Is it a coping mechanism for some underlying psychological problem that is experienced among older males?
Think of those older men who like to lecture young people all the time, which ther advice is usually received with nods and smiles just to humor them.
2007-07-13 04:10:05 · 7 answers · asked by driving_blindly 4 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
Hard to pin that one down for me. I guess you don't want to die and have all that hard earned experience go to waste and see somone suffer as you did. Also it's fear based, having heard so many stories. What we'd like to see and so much we can't really do anything about, is frustrating. To some extent everyone would like to save the world, lord knows it needs it, but few really know how. With wider knowledge of all the disciplines and a depth in some, you start to see a pattern, but too smart too late. Even if you do see, some realities are hard to put into words since the mind thinks in images. With strong intuition or just listening very carefully and thinking a couple of thoughts in, you can get the reasons yourself. With women you have to think four levels in. Sorry, that's how it is. lol
2007-07-13 04:49:01 · answer #1 · answered by hb12 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Well I'm not old,
but I turned to philosophy because I found it interesting since I was kind of "born" into it. My father as well as some of my uncles always told me these philosophical answers to questions. I don't think that a day goes by that my dad doesn't tell me something he meant to be philosophical. I guess I kind of got it from him , but I never found his advice to be boring or unneeded. My dad is not that old himself but I must admit that in his lifetime there have been some tough times for him and everything he learned he passed down to me.
Well personally philosophy is third to what I most want to learn about which are Zoology, Architecture and then philosophy.
Of course I don't have the experience needed to become a great philosopher but I try.
In any case I plan to get degrees in these areas when I go to college after I leave high school
2007-07-13 12:53:45 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I'd say it's probably just the flip side of youth's feeling the way you do, trying to second-guess older men, while looking at kids five years younger than yourselves and thinking them utterly foolish.
We all tend to see ourselves at the pentultimate point of wisdom we'll ever reach. And we all sneer forward, smile backward, and do a lot of stumbling in the present.
2007-07-13 11:20:09 · answer #3 · answered by Jack P 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Men have always been dreamers of great endevours. When they reach the halfway mark, they realize that they were just dreams after all and will never happen. Then they want to know why and begin to philosophize to ease the pain of having failed.
2007-07-13 11:21:21 · answer #4 · answered by Sophist 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I am 56 now but remember that I was 11 when I first joined our public library. My first book was on Spinoza. What a mistake that was!
I should have started with the pre-Socratics.
What was your question again?
2007-07-13 17:38:34 · answer #5 · answered by Grey Raven 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Philosophy like religion means much to you when you have been through it all and you now appreciate better life vanities and token rewards, it is in this position that the old find themselves.
2007-07-13 11:19:20 · answer #6 · answered by solofaak 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think it has to do with dealing with the fact that their death is near.
2007-07-13 11:15:10 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋