I've recently been interested in philosophical texts, mostly in ones that make an emphasis on the origin of life, the development of consciousness and the after-life.
Isn't philosophy the mother of all sciences? i'm quite new to this so, then what exactly is philosophy?
nameless
Favorite Answer
Philosophy is 'original critical thought';
Critical Thinking Mini Lessons
http://www.skepdic.com/refuge/ctlessons.html
Bertrand Russell on Critical Thinking
http://www.bu.edu/wcp/Papers/Educ/EducHare.htm
As opposed to the 'scholastic';
"..."philosophologists", a term coined by Robert Pirsig ("Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", "Lila") to denote people who study other people's philosophy but cannot do philosophy themselves. He also says that most people who consider themselves philosophers are actually philosophologists. The difference between a philosopher and a philosophologist is like the difference between an art and aesthetics; one does and the other studies what the other does and theorizes about it."
Anonymous
A good place to start is with the small book "Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction," published by Oxford University Press. It's for people who don't know anything about philosophy but are interested in learning about it from experts who know what they're talking about (unlike most of the idiots on this website).
Your library probably has the book. If not, you can buy it pretty cheaply.
?
None of these things are properly in the realm of philosophy. The origins of life, or "abiogenesis", is a branch of biology.
The development of consciousness is the realm of neuroscience, which is also a sub-set of biology. "How the brain works".
The after-life? That would fall under religious beliefs. It would not be a proper subject for philosophy per se, as it is an irrational belief, unsupported by either logic or evidence.
Anonymous
Philosophy is all about thinking.
Science came out of "natural philosophy" and uses empiricism and inductive reasoning(mainly; there is some deductive reasoning).
Empiricism is observing things: example: "I watched the ball fall from the roof"
Inductive reasoning goes from specific cases to general conclusions:
"9 billion identical balls fell from this roof. So it will happen in the future with any other identical ball"
The afterlife things would go within theology, which makes some assumptions that go beyond logic-religious claims.
Mr. Interesting
The best way to deal with everything in life is to simply learn and practice clear and honest critical thinking. This means being honest with ourselves about EVERYTHING.
Here's a place to start:
https://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/defining-critical-thinking/766
And you need to know this: True happiness, and in fact all emotion, is tied to our attitude.
I have been working on my personal mental attitude for many years and have gotten a good hold on it. I choose to have a positive mental attitude and I almost always feel happy.
The greatest discovery of my generation is that we can alter our life simply by altering our attitude of mind. We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude.
The greatest day in your life and mine is when we take total responsibility for our attitudes. That's the day we truly grow up. Attitudes are a secret power working twenty-four hours a day, for good or bad. It is of paramount importance that we know how to harness and control this great force.
Our attitudes control our lives.
Happiness is an attitude of mind, born of the simple determination to be happy under all outward circumstances. The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything they just make the most of everything that comes their way.
Start learning clear and honest critical thinking today. Start working on your personal mental attitude, and have a wonderful life.
Love and peace to you, forever.