Topics Profession

Question To escape all the dishonesty and inauthentic living in the world today, are you aware of any so called philosophers' retreats where anyone online interested in the subject get together for several days or weeks at the countryside or maybe a lodge in the woods?

Accepted:
July 13, 2015

Comments

Not as such, though perhaps

Not as such, though perhaps not quite for the reason you might think.

The discipline of philosophy isn't a cure for "inauthentic living." In my experience, at least, philosophers are no more and no less prone to being "inauthentic" than anyone else. Philosopher often have pretty good BS detectors, but being good at spotting BS and living "authentically" are probably only loosely correlated.

Philosophers who set their minds to it could no doubt offer up some subtle and interesting reflections on what counts as leading an authentic life. But being articulate about it and being good at doing it are very different skills. Compare: it's one thing to be a good art critic. It's another thing to be a good artist.

That said, some people who follow a particular "philosophy" may see the attempt to live authentically as closely tied to following that philosophy. This might be true, for example, of committed, thoughtful Buddhists (among others.) Such people may, on average, be more authentic than the average professional philosopher (who isn't, by the way, especially inauthentic, near as I can tell), but for all that, they aren't better philosophers, in my experience. It's entirely possible to lead an open, honest life while having no talent for philosophy. And it's entirely possible to be a talented philosopher while leading a mess of a life.

Question To escape all the dishonesty and inauthentic living in the world today, are you aware of any so called philosophers' retreats where anyone online interested in the subject get together for several days or weeks at the countryside or maybe a lodge in the woods? Accepted:July 13, 2015

Question To escape all the dishonesty and inauthentic living in the world today, are you aware of any so called philosophers' retreats where anyone online interested in the subject get together for several days or weeks at the countryside or maybe a lodge in the woods?

Accepted:
July 13, 2015