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Why Modern Philosophy Has Nothing to Say About Your Life

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Have you ever wondered why modern philosophy sounds like: 1. A bunch of anal nerds arguing over semantics? or, 2. A bunch of bitter losers complaining that the system has unfair? or, 3. A bunch of bruhs using quotes from Zeno overlayed on top of an image of a wolf? I've wondered about this a lot. And today I wanted to do a deep dive on this very topic. --- If you're like me, you're probably not a philosophy major.  At most, you may have read some Nietzsche as a teenager (or Demian by Herman Hesse),  heard about Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Kant, and Heidegger in a Philosophy 101 class,  perhaps came across de Beauvoir, Sartre, and Camus while reading a book or watching a documentary. Ultimately, you probably came into contact with philosophy because you had a question that a Google search, a conversation with a friend, or a GPT prompt could not answer. Teenage questions like: What is the meaning of life? What is my purpose? Is there a reason for my existence? ...you ...
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"I am a human being" vs. "I exist as a Human Becoming"

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"I am a human being" --- A simple enough statement,  but the more you look at it, the more you start wondering what it means, ...and whether the statement is true. "I" The anchor of the entire statement, yet the hardest to define. What is the "I"? Is it the collection of firing neurons in your brain, a continuous stream of memories, or simply the silent observer behind your eyes? It implies a distinct, isolated boundary between you and the rest of the universe — a declaration of subjective experience that no one else can truly access. "am" The verb of pure existence . It doesn't say "I think," "I do," or "I possess." It just declares being. It is the bridge between the subjective internal self and objective reality. To say "am" is to claim a spot in the timeline of the universe. "a" A tiny, easily overlooked article that carries a massive existential weight. By saying "a," you are i...
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Horror Vacui vs. Beauty of Empty Spaces

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Robert Therrien Untitled (Cloud) 1992 Whitney Museum of American Art --- 추사 김정희 (秋史 金正喜) 세한도 (歲寒圖) 1844 National Museum of Korea Two pieces of art;     one from the 20C, the other from the 19C,    one from the West, the other from the East,    both sparse, with plenty of empty space. Yet, the way the two artists approach empty sapce is a universe apart. In  Robert Therrien's piece, the empty space is loud, intrusive...almost violent. In 김정희's piece, the empty space is quiet, accepting...almost the main point of the painting. But why? I've asked that question many, many times. --- Group 1. A Baroque interior design (Palazzo Chigi Zondadari in Siena, Italy), exterior facade of the Dome of the Rock (Qubbat al-Sakhra), Book of Hours from the late Gothic or early Renaissance period, moderb Maximalist interior design, The Story of the Vivian Girls by the iconic American outsider artist Henry Darger (1892–1973), Mark Rothko’s Unt...
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