Commonwealth/Republic (the political system of checks and balances), The Dream of Scipio (based on the Ptolemaic astronomical system of 'spirit' and the bodies of planets, surrounded by the outer ring of firmament as well as the soul), On the Orator (the art of speech), Laelius or On Friendship, Tusculan Disputations, etc.

I admire Hegelian thought for the Hegelian Dialectic-> "Master/Slave Dialectic", of thesis, antithesis and synthesis as well as the amalgamation of history and philosophy. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel believed in the collective whole of society for the benefit of the State for historical progression. (Soren Kierkegaard was an individualist and opposed Hegelian thought; his philosophy had a tripartite division: aesthetics, ethics and religious.) Also, Hegel was a proponent of hero-worship as Thomas Carlyle.

I admire Schillerian thought for the aesthetic component of philosophy; the immortality of beauty, arts, poetry; the love and eye for the ideal beauty and proportion would only cease to exist if humanity itself expires. Examples: On the Aesthetic Education of Man and the drama titled Wallenstein.

My favorite choice is Platonic thought out of the available options. Socrates/Plato were the first philosophers to recognize the immortality of the soul in the great works of Euthyphro, Apology, Crito and Phaedo that all detailed the life, trial and death of Socrates. The enthymeme of Plato's ratiocination is that the body is perishable and ultimately decays and dissipates but the soul is immortal and incorporeal. The soul is apotheosized and achieves eternal worth and value in such Socratic Dilaogues. In addition, the works of Symposium, Menexenus and The Republic deal with topics ranging from the abhorrence of sophistry, the definition of the arts, the comparison between painting and poetry, etc.



Please, explain your choices.

You may get more of a turnout if you dumb down the language a bit:

i.e:

Machiavellian: the held belief that people were by nature untrustworthy, malevolent and self-serving, and thus those in power could only maintain their position through exploitative and deceitful actions. (As in the Prince a renaissance era book on how to treat your pesants, and treat them badly.)

Also, I'd have to go with Sophistry, the art of being a wise-guy, and yes, that does mean smart*butt*

This is such an interesting thread but yes, please dumb it down for me! Can somebody go through all the thought processes and put it in laymen's terms?

I do not study philosopy often, but I remember hearing a lecture that talked about Existentialism. I enjoy this philosopy because it puts emphasis on the individual creating their own "meaning of life". I enjoy the concept of accepting that the value of one's life is a personal creation.

I believe in life we are always trying to figure ourselves out. We want to know who we are and where we belong. Existentialism explores these ideas, so that is why I connect to it.

For-> (chinothepony, Lord Arumen, etc.)

Here is an essay that I was divinely inspired with and composed in a few hours from memory; I consider myself to be highly informed and capable within the study of the field of Rousseauian philosophy. This essay takes a unique approach to Jean-Jacques Rousseau; it was accepted and published online by the Empire: Total War Heaven website regarding the Enlightenment History section.

I will post more articles that I have written for myself or those that have been published (example: My essay on Niccolo Machiavelli's political philosophy regarding republicanism was published in my college publication.)

Here is the link to my essay on Rousseauian philosophy->

http://etw.heavengames.com/articles/...-solitary-self

Platonic-
I chose because of the spiritual, and artistic reasons Conrad mentioned, and his thoughts on justice and the State.

...than what you have in mind but I very much adhere to Richard Feynman's "Primacy of Doubt" outlook/approach/point of view...Certainty and dogma always lead to dead ends.

what about the foo philosophy?

I believe that Cicero was much more of a statesman and orator than a philosopher, but his ideas about the role of an aristocracy versus that of the people are evident today in our system of republican democracy.

(to Zenrax)->

I must disagree with you on this post. First of all, oratory was considered a branch of philosophy; it became an art form by Corax and Tisias during the 5th century B.C.E in Syracuse, Sicily, under the patronage of Gelon I who was the founder of the Deinomenid Dynasty situated in Syracuse. Plato and Aristotle believed that in order to be an orator, the individual had to be divinely inspired and to comprehend the divine truth of the natural world, and of social mechanics. Theophrastus insisted on the union of rhetoric and philosophy which was espoused by Marcus Tullius Cicero. Cato 'the Elder' in a generalization of his Stoic concepts believed that only the philosopher was an orator and comprehended the art form. In essence, Marcus Tullius Cicero believed that rhetoric was a combination of oratory and philosophy.

In addition, the work titled The Dream of Scipio is based in part on Plato's Phaedo and details the concept of the immortality of the soul, and the cosmic order separating the realm of the living from firmament.

On the statemanship of Marcus Tullius Cicero, there are the works of In Verrem, In Catilinariam, Philippic speeches, The Commonwealth/Republic, etc.

i still like my foo philosophy.

Partial to Schiller. Though, I do find myself leaning to Machiavelli.

(to Thor, etc)->

I have a blog on Blogger.com that solely concentrates on Neo-Classical, Enlightenment and Romantic conceptions through aesthetic philosophy. I created this philosophy blog project, and I currently maintain it with another user. I have not added anything new recently but the articles already composed by me will help elucidate two philosophical traditions: Schillerian thought and Machiavellian thought.

This link leads to my brief analysis on some literary works of Friedrich Schiller that detail his aesthetic principles and conceptions:

http://jalowski.blogspot.com/2009/05...illers-on.html

This link leads to my brief anaylsis on a literary/political/biographical work of Niccolo Machiavelli, and of his inspiration by previous authors such as Plutarch, Petrarch, etc:

http://jalowski.blogspot.com/2009/05...-review-1.html

Let us continue with this thread discussion!