“Nietzsche mentioned ‘amor fati’ is how he’s going to reside his life. Henceforth, he determined all the pieces he’s going to say sure to. He will likely be a yes-sayer, is what he says. That is an affirmative stance in direction of actuality the place, even when issues are dangerous or uncomfortable or horrible, we’re going to affirm actuality as it’s and never idealize it into one thing that it’s not. It’s quite common for folks to do, even after they’re not spiritual, is to consider actuality as if it owes you one thing. However to affirm actuality absolutely is to simply accept the nice, the dangerous. It’s to not rationalize about it and to attempt to make excuses for it or body your struggling in a means the place it makes it go away. To actually affirm life and actuality is simply to be in it and to have life itself be sufficient, actually.”
— Stephen West
Stephen West (@iamstephenwest) is a father, husband, and host of the Philosophize This! podcast. He makes an attempt to elucidate, translate, and humanize philosophy in a means that doesn’t ever purpose to inform folks what to assume however to ask them to higher perceive their very own ideas by exploring options.
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Stephen West — From Excessive College Dropout to Hit Podcast (Plus: Life Classes from Ralph Waldo Emerson, Friedrich Nietzsche, Simone Weil, and Extra)
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Wish to hear one other podcast episode specializing in philosophy and the character of actuality? Take heed to my dialog with Galileo’s Error writer Philip Goff by which we mentioned panpsychism, quantum consciousness, Built-in Info Principle, mystical traditions inside Christianity and Islam, psychedelics and numinous experiences, the matter of matter, and way more.
What was your favourite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know within the feedback.
SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODE
- Join with Stephen West/Philosophize This!:
Web site | Patreon | Twitter | Fb | YouTube
Podcasts and Radio Exhibits
Books, Articles, and Written Works
Advantageous Apps and Assets
Artwork
Folks
- Dave Elitch: Skilled drummer.
- Thomas Chatterton Williams: Author (The Atlantic article).
- Ernest Hemingway: Author.
- Adam Carolla: Radio host (Loveline).
- Dr. Drew Pinsky: Radio host (Loveline).
- Howard Stern: Radio host.
- Socrates: Historical Greek thinker.
- Plato: Historical Greek thinker.
- Jerry Seinfeld: Comic.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson: Author, poet, lecturer, and thinker.
- Jimmy Whisenhunt: eSports shoutcaster good friend of Stephen’s.
- John Madden: An skilled American soccer coach and sports activities commentator.
- Dan Carlin: Podcaster (Hardcore Historical past).
- Common Subutai: Historic determine.
- Dave Chappelle: Comic.
- Miles Davis: Musician.
- Dizzy Gillespie: Musician.
- Peter Adamson: Podcaster/thinker (Historical past of Philosophy With out Any Gaps).
- Invoice Burr: Comic.
- Fyodor Dostoevsky: Author.
- Epicurus: Hellenistic thinker, founding father of Epicureanism.
- Seneca: Stoic thinker (Letters from a Stoic, On Anger).
- Henry Shukman: Meditation trainer (The Approach app).
- Kevin Rose: aka KevKev. Launched me to Henry Shukman.
- Friedrich Nietzsche: Thinker related to amor fati.
- Bertrand Russell: Thinker and logician related to atheist arguments.
- Vincent Van Gogh: Artist.
- Richard Dawkins: Author/biologist, related to New Atheism (The God Delusion).
- Sam Harris: Author/thinker/neuroscientist, related to New Atheism (The Ethical Panorama, Letter to a Christian Nation).
- Søren Kierkegaard: Nineteenth-century thinker.
- Simone Weil: Twentieth-century thinker/mystic, main affect on Stephen West, idea of “consideration.”
- Simon Blackburn: Modern thinker (Assume), idea of “conceptual engineering.”
- Paracelsus: Historic determine (supply of “dose makes the poison” thought).
- Ludwig Wittgenstein: Thinker (Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus).
- Diogenes: Cynic thinker.
- Gilles Deleuze: Twentieth-century thinker.
- Mahatma Gandhi: Chief.
- Jack Kornfield: Buddhist trainer/author.
- Albert Camus: Author/artist/thinker related to Absurdism.
- William B. Irvine: Author (Information to the Good Life).
- Ryan Vacation: Author (The Impediment is the Approach).
- Julian of Norwich: Mystic author.
- Dogen Zenji: Founding father of the Soto college of Zen.
- Thomas Aquinas: Thinker and theologian.
- Henry David Thoreau: Author/thinker (Walden).
- Rolf Potts: Author (Vagabonding).
- Jean-Paul Sartre: Thinker (Being and Nothingness).
- Isaac Newton: Scientist and pure thinker (Principia Mathematica).
- Adam Smith: Moral thinker and economist (The Wealth of Nations).
- Kanye West: Musician.
Establishments and Firms
Philosophical Ideas
- Absurdism: Philosophical idea related to Camus that addresses the battle between the human seek for which means and the universe’s meaninglessness.
- Amor Fati: (“Love of Destiny”) Philosophical idea, notably utilized by Nietzsche, that entails embracing all points of 1’s life, together with hardships and struggling.
- Assemblage: Deleuzian idea describing dynamic compositions of heterogeneous parts that type momentary purposeful wholes by means of processes of coding and territorialization.
- Consideration: Idea from Simone Weil involving self-emptying concentrate on others, described as a type of ready and receptivity somewhat than lively focus.
- Conceptual Engineering: Metaphor for philosophy (Simon Blackburn) involving the evaluation, evaluation and enchancment of ideas.
- Conceptual Tracings: Thought of forming new methods to see actuality by means of the event and refinement of ideas.
- Ideas vs. Machines: Deleuzian distinction between summary thought kinds and purposeful assemblages that produce results.
- Cynicism: Hellenistic college of philosophy targeted on residing virtuously in accordance with nature and rejecting standard wishes.
- Deliberate Observe: Targeted method to talent growth requiring particular targets, suggestions, and concentrated effort.
- Disruption of Frequent Sense: Description of philosophy’s operate to problem accepted methods of considering and unexamined assumptions.
- Divine: Idea associated to final actuality/God and the transcendent qualities that exist past peculiar expertise.
- Epistemology: Department of philosophy targeted on the speculation of information, analyzing how we all know what we all know and the justification of perception.
- Ethics: Department of philosophy regarding ethical ideas, values, and the ideas of proper and mistaken conduct.
- Epicureanism: Hellenistic college of philosophy based by Epicurus that emphasised the pursuit of enjoyment (outlined as absence of ache) and tranquility.
- Fascism: Political philosophy/system characterised by ultranationalism, authoritarian energy, and suppression of opposition.
- Freedom: Philosophical idea in regards to the capability to behave in response to one’s will with out constraint or coercion.
- Lucid Revolt: Camus’s idea of rebelling towards the Absurd by means of aware recognition and defiance with out false hope.
- Marxism: Political/financial philosophy developed by Karl Marx that analyzes class relationships, historic materialism, and critique of capitalism.
- Mysticism: Method to spirituality emphasizing direct expertise of final actuality past peculiar understanding.
- Narcissism: Psychological/philosophical idea involving extreme self-love, self-centeredness, and lack of empathy for others.
- Pure Philosophy: Historic precursor to trendy science targeted on understanding nature by means of philosophical inquiry.
- New Atheism: Twenty first-century motion essential of faith, characterised by scientific rationalism and public criticism of spiritual perception.
- New Wealthy: Idea from The 4-Hour Workweek describing individuals who prioritize life-style design over conventional wealth accumulation.
- Numinous: Idea referring to awe-inspiring non secular/divine high quality that evokes each fascination and concern.
- Out of Africa Principle: Probably the most broadly accepted mannequin explaining the origin and unfold of recent people.
- Phenomenology: Philosophical motion specializing in constructions of expertise and consciousness from the first-person perspective.
- Philosophical Fiction: Literary style that explores philosophical concepts by means of narrative storytelling.
- Philosophy: The self-discipline itself, involved with basic questions on data, actuality, existence, and values.
- Philosophy of Language: Department of philosophy analyzing the character of language, which means, and the connection between language and actuality.
- Philosophy of Thoughts: Department of philosophy exploring the character of thoughts, consciousness, and their relationship to the bodily world.
- Presocratics: Earliest Western philosophers who investigated nature and actuality earlier than Socrates, laying foundations for philosophical inquiry.
- Spiritual Phenomenology: Research of spiritual expertise from a phenomenological perspective, specializing in how the sacred seems to consciousness.
- Sanbo Zen: A selected lineage/model of Zen Buddhism emphasizing direct expertise of enlightenment by means of meditation.
- Skepticism: Hellenistic college of philosophy questioning the potential for certainty in data and suspending judgment.
- Stoicism: Hellenistic college of philosophy targeted on advantage ethics, emotional regulation, and accepting what’s past one’s management.
- Sufism: Mystical department of Islam emphasizing direct private expertise of God by means of practices like meditation and poetry.
- Transcendentalism: A literary, philosophical, spiritual, and political motion of the early Nineteenth century.
- Zen: College of Mahayana Buddhism emphasizing meditation, instinct, and direct expertise of actuality past conceptual considering.
SHOW NOTES
- [00:00:00] So it begins.
- [00:06:11] Stephen’s difficult childhood — from San Diego to Baby Protecting Providers.
- [00:07:55] How Stephen supported himself after dropping out of college at 16.
- [00:09:37] The bodily put on and tear of warehouse work (and surprising upsides of the job).
- [00:11:48] How Stephen found philosophy by means of googling “wisest individual in historical past.”
- [00:14:07] Defining philosophy as a “disruption of widespread sense” and “health club for rethinking.”
- [00:16:06] The 4-Hour Workweek as a philosophical textual content.
- [00:19:27] A philosophical shift round Ralph Waldo Emerson.
- [00:22:18] The transition from warehouse work to beginning Philosophize This! with pleasant encouragement.
- [00:27:47] Authenticity as the key sauce to Philosophize This!
- [00:32:24] The discomfort of evaluating previous episodes with new.
- [00:34:15] The present state of Philosophize This!: 225 episodes, Patreon, advertisements, upcoming guide deal.
- [00:37:18] The worth of specializing in content material high quality earlier than monetization.
- [00:38:44] Hottest Philosophize This! episodes so far.
- [00:40:00] Philosophize This! episodes I’d like to listen to.
- [00:41:20] Considering of philosophy as a verb, not a noun.
- [00:46:44] The idea of amor fati (love of destiny) and its sensible software.
- [00:48:41] Wittgenstein’s ladder as a metaphor for philosophical progress.
- [00:51:36] Stephen’s perspective on philosophy as a course of somewhat than a set of protocols.
- [00:54:43] Philosophies which have private which means to Stephen: Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Simone Weil.
- [00:56:40] Simone Weil’s idea of consideration and self-emptying.
- [00:59:26] Stephen’s method to simplicity and sacrificing effectivity for which means.
- [01:04:07] Valuing time and taking part in the lengthy recreation.
- [01:06:01] How philosophy lives “within the shadow” of what we give credit score to (science, psychology).
- [01:08:31] The worth of philosophy in producing higher questions.
- [01:10:06] Stephen’s future plans: probably writing philosophical fiction.
- [01:19:05] Stephen’s billboard.
- [01:21:41] Suggestions for getting began with philosophy.
- [01:24:29] Gilles Deleuze and ideas as machines.
- [01:26:55] Why can we consider what we consider?
- [01:30:40] Stephen’s evolving relationship with faith after beginning as a New Atheist.
- [01:32:33] Exploring mysticism and non secular phenomenology.
- [01:37:51] Parting ideas.
MORE STEPHEN WEST QUOTES FROM THE INTERVIEW
“Why do we want previous males yelling at one another about unverifiable hypothesis? Why do you want philosophy? And what that time misses is that philosophy is how we acquired to the purpose the place we’re wanting on the world in the best way we do now.”
— Stephen West
“I don’t give recommendation, as a result of if an individual is asking for recommendation, sometimes, they’re not the individual that actually takes the recommendation — so it’s virtually at all times a waste of your time. However if you happen to’re the one which genuinely takes recommendation, and it’s satirically me supplying you with recommendation to be the one which takes recommendation, but when you are able to do that, if you happen to can handle that, you then received’t want recommendation right here in six months — you’ll be the one giving it.”
— Stephen West
“The best stage of abstraction in any discipline goes to be philosophy. Should you’re anyone well-educated … on the high of your discipline, with the intention to make progress in that discipline, it’s a must to subvert the prevailing set of protocols and assumptions, axiomatically, which might be occurring in that discipline. To maneuver the sector ahead, it’s a must to be doing philosophy.”
— Stephen West
“I actually do sacrifice effectivity for which means fairly typically.”
— Stephen West
“You don’t have to be a genius. You simply have to be saying one thing that resonates with different folks.”
— Stephen West
“Simon Blackburn … describes philosophy as conceptual engineering. It’s a terrific metaphor. If an engineer appears to be like at a bridge and so they know concerning the uncooked supplies of the bridge and so they understand how they connect with different elements of the bridge and all the pieces, if you happen to can present an engineer one bridge, a selected bridge, and he’d be like, ‘Properly, it holds weight over right here, but when we put weight over on this facet, it’s going to all begin crumbling down.’ Philosophers do that with world views.”
— Stephen West
“A means I’ve heard [philosophy] described is it’s the disruption of widespread sense. I imply, what’s wanting on the world in any respect? It’s an approximation. We’re works in progress. I take a look at the world a method for some time, and all people is aware of what it’s like to vary the best way that you simply see all the pieces on the earth. I simply assume that philosophy is the tactic of doing that.”
— Stephen West
“Nietzsche mentioned ‘amor fati’ is how he’s going to reside his life. Henceforth, he determined all the pieces he’s going to say sure to. He will likely be a yes-sayer, is what he says. That is an affirmative stance in direction of actuality the place, even when issues are dangerous or uncomfortable or horrible, we’re going to affirm actuality as it’s and never idealize it into one thing that it’s not. It’s quite common for folks to do, even after they’re not spiritual, is to consider actuality as if it owes you one thing. However to affirm actuality absolutely is to simply accept the nice, the dangerous. It’s to not rationalize about it and to attempt to make excuses for it or body your struggling in a means the place it makes it go away. To actually affirm life and actuality is simply to be in it and to have life itself be sufficient, actually.”
— Stephen West
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