Amateur Philosophy
Keep it simple.
I was asked the other day if I was a philosopher.
I replied: Advanced amateur
I've been interested in philosophy all my life and have known many professional philosophers and they have a skill that I just don't have. They can read and write obscurantist literature.
I can't. Sometimes I've thrown it at the wall. It never sticks.
So one way I think of professional philosophers is that they are professional readers.
When I read Merleau-Ponty I learned a new technique of reading. I would just let the words flow through my mind and then at the end of the chapter write out my impression of what was said.
That actually worked to a certain extent. My impression would agree with the impressions of others in my reading group.
Thothica had a ruined church for a long time that seems to have mostly disappeared. It was donated by Markos Waechter who wrote a great guide to Heidegger whose title escapes me. But he'd analyze a passage and seemed to be what I was doing - after a bunch of obscure stuff he'd present a clear explanation of what it all meant.
I once listened to a lecture by Hubert Dreyfus, another Heidegger expert. He said (paraphrasing): To understand Heidegger properly you need to interpret his language correctly. But nobody agrees on the interpretation.
One of the advantages of being an amateur philosopher is that you do not having to read original writings. You go for predigested stuff so getting an underlying idea is much easier. Of course this runs into the problem of the scholars at Trantor in Foundation - they turned up their noses at original research and only were interested in what the experts from the past had to say. But let's set that aside :-) We're amateurs
The advantage of being a professional is that you get lots of practice at the material. You read about it and teach it and write about it so you have lots at your fingertips. This is handy in debate situations for instance. I do discussions and not debates for that reason. I can research and introduce a narrow topic and we can explore without it being a game.
My career as an amateur artist followed a similar trajectory. I didn't have the resources that professionals did. After all, they were hiring me to help them in their studios. But I never got locked into a saleable style that galleries could sell. That leaves me with a body of work that is unique that nobody gets to see sadly.
One of my principal sources of information sources for many decades (!!!!!) now has been the news. I devoured my local newspapers (delivered them too) and was a prolific writer of letters to editor when I was in my teens. I caught the attention of the Mayor and got a gig on a civic commission investigating pornography.
I editted the student newspaper when I was in university and wrote a regular column in the student paper in art school.
My discussions in SL are modeled on RL philosophy discussions in coffee shops called Philosophy Cafe where I'd give an intro and then people would discuss. Teens would come on dates and the elders would sip wine. In the summer we'd do the discussion at a local beach and one night a seal came to join our circle,
I've had fun as a philosopher. Not only have I been able to duck reading thinkers I find disagreeable but I've never had to mark exams or read student essays.
And I do salute the professionals - they do the heavy lifting.
What do you think
I present regular philosophy discussions in a virtual reality called Second Life.
I set a topic and people come as avatars and sit around a virtual table to discuss it.
Each week I write a short essay to set the topic.
I show a selection of them here.