Vivarium: Philosophy Discussions On Any Subject

Lots of ILP people on PN,  you don't recognize the older members S57.

I've thought about in the past offering on Amazon.com a Philosophy Now alternative (they publish too on Amazon kindle), but that's well down the road.

Philosophy Now is a magazine I first found in Airborne School back in 2004, was even cursed out by the Sargent Major for reading it on the steps of my barracks. I quickly grew tired of reading about professors talking though. It was either Lorin or Lane Friesen (brothers)  who noted most academics are based personality wise out if the Thalamus, because that's the final tier of the brain that "receives" data from other actively working parts of the brain. They are your people who form bureaucracies,  the endless parliamentary procedures and deadlocks....  but they do very little actual thinking consciously.... other modes of mind do the heavy lifting. Why I tend to be hostile to INTPs,  they tend to be really smart,  yet exceptionally retarded,  and they have no hope to resolve this issue at all as far as I've seen.

Philosophy Now is like that,  excent their little bureaucracies are if the current professor talking to a bunch of dead philosophers,  with no hope whatsoever of breaking with tradition,  developing a new idea. It's about conformity. Thus is anathema to me, and every time I see that magazine,  dusty cobwebs pop into my mind.

I tend not to even use the big four- Kant,  Hegel,  Marx,  Nietzsche either in my work,  so I get exceptionally little out of hearing some sleepy headed professor's insight into Kant.

The PN forum is a alternative version of ILP sans the staff,  a lot if old members. I've never really seen a stand out thread on the site,  but at the same time,  it doesn't deserve harassment. I'm happy for them to slumber. I'm trying to create something inherently more aggressive here. I can't really break the strangle hold of the big four on philosophical debate realistically- I took on a student recently,  and the only books she bought to my dussapointment came from them....  if your exceptionally smart you can use them and break out of the mold,  but the fast majority can't. If I see them quoted I usually see the person as mentally brain dead,  not able to think past the slim offerings on a local booksellers philosophy section. My philosophy section growing up only had books on Nietzsche,  Epictetus. I didn't know or care about him,  but did buy Epictetus. I spent years traveling to new libraries finding different books,  homeless even. It's really unfortunate,  that we are still suffering the effects of the 70' and 80' professors who taught that generation of liberal arts majors who ended up starting bookstores in the 90s, only knew Nietzsche or Marx- after the Soviet Union collapsed Marx went with him.  Only guy left standing was Nietzsche,  so most lazy,  under thinking "philosophers" only had access to him,  and are still filling the swamp with leftover farts from that era.

You have no idea how stifling it is to me. Philosophy effectively is dead in our era as a result. I really wish these kinds if "thinkers" wouldn't take up philosophy,  pollute the universities,  drag society down with them. Reminds me too much of those Maoist struggle sessions and rural committed who would try capitalist roaders. It's a genocide to new ideas,  keeps people from breaking out,  rejecting the old order. That Philosophy Now magazine is the very essence of that old order. I find it offensive and disturbing.

I will look into why guests can't post,  I clicked the permissions to guests to post,  I gotta head off and ask the big forum why it isn't working. Only area I lock people out of is forum rules (not much of that substance wise to begin with)  and text area. In theory this site has a censor,  but I'm going to be paying for ad free soon,  and he doesn't seem to actually care about us,  given the massive complaints the administration forum received from everyone running forums. I clicked some blocks saying no censoring words,  while allowing users to censor. I tried to offer maximum autonomy in everything. I really don't care what people do,  as long as raoe or murder or cannibalism or computer viruses result. If you even just try to police people for being stupid,  every post becomes suspect.

This being said,  this site does have a focus on debate and rhetoric,  so coercive replies amongst members are going to be higher. This is something I recommend reaching for Aristotle's categories or rhetoric for,  and less me. I got the right to complain too, but it's unlikely a post is gonna be removed by me,  unless requested in the Protected Debate Forum by the writer of the OP,  as that's for new people not used to full blown debates,  or those who can't thrive without strict rules in place and enforced. Everyone can be a moderator of sorts in that place,  someone like Iambigious could come,  say "I only want to talk about Dasein under these conditions" and I would just shrug,  say yes,  whatever. Everyone can be a little fascist inside that section for all I care,  as long as it us your thread.