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Naut
Your post and the comments here stimulated me to write a post about "Why We Need Philosophy". Your mention of, and defense of humanism had nothing to do with it. So before you read it, please realize that I did not mean it as a rebuttal or attack on you. I do not put you in the same category as the "postmodern" humanists I attack in my post. I consider you an conservative ally, and I don't want to do anything to harm that. I am a bit puzzled, as you seem to be a conservative, how you can defend humanism, which is strongly liberal-leaning or sometimes flamingly liberal. You did state some of your reasoning. But again, I did not have you in mind when writing the post. No offense meant, and none taken, I hope! 
Cheers!
posted by
GoldenMean
on May 18, 2016 at 11:58 PM
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Naut, sorry to clutter up your blog...
... but I cannot resist another clip from The Outlaw Josey Wales. He rides to the Comanche camp to either talk to the chief, or kill him. He also saved two friends that the Comanches had buried up to their necks in the camp.....
posted by
GoldenMean
on May 16, 2016 at 10:17 PM
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A proper response
CCT-- yes the old Indian curled up with the young squaw, much to Josey's annoyance. Josey finally decided to curl up with her, but the old chief beat him to the blanket, LOL
Nautikos-- to your atheist description of Islam as 'disgusting, bloodthirsty, death-worshipping, totalitarian', I would importantly add "predatory". Islam preys upon other religions, trying to destroy them, replace them, or subjugate them under Islamic rule. For me, "predatory" and perhaps "parasitic" are good replacements for the word "evil". "Evil" is too vague, too over-used, dragging too much baggage. Call someone or a group or religion predatory and/or parasitic, and the meaning is more clear than "evil".
I love that quote of Goethe, but I disagree with it. I think everyone is a philosopher, even if a lousy one. Every person in the world has priorities, preferences, and values. That makes every person in the world a philosopher, whether they realize it or not. Philosophy is, in large part, the mental exercise of understanding the world around us, assigning meaning to and prioritizing its elements, and deciding what values or value systems we will use to guide our behavior in interacting with that world and the people in it. Therefore, everyone builds a personal philosophy, and the amount of effort and care they put into the construction of it will determine the quality of their life and their overall worth as a person. It could be said that one IS his or her philosophy. If it does not rule their life, then another person's stronger or better philosophy will rule their life for them. Philosophy rules people's lives, whether they embrace it, scorn it, scoff at it, in crowded city or remote jungle, whether they have even heard of the word "philosophy" or not.
To see the all-encompassing nature of philosophy, just go back to the original Greek definition of philosophy as the love of wisdom. In Greek, it breaks down into philo (love) and sophia (wisdom). So philosophy is basically the love and respect of wisdom.
However, I have seen much academic philosophy that is blatantly foolish and morally wrong. Such as that of Socrates, John Rawls, Immanuel Kant, Richard Rorty, Nietschze, and others.
Getting back to the universal importance of philosophy, as Mortimer Adler tells us in his book Six Great Ideas, "It cannot be too often repeated that philosophy is everyone's business. To some degree we all engage in philosophical thought in the course of our daily lives."
Ayn Rand warned in her book Philosophy: Who Needs It, "As a human being, you have no choice about the fact that you need a philosophy. Your only choice is whether you define your philosophy by a conscious, rational, disciplined process of thought, or let your subconscious accumulate a junk heap of unwarranted conclusions, wishes and slogans; which are random, unidentified, contradictory, and therefore lethal."
I would put most of religion in Rand's latter category of philosophy, including atheism. Atheism is, if anything, a more rigid belief system than any religion. But I sense that you are not truly an atheist, and that you and I are both closer to being agnostic, from opposite sides of the spectrum. I suppose I could call myself a Christian and agnostic at the same, who has acquired some spiritual knowledge, but is diligently searching for more.
posted by
GoldenMean
on May 16, 2016 at 8:29 PM
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Didn't the old Indian curl up with the young squaw. The bit I remember, no its coming back she was a bit on the plump side soon warm a wigwam, 
posted by
C_C_T
on May 16, 2016 at 10:05 AM
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That is a great point about what happens when faith is lost. While Christianity is going through an ebb time, Islam seems to be going through a major flow time itself.
posted by
FormerStudentIntern
on May 16, 2016 at 5:35 AM
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In the meantime.....
Here is a link to a clip from "The Outlaw Josey Wales". Josey (Clint) saves some people from slavery, rape, and torture. This is of course Hollywood-ized, but it is amazing how much justice a courageous marksman might dispense, in just a couple of minutes of battle. Warning: if you don't like this clip, you probably won't like the movie.....
posted by
GoldenMean
on May 15, 2016 at 8:13 PM
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Thanks, Nautikos
The old Indian chief also told Josey Wales "the white man is always sneaking up on me". But Josey Wales held no ill will toward the chief. Now the roles are somewhat reversed, in race and in morality..... the evil Muslims are always sneaking up on the whites, and everyone else. You really should watch that movie, it is heart-rending and inspiring, from the very beginning. I think it is Clint Eastwood's best movie, and possibly the best Western movie of all time.
As for the rest of your post, concerning philosophy and religion, I must beg for a bit of time to respond. I am trying to do my income taxes, and must devote my efforts to minimizing the pounds of flesh that the government extracts from me!
posted by
GoldenMean
on May 15, 2016 at 7:28 PM
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That was a good movie. Sons and Wiley together...I don't think I have missed one of his movies. LOL. Have a nice week naut and let's hope that the weather warms again.
posted by
Kabu
on May 15, 2016 at 5:24 PM
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Nautikos
That is a good movie, I've seen it more than once.
posted by
WileyJohn
on May 15, 2016 at 2:52 PM
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'To be a good person...' should be good enough. The rest is up to us, perhaps. 
posted by
Sea_Gypsy
on May 15, 2016 at 12:10 PM
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I see this so much in today's society, "When faith ‘evaporates’ in a society, when significant numbers of people ‘lose’ their faith, they tend to latch on to whatever ‘fashions’ of thought emerge at any time, without really comprehending what they ‘think’, and are drifting along in a kind of nihilism without being aware of it. There are, after all, the pursuits of daily life to keep one occupied…" It especially saddens me when it is friends and family in my own little world.
posted by
TAPS.
on May 15, 2016 at 12:07 PM
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