I love the smell of fresh paint in the corner.

Some observations:
People do not like to be proven wrong.
Some people would rather look right while remaining wrong, than become right after looking wrong.
People assume that if you think that they are wrong, that you also think that you are right.
People do not like being told the rules governing what is and is not a reasonable argument.
People do not like being told that there are such rules.
People really do not like being told that questioning such rules is incoherent (because in doing so they tactily accept them.)

Please to be how to go backwards? (more kant)

So I'm wondering how we ended up where we are now, when they were up to this in 1784.

Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-imposed immaturity. Immaturity is the inability to use one's understanding without guidance from another. This immaturity is self-imposed when its cause lies not in lack of understanding, but in lack of resolve and courage to use it without guidance from another. Sapere Aude! [dare to know] "Have courage to use your own understanding!"--that is the motto of enlightenment.

Immanuel Kant - What is Enlightenment?

what is a mirror a picture of?

"Men are so necessarily mad that it would be another twist of madness not to be mad."
-Pascal, Pensées.

I admire you stan for being so honestly mad. As Pascal, I think rightly, points out, you would be more mad not to be mad. Nevertheless, what I cannot help but wonder is 'what is stan so mad about?' So here we are stan, and I ask you, what are you mad about? Please think of this as an invitation to communication, and perhaps while you think about how best to express why you are mad you will keep this at the front of your mind.

Erosophy

I told a girl that I loved her, she asked if I meant "érōs", "philía", or "agápē".

We all know that philosophy is the love of wisdom. Some think that wisdom means true knowledge; hence, philosophy becomes the love of true knowledge. To me though wisdom is practical knowledge; so philosophy becomes something more like the love of knowing how to live well. So much for sophía. Being a romantic I'm slightly more interested in love, in particular which Greek word for love best captures a love of wisdom. I have not studied Greek as a language, and by no means am I an expert about these things, but from what I have managed to piece together there are three main words for love.

Firstly, there is agápē, which i think of as being downwards love. It is an altruistic love that is best captured by the love god showed us when he sacrificed his only son to save us. The reason for seeing it as being downwards love is that the object of agápē is something below you. As man is below god, the people who receive my charity are below me. I think it almost goes without saying that this is not the love that characterises a philosophers love of wisdom.

Next, there is philía, which I think of as being sideways love. It is a brotherly love that is best captured by the love between family members and friends. The reason for seeing it as being sideways love is that the object of philía is pretty much on the same level as you. I love my brother, and my brother loves me in return, and philía correctly describes the relationship in both directions. Strangely this is the word that is used to describe a philosophers love of wisdom. But doing so supposes that you are on equal terms with wisdom. This doesn't seem to square with the fact that the hero of philosophy, Socrates, is significant for expressing his own lack of wisdom and showing the same is true of everyone that he entered into discussion with. If a philosopher thought he was wise, then he would not be, and philía to me suggests that the philosopher thinks they are on the level with wisdom.

Lastly is érōs, which I think of as being an upwards love. It is a lusty love that is traditionally rendered as being romantic or erotic love. The reason for seeing it as being upwards love is that érōs is determined by the higher beauty and worthiness of the object being loved. It is a love of something that you do not have, but that you are you pursuing with your whole self. This is exactly the sort of love that a philosopher should have towards wisdom. To truly learn you must first realise that you lack knowledge. Once you realise this, yet see that it is pure and beautiful and worthy, then no obstacle will be great enough to stand in the way of you pursuing it with all your life. It is for these reasons that I believe Philosophy would be more accurately named Erosophy.

[edit: L2speelnoob]

hanged by Plato's rope.

Society, it seems to me, has a very effective mechanism for keeping people in line; if you say something people don't want to hear, then you're excluded from the conversation. I find that the more I study philosophy, the less possible it is to meaningfully discuss anything I care about with anyone else. I could say I feel like Benito Cereno, but you haven't read that either. The problem is that Socrate's message is a negative one. He is the wisest man alive because at least he realises his ignorance, which is to say if you think you know anything then you're wrong. It is a message that people don't want to hear, and once they had killed the messenger, it is a message which is largely ignored.

Night

The moon like a flower,
In heaven's high bower,
With silent delight
Sits and smiles on the night.

- William Blake, Night.

Regicide

I won a game of chess today; but I did not enjoy it. I did not enjoy because it is enjoyable; too enjoyable, too appealing, too much like tyranny. Therefore, because I naturally love it, I exercise my freedom to hate it.

People have done appalling things in history, but this only scares me because it could have been me doing them. People are doing appalling things around the world, but this only scares me because it could have been me doing them. People will do appalling things in the future, but this only scares me because it could be me doing them.