Re: Philosophy (was: CPE: Corliss Lamont)

[Steven Belknap <sbelknap@UIC.EDU>]

Wittgenstein, who was a suicide, eventually concluded that philosophy was a
form of mental illness, or to be more precise, that the behavior of making
philosophical inquiry was a form of mental illness. This seems a defensible
position, given the tragic personal lives of most philosophers. Philosophy
is only dangerous when taken too seriously. Reading in philosophy is an
essential part of an education, as familiarity wiith mental illness is very
helpful in understanding history. The trial of Socrates is best appreciated
after several glasses of a good port. How about "pointless pondering" as an
English gloss for the lojban translation?

-Steven

Steven Belknap, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Clinical Pharmacology and Medicine
University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria