Topics Philosophy

Question Hello, I have long wondered of some of the questions I have seen on this website and I am glad to see them answered after discovering this website. But I too have a question, more personal though. This message was not written with intent to be posted but I just wanted to ask everyone this. I have been following this site for a couple of weeks now. I am a sophomore in high school. My Algebra teacher often tells me things that make me "freak out". He once got so deep in this conversation about reality and the universe he just said "It gets to the point where you have to ask yourself, Is any of this any real?". My mind have been permanently scarred by thoughts of reality and I find myself shaking at night, scared, thinking of all these things especially while reading questions on the website. I have recently been showing my friend this site and he has had the same experiences as me. Now to get to the question. Have any of you almost "Lost your mind"? I mean like has your life been changed forever after thinking of these kind of things for this long? I thought of solipsism long before I knew what the word meant. I read the question and was very pleased with the answer by Peter Lipton. Really the question is, How has philosophy affected your mind and/or life? I know this isn't really a question fit for the site but I would greatly appreciate if you emailed me the answer because I am very curious about you guys! DJ Hamilton,MT

Accepted:
November 30, 2005

Comments

Well, it is true that there are certain texts in philosophy that can induce a very weird, dizzying kind of feeling. (To name two texts that have had that effect on me: Descartes' First Meditation and the second chapter of Kripke's book on Wittgenstein.) And thinking about certain problems can give one a mental cramp and set off an anxious search for a way out of some awful corner one's painted oneself into. And it is also true, as Wittgenstein said, that listening to philosophers in conversation is sometimes like walking into a discussion in a mental asylum.

But all that said, I don't think philosophy alone can induce mental illness. The healthy mind will bounce back from the brink when the time comes to prepare dinner, visit a relative, shop for food. And the unhealthy mind will fasten onto whatever complements the contours of its particular nature, be it philosophy, chess, politics, space travel, etc.

I agree fully with all that Alex has said, but would add that the dizzying, off-the-rails experience that philosophical speculation can induce even in those of us who are middle-aged is, in my experience, one of the great joys of philosophy--the very reason for engaging in it. That sense that even the most fundamental assumptions of our daily life are open to refinement, speculation and even doubt is what makes the practice so exciting...even if, like many exciting activities, it sometimes makes you ill.