metaphilosophy
Due to the problem of deconstruction, we fall into a paradox where large swaths and techniques of philosophical thinking lead us into nihilism
What is the meaning of life? What is knowledge? What ethical framework should we live under? Philosophers have been doing nothing but slinging mud at every theory under the fun; there are so many counter-arguments and nitpicks for every philosophical theory out there that I feel like no theory can be correct.
And what if it doesn’t? Like what if nihilism is truly honestly the only philosophy to have. What is the meaning of life? Fucking nothing. What is the ethical thing to do? It’s all subjective, do whatever. What is knowledge? Well, cartesian demons might be deluding you, so you could never know anything with certainty.
Not only is this disheartening, it’s basically impossible to live by this logic. You can’t walk around saying “I can’t actually know anything because of Cartesian Demons, therefore I’m not going to get out of bed because the world might not be real!”
The solution to this is to intentionally be a hypocrite and maintain cognitive dissonance between what you truly believe is correct, and what philosophy you will act by in a practical manner. Here’s an example:
I don’t really think there is some universally morally correct way to act, but even still, I think it’s wrong to murder people. The first is my true belief, the second is a practical belief that lets me get around my day to day. (If we want to get real technical, my true belief is that any ethical framework is ad hoc, that no objective morality exists, and no coherent subjective morality can ever exist.)
To reiterate: Having a “practical” philosophy that is somewhat divorced from your core principles is important, because if you truly tried to act within your principles at all time, you would quickly fall into nihilism and be unable to act at all.
Random thoughts:
I think that everyone does this sort of metaphilosophy all the time, and it explains why everyone is a bit of a hypocrite.
https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/heap-problems The heap doesn’t exist, it’s only a human construct, just like all of philosophy.
In normative ethics, perhaps the question is how much knowledge you have about a moral scenario. #todo heuristics are helpful when you don’t know everything.
