Anyone for philosophy free of politics and religion?

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You made a classic logic error here.

"if you think, then you exist"

or

P -> Q

does not imply

Q->P

e.g.

"if you exist, then you think"

So, it is possible for people to exist even if they don't think, and this in no way contradicts "Cognito ergo sum".

Eleanor Roosevelt was a person, so therefore ....

SB2, I'd start with Walden. Not excitingly obscure or hip, but a classic and well worth it. His writing takes many forms, from introspective essay to third person dialogue between himself and others, and is often multilayed in it's message. On a whole I think it's a good reflection of a unique mind. I have a penchant for such "man into the woods" stories, and while Walden Pond isn't the High Arctic it's still fitting.

Actually, I'd suggest that and perhaps "The Snow Leopard" by Peter Matthiessen. At least pick it up and look at it.


All the above is very interesting, but I don't have much to add- I'm not into the "cogito ergo sum" brand of philosophy and don't know too much-

Whether or not I exist doesn't much matter: I am thinking, or I believe I am thinking, which is good enough for me.

I interact with something I call the world (becuase it helps(I think) to communicate with the other possible beings I believe to populate this world). Whether or not it actually exists does not matter- what matters is my experience, or what I percieve to be my experience, of this world.

The congress of my "existance" and my "experience" results in many "thoughts", "actions", and "reactions" with which I reintegrate my "experience" and "existance".

Ouch.

How does anybody with philosophy have philosophy free from polities and relgion. That is My Question can anybody answer It.

"Before I answer that question, I'd just like to make the point that..."

Sorry, that's the political answer.

Any philosophy will impinge on politics and religion, even if only by refusing to engage with these. The attempt is more to build something in the realm of philosophy without importing ready-made concepts from politics and religion.

They make convenient building blocks but the finished structure can be challenged on the grounds that it is composed of faulty bricks (assumptions and ideas). Try leaving out all assumptions and preconceptions, however, and you can find yourself seriously short of building material.


One attempt to work round this was a challenge to describe the structure and institutions of a society you would see as just and fair, *not knowing beforehand which role in the society you would have*.