I wrote this and it is my philosophy and I am proud of it. What about it?

Question

Believe nothing, no matter who has said it, even if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.

Answer 1

I guess my only 'qualm' with this philosophy is the question "What if I'm wrong and you're right?" If I choose only to believe what 'feels' right to me. I may end up being trapped by my false beliefs. And thus my growth will be limited.

Answer 2

I'll go with that believe nothing bit, and extend it to your words, I'm afraid, since it's only a slight modifcation of a saying of the Buddha.
"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense. "

You *might* have acknowledged that.

It's a reasonable principle.
But consider the trap in exalting your own reason and sense:
Are you the wisest and sharpest person in human history?
"I don't get it" is not a measure of truth in the universe.
For you *or* me.
Something to consider, certainly, but not a solid and certain place to measure from.

Answer 3

This is a dangerous philosophy. It can be restated as "True for Me!".
Philosophy is an enterprise of clarifying thought and trying to find out
"What Is The Case." It is a logical fallacy to think that each of us has our own truths,
Truth is in the objective realm of reality. Meaning that it is as is regardless of what anybody thinks about it. You thoughts emotions and desires only affect your certainty of whether or not you believe in something. I assure you it is either true or false your feelings are a reflection of only you Truth is as is.

Answer 4

Wow, that is not only hyper-cynical, but self serving opportunism.

Cynicism is OK, you should never believe unilaterally what is placed in front of you, you should always question.

But to say that even you are not to be believed unless another agrees is hubris and fishing only for like-minded people.

Cynicism and Stoicism should be able to allow dissent as well as promote open-thinking.

Answer 5

Let's see.

"Nothing" is the opposite of "thing". Nothing, in itself, is quite real as such, it is quite real in its quality of being nothing, in its characterization of being nothing.

Therefore nothing, as real, is subjected to being believed, even fiercely postulated. Therefore you may proudly declare: "Believe nothing", or even warn: "Believe in nothing!". And nothing may have a great, even transcendental, and glowing, and even dazzling, dimension of its own, or no dimension at all, according to the circumstances, according to your mood, according to some preposterous feed-back. And you may make Nothing into your deity, into the object of your own Faith, proudly the object of your own religion

... unless it disagrees with your own reason and (with) your own common sense - unless you then find it preposterous.

But ... there may be some sort of transcendental meaning behind all this that is not up to you to fetch. Not yet. Maybe never at your present level of evolution.

Good luck!

Answer 6

Such an insight demonstrates the conditioning of your thought by the pre-suppositions of ideological modernity. It is not so much profound as it is prejudicial, and it is hardly original as it is derivative. Turn your scepticism toward the foundationalism of modern rationalism and see whether you can maintain your assertion about "common sense."

Answer 7

That's a good philosophy as long as you keep chicking your own logic and reasoning in light of new information and facts.

Daniel

Answer 8

This happens already- no one really believes anything that is outside their own reason- that would be a paradox. You've definitely made it a concise command, though.

Answer 9

Your assuming that your mind can know reality. It can't. It is the thing that makes up the dream in which you believe to be reality. Your just believing your thoughts. Don't trust them.

Answer 10

Wouldn't make a good bumper sticker.