Are Aspies born philosophers?

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Agreed. If you read a decent amount of Aristotle and the like, you just pick up the vocabulary and it becomes natural and helpful to use it. There certainly are pretentious people who just like to show off, but that doesn't mean that everyone who knows and uses the word 'epistemology' is one of those people. A specialized vocabulary can be useful for talking in detail about complex concepts (science and computer technologies have specialized vocabularies as well).

No one is born a philosopher but some people may have minds better suited to studying philosophy than others.

He definitely has those AS qualities.

I think your view is rather interesting, and it correlates with what I've observed and experienced myself. One of my very good friends (who's quite intellectual and philosophical in his own right, and we're more or less seen as intellectual equals, though he's a lot more diligent student than I am) has even, on multiple occasions, described me as "unsullied" and "pristine". I'm not entirely sure what he means by this, but apparently is has something to do with, as you described it, being in a much lesser degree fundamentally affected by the society and culture I've been raised in.

If this is indeed true for me, and it is for other aspies, than we may indeed have a better premise for philosophical development, though, as has been already mentioned, no one is born a philosopher. It is learned, as much of our higher mental processes, though to wonder seems such an intrinsic part of our human nature that you could argue that "the Path of the Philosopher" is a very natural one.

Philosophers yes, but not so quick to accept situations philosophically.

Actually, I'm basing my opinion on years of online discussions with the people I've described. Pretentious snoots. Posers. Intellectual wanna-be's with delusions of grandeur, I feel the same way about politics, which is why I rarely engage in such exchanges with people, especially since, in this day and age, individuals are so wedded to their ideologies that they denounce anyone with a differing view as EVIL. Hence, I never frequent the P&R forum.

That's not to saty there are no good philosophers/political pundits, but I don't have the energy to dig them out of the dung heap. If it suits you, fine. Personally, I'm an artist and "art" is quite useless, silly, and irrelevant, but I'm simply too down-to-Earth to bother much with "philosophy." It tends to involve speculation heaped on speculation with no end in sight. Not my cuppa.



*shrug* I use "big words" too, and I'm not afraid to look one up in the event I don't know it, but that simply hasn't been my experience with these "discussions."

There's an unfortunate segment of the population who feel like merely studying philosophy gives them automatic "brain points" (like the kids at school who used to carry R.L. Stine books around in order to look cool even if they didn't actually read them) and use crap words and phrases in an attempt to beat us laymen into submission. If you're one of the few who actually studies philosophy because you enjoy it, you're not on my Sh!t List.

I repeat: MEH.

Maybe... Some people think Immanuel Kant could have been an aspie. (He was one of the major philosophical figures).

Exactly



I don't think art is useless. And art has it's pseuds and snobs and posers too. Don't throw the babies out with the bath water!

The most meaningful philosophers and spiritual leaders have been persecuted, criticized, and hated by their governments, their people, and most of the established philosophical community. Nobody remembers the hordes of graduates of various universities and schools throughout history that agreed with everyone else and memorized whatever the silly words of the day happened to be. It's the people that put out new ideas and changed the way we think that we remember.

I have pretentions towards becoming a working artist but this part is so foreign to my thinking that I'm not sure if I can ever be part of that community. It's a good thing weird is tolerated.



Wasn't that a performance art piece at MOMA until the right to lifers protested?

I would say aspies are well suited to understanding philosophy. The basic requirements I have found are to have strong convictions but to maintain the ability to understand and accept conflicting theories, an understanding of how society works, the patience to question every aspect of a concept and the application/dedication/obsession to try and break the concept to ensure it's soundness.

I have a degree in political philosophy and found that the hardest thing is explaining theories in simple terms rather than waffling endlessly about every theory!

Maybe its why Aspies are so useless at small talk, our brains are on much bigger things.

I can remember being 5 years old and trying to get my mind around the concept of the universe being so big, that its infinity, and then when you got to the end of infinity, was it like the walls of a box, with the universe being inside it, and then what was outside the box?, an even bigger empty space of nothing that just went on and on forever and ever, just nothing, but the space it took up was something in itself? just couldnt get my mind around it and would think about if for many long minutes untill my head couldnt cope.

Maybe NT 5 year olds think like this as well?

I feel like I cannot think of anything or do anything without linking it to the origin of the universe or the meaning of my existence x sometimes I talk to my mum and she says "I'm not in the mood for a philosophical conversation ", I feel so spiritual and always think about the possible higher power whatever it may be and I always link science and religion together x some people think I am odd with the theories I come out with x

I like to philosophize about everything and I was also philosophical when I was a child.
Nambo, I didn't contemplate the infinity of the universe when I was 5, but I did know that the world was so big that it invalidated the concept of Santa Clause.

I'm known for philosophizing. Whether true of aspies in general is of course a good question. I'm inclined to suspect so, many of the conversations I've had here, and out in life, with other aspies has had a certain philosophical bent. Often overtly, but even on more mundane topics, the tone is still quite philosophical.

Well, we certainly spend a lot of time thinking about stuff most people don't bother to think about, don't we?