Ferris Philosophy - Your Pursuit of Wisdom

[Ethan Ferris]

Hey folks!

I recently started pursuing philosophy seriously, and ferrisphilosophy.com is the result so far.

My mission is to simplify philosophy and help people apply it to their everyday lives and improve their circumstances. I'm still figuring out what the best focus for the site is, and it is evolving with each new piece of feedback.

FDR is my foremost inspiration for this. I've had a love of philosophy all my life, but I wasn't able to cultivate it until I began to learn from FDR, and I think the inspiration shows in my writing.

My most recent article is about an experience I had in NY for A Night for Freedom, and the lessons I derived from it.

If yall are interested, I would love to hear feedback from fellow lovers of philosophy. I know I still have a lot to learn (that's why I'm here!)

Thanks!

[Frederik]

Hey Ethan,

I like your website a lot. The design is nice and simple and looks good.

I have read a little bit and am wondering, since you state in your "About" page:

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You don’t have to agree with everything I say — in fact, if you can prove me wrong, please do! My mission is not to stand on high and issue dictates, my mission is to make you think. My mission is not to make you think like me, my mission to help you think like you.

The article "Experiencing a Myth" concludes with:

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1. Say yes to life. Be open to the chaotic order of reality, and take action to maximize new circumstances you encounter.
2. Know that you can handle a negative circumstance if it arises. Don’t live in fear of the worst case scenario — prepare for it, however you need to, then dive into the abyss.
3. See yourself as others see you. Specifically those others that revere you, and accept their assessment of you as true.

I don't quite get how these two fit together, like the "Help you think like you" but then "Let me give you advice on how to think and live life."

How do these go together? Or am I just misunderstanding something?

[HenryJubeda]

It's entertaining, with the woman telling her story of how she shouldn't really be alive and telling you her story. But let's make one thing very clear here. You entered a low-risk situation with a total stranger and it worked out for you. She didn't have money, so she paid you with praise. What you did was very, very nice and I personally think being nice makes us nicer towards ourselves, because all rules we apply to others must apply to ourselves first. However, from a moral standpoint, you would be completely fine if you had said no without specifying why, or even responding to her at all. Morality is fundamentally about not applying force to others. You wouldn't be "evil" or "bad" for refusing to help, but you were in a position to help so you did it to feel good about yourself, and you were paid in compliments. It's a voluntary exchange of feeling good for manual labor, which is perfectly okay.

But, making it universal? Saying yes to every person asking for help is a terrible idea. Knowing you can handle situations does not mean that it's a good idea to put yourself in those situations. And on 3., I 100% wholeheartedly agree. We cannot hold others to standards we ourselves do not follow.