Linked Questions

22 votes
11 answers
132k views

What did Nietzsche mean by monsters and the abyss?

What do you think Nietzsche meant by "Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And when you look long into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you." (...
Michael Lee's user avatar
  • 1,041
11 votes
3 answers
3k views

Does Apology's Socrates contradict Crito's Socrates?

In Plato's Apology Socrates clearly indicates he would continue to philosophize even if the court ordered him not to: if now, when, as I conceive and imagine, God orders me to fulfil the philosopher’...
Emryss's user avatar
  • 111
8 votes
10 answers
1k views

What is the point of Human Existence?

I have no experience in formal philosophy, so I apologise for the crudeness and generalism of everything I say here. The Issue-: Every time I try to motivate myself by logically connecting the ...
NithilanRavikumar's user avatar
8 votes
3 answers
487 views

Does postmodernism in art criticism collapse into relativism? What's its merit?

Postmodernism rejects the idea of a universal truth and in context of literary art criticism it shifts the focus from the writer or the author to the audience and from constant meaning to unstable one ...
Luna's user avatar
  • 769
7 votes
4 answers
9k views

Nietzsche's Death of God: Why Zarathustra?

Has there been any literature dealing with the question why Nietzsche chose to make Zarathustra the "prophet" of his "Death of God"? In The Gay Science, the madman remains unnamed, ...
Patric Hartmann's user avatar
6 votes
7 answers
1k views

What does it mean to truly fail at life?

What does it mean to truly fail at life? I only ask because I suspect I have. It is not that I am immoral or even inauthentic, but it seems that all I can do is encourage attitudes and behaviours, in ...
user avatar
5 votes
3 answers
244 views

Should I trust my own thoughts when studying philosophy?

I sometimes find myself disagreeing with SEP or other seasoned philosophers. However, I am scared to trust my own thoughts lest my ideas are erroneous. I do not know whether to back myself and to have ...
tryingtobeastoic's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
208 views

Belief, in 'divine madness'

Theia mania (Ancient Greek: θεία μανία) is a term used by Plato in his dialogue Phaedrus to describe a condition of divine madness (unusual behavior attributed to the intervention of a God). Do ...
user avatar
4 votes
6 answers
1k views

Why should a theist care about what happens to the world after his/her death?

Consider someone who believes in any kind of reincarnation or perfect punishment after death, a theist. That is, all she/he does in this life is done in light of complying with her/his God(s) wishes. ...
famargar's user avatar
  • 149
4 votes
1 answer
391 views

Exploring philosophy behind "Catch-22" novel: individual in war

I am looking for the name and possibly deeper development of the system of ethics / morality exemplified by the attitude of Yossarian, the main protagonist of Catch-22 novel by Joseph Heller. ...
Roger Vadim's user avatar
  • 1,272
4 votes
3 answers
157 views

Do we create knowledge?

Stemming from the idea that knowledge is JTB (justified true belief), I have been thinking about the question posed above. There seems to be a difference between different kinds of knowledge. Take for ...
sometimes this sometimes that's user avatar
4 votes
5 answers
159 views

Nietzsche on balancing service to the creation of (or becoming) the Overman and living a life of ones own choosing?

So, I have been looking into Nietzsche. To be honest, I have thought a lot about Nietzsche for the past 2 years, and I am unsure of what to make of the nature of this need to become the Overman. My ...
Keaton's user avatar
  • 49
3 votes
5 answers
317 views

Violence vs Sex: Why are we typically more comfortable with graphic violence than explicit sex in gaming, television and film? [closed]

There is an apparent correlation between exposure to violence via the media and gaming, and anxiety, fear, aggression and desensitisation to violence. My observations may be biased or unusual, but it ...
Futilitarian's user avatar
  • 3,750
3 votes
6 answers
494 views

Can the laws of physics rule out disembodied minds?

In this article, philosopher Evan Fales argues that the laws of physics establish that disembodied minds (such as an immaterial God, for example) could not influence the physical world. Is it true? (...
JustAnotherInquirer's user avatar
2 votes
6 answers
1k views

Is Buddhism a religion or philosophy?

I am planning to live with Buddhist monks. But I am hesitant. I am not sure whether I shall be able to live with them without leaving my current religion. I think, if Buddhism is a religion, I am ...
user avatar

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