“Doubt. Doubt thyself. Doubt even if thou doubtest thyself. Doubt all. Doubt even if thou doubtest all.” -E.A. Crowley I remember once about thirty one years ago, I was a child of about five years old. I was walking through the front yard of my house which happened to be a large enough forest to hide my house from the road. It was a thick forest of oak, maple and birch; I remember trudging my way through a thick undergrowth of ferns, and I remember having a life shaking experience which continues to influence my thought and identity to this day. I can recall a spontaneous feeling of deja vu creeping over me, a feeling that I always had while dreaming and then realizing that I was in a dream. I had the sudden experience that I was not truly where I thought I was, and that my sense experiences were but a dream in my mind. At first I was utterly terrified as that would mean all who I took myself to be and all the people whom I loved were not real. As I
When contemplating what philosophy is and specifically what the goals of philosophy are I am reminded of Heidegger's Introduction to Metaphysics . In the beginning of this work he discusses what he considers to be false notions of philosophy, which he characterizes as an attempt to rationalize philosophy in scientific terms in order to appease what he deems to be mundane and misplaced standards. He discusses the common justifications of how philosophy can lead to practical results: such as forging a distinct culture or society, or if we follow the pre-Socratic current of thought through to the physics of Aristotle and Democritus, we get the preliminary and proto-thought processes necessary for the development of science etc. After considering these typical justifications Heidegger adds the following: "You hear remarks such as 'Philosophy leads to nothing,' "you can't do anything with philosophy,' and readily imagine that they confirm an ex