refining the thinking

Appreciating what has long been despised, forbidden and denied by religion, which inverts nature...

Venturing into Philosophy is very pleasurable. It guarantees us superpowers (those that did not exist before philosophizing) and expands the vision beyond our worldview – applicability of knowledge in everyday life – as if turning on a spotlight in half darkness, regardless of artistic and religious manifestation, nor of your age.

Epicurus already announced:

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"Let no one hesitate to dedicate himself to philosophy while young, nor get tired of doing it when he is old, because no one is ever too young or too old to reach spiritual health. Anyone who says that the time to dedicate himself to philosophy has not yet come, or that it has already passed, is as if he were saying that the time to be happy has not yet arrived or that the time to be happy has passed". (EPICURO, 300 AEC).

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The devaluation of philosophy happens for two main reasons:

The first reason is the lack of knowledge of the importance of philosophical exercise for the evolution of human thought and for humanity, in which the professor of philosophy and the philosopher end up being poorly paid and philosophy being seen as something for old-fashioned people.

The second is that the philosophical method unmasks worldviews, ideologies and institutions, that is, truths that manipulate and alienate the subject to always be a slave in the hands of manipulators, such as religious, business and political groups.

Many wonder whether in the future Philosophy will fall into disuse due to the transformations and the advancement of science and technology. The British physicist and cosmologist, Stephen Hawking, once said that "Philosophy is dead" because the field of naturalistic investigation is under the domain of the Sciences.

The professor at the federal university of Rio de Janeiro, Alberto Nóbrega, master in mathematics and immunology, said that science is closer to doubt than before and that certainties are more for the religious field than for Philosophy; and science has two things in common: they seek to explain the world and ourselves.

Philosophy has no process, so it is doomed to failure. However, the most illustrious authors sin in ignoring the sovereign art of thinking.

Philosophizing guarantees us the ability to filter. It is a fuel for "being who I am", the domain of autonomy, it is the elaborate thought of action.

Anyone who thinks that philosophizing is having confused and random thoughts is wrong.

The Brazilian philosopher Mário Sérgio Cortella teaches us that "Philosophy is the methodical, disciplined, structured and intentional attitude of inquiries about reasons".

It is a circumspect and conspicuous activity with the departmentalization of knowledge. It keeps itself alive debating ethics, aesthetics and politics, for example.

The limitlessness of philosophical thoughts provides us with a network of possible solutions to various problems, instead of accepting reality and its values as they are, as they sell us.

Philosophy gives us the power to contradict absolute convictions and rebuild new values or seek the transvaluation of values, defended by Nietszsche. According to the quest for power, the strong man must overcome traditional morality, go beyond, in search of appreciation for life, appreciating what has long been despised, prohibited and denied by religion, which inverts nature (denial of men).

Philosophical exercise is not restricted to people with supernatural intelligences. The common man manages to develop, starting with the method as an instrument for verifying knowledge (problem formulation), with the aim of removing illusions in search of the truth. Plato used dialogue as a method, where he asked men several questions to find flaws in speeches and Aristotle perfected him with the demonstrative method through syllogisms with the connections of ideas.

Thus, one can explore the dialectical, hermeneutic and analytical methods. Question, investigate and criticize.

At that time, the philosopher will question ideas, values, concepts and projects. Through analysis, he can find an answer to a given situation or solution to a given problem. In the case of the professional, with people contributing to the improvement of thinking and, consequently, improving their actions. The business philosopher – for example – will look for ways to boost the business, by improving the behavior of the leader and his collaborators, verifying the problem and guiding the way for the company to have more and more ascension with philosophical power. It is possible to apply this method and human development is achieved, if the objective is to improve the way of leading and awakening employee engagement.

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“Questioning is an attribute of the philosopher". (PLATÃO).

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Therefore, as we can observe, we can use the philosophical exercise wherever we want and today there is even the philosophical clinic and with it we can bring our own meanings regarding the existing meanings, where we collide with the molds and ax the truths to re-signify according to our reality. For example, in a universe surrounded by unbridled publicity and advertising, which television, radio, newspapers, social networks, etc., keep hammering in our heads about what to do at all times, we would have the autonomy and power to recreate the concept of beauty, the concept of right, the concept of loss, among other concepts.

The art of philosophizing is to think with quality. It is to rethink in order to refine our thoughts more and more. So use it sparingly.

Jorge Gomes.

Pedagogue.