Two Things that Drove Me Nuts Today
There's always something that gets under my skin. Today it's "regime" and "my philosophy".
1) "Regime" and "Regimen". A day rarely goes by when some writer, somewhere in the newspaper (usually in sports, but also in entertainment, lifestyle, arts pages, and even on occasion in op ed pieces, columns and even news reports) misuses "regime". Regimen refers to a plan or regulated course. A course of antibiotics is a regimen, not a regime. Your Weight Watchers plan is a regimen, not a regime. Your exercise program is a regimen, not a regime. A regime is a set of rules that operate a government. More colloquially, it also refers to authoritarian or tyrannical control of a government by an individual or group. It has other uses as well, but none of them refer to something that can be construed as a regimen. Where did you people go to school? BC?
2) "My philosophy". All those who wax reflective on their blogs about their philosophy, their philosophy of life, their philosophy about parenting, lack any understanding of what philosophy actually is. Having an opinion is not a philosophy. Musing on your relationship with your children is not a philosophy. Choosing a green lifestyle is not a philosophy. I'm not saying that many times there actually might be philosophical underpinnings about some of these things that are guiding your choices - but simply saying "my philosophy is x" indicates people using that phrase have no idea whatsoever what they are talking about.
So here is a questionnaire for you, to determine what your philosophy actually might be. (Take your time; on average it takes about 4 years to complete.)
a) Metaphysics: What system of thought do you subscribe to regarding the nature of reality, including the physical universe, the relationship of mind to body, and causation?
b) Epistemology: What system of thought describes your views concerning the nature and scope of knowledge? Can we, in fact, be said to know anything? Why? How does perception relate to knowledge? What exactly is possible to be known (see "metaphysics", above)?
c) Mind: What is the basis for your view of the nature of the mind? Is there a dualistic aspect to humanity? Or a purely materialistic one? (See "metaphysics", above.)
d) Ethics: What system of beliefs describes your views concerning morality? What are your meta-ethical principles? Are there absolute truths? What is your normative-ethical view? How can we determine how we ought to act in a given situation? How does your system of ethics apply to complex questions of behavior in contemporary society?
e) Religion: Based on your metaphysical and ethical philosophies, do you hold that God exists? Why? What is the relationship between faith and reason?
f) Politics: What system of beliefs describes your views on the relationship of government to the individual, and the relationship of individuals to society? What system of beliefs do you subscribe to concerning the nature of justice and law? How do your systems of metaphysics, epistemology and ethics reconcile with your philosophy of law and politics?
g) Language: What is the basis for your view on the nature of language? How does language work? Can a meta-language determine the fundamental similarities that tie all languages together - human and non-human? Can there be non-human languages that are actually languages?
h) Logic: What determines the validity of an argument? What types of arguments can be symbolized? What is modal logic? What is predicate logic? Do you agree with Bertrand Russell concerning philosophical logic?
i) Aesthetics: What constitutes the nature of art and beauty? Why? What does it mean when we say we enjoy something? What mechanism is at play when we derive pleasure from art, literature and music?
If you can answer even two of those questions in a coherent, reasoned fashion, score yourself full marks - you might actually have a philosophy. If you can't, just say "I think", or "I believe" instead of asserting your "philosophy".
For a deeper understanding of why "my philosophy" talk irritates me, see the following sites:
Comments
Post a Comment