Consistency of thought
The other day a guy left me a comment on Myspace asking what were my favorite philosophic theories. I read the comment and thought about answering, but after a couple of seconds I realized that I just couldn’t put together an answer using just a few words. Actually, I could have written “n0ne of your business, fuck offz biatch”; a true answer in simple words, but that would have been rude and the guy is a “friend of a friend”. So, I just ignored him.
A couple of days later he comments again, just saying hello. So I say hello back, and then we start having a nice conversation, when he asks again “what philosophic theories do you like the most?”. I gave it a lot of thought and noticed that my problem with the question was that I can’t really coincide with just one, or with just a few. I really enjoy reading a variety of authors with very different points of view, and highly coincide with certain ideas of many different philosophical movements, however, I think it is impossible to define with just one philosophical theory everything I (or anyone) believe in.
I explained that to him, and added that if I had to pick, existential nihilism and Plato’s theory of forms most accurately approached what I believed in. If I were an outsider, I’d think “but that’s contradictory”. To me it isn’t, and it was so hard to explain how and why in a Myspace comment!
He answered and said that I was an eclectic, and I couldn’t help but to be offended, but then he said that he didn’t mean it as an insult. By definition, it’s true that I can be considered eclectic. I felt offended because I felt he stamped the word “eclectic” on my forehead as if that said anything about me, what I think, how I behave, etc. Something like “you could have just told me that you were eclectic”. Besides, I know a lot of people who use the word in a derogatory way, as if it implied the inconsistency of thought.
I strongly believe that a well formed individual should (and usually does) create his or her own set of ideas according to what they have read, seen, heard and overall experienced. Classifying a person just by the name of a philosophical movement is too big of an assumption, that could be misleading. I think it is very improbable that just one theory defines everything and exactly what you believe in. Therefore, I stand by my position of creating a mosaic of opinions that fits each individual. Just because your own set of ideas don’t have an official name doesn’t mean that you can’t make up your mind. People should not have to choose between huge sets of beliefs.
What do you think? Do you think eclecticism indicates inconsistency of thought? Why? Are you able to classify yourself under one big label or do you too, take bits and pieces of different philosophies and create your own?
I suppose in a way, it could be taken as an insult because you’re being labelled as something static and that seems contradictory to eclecticism anyway. But at least you know that you’ve thought it through and not ignored the ideas that did contrast the initial theory your beliefs coincided with. In fact, I believe eclecticism becomes a more abstract form of thinking because you don’t limit yourself to an archetype or a set of assumptions. So, no, don’t feel offended. I have a hunch that I didn’t say that quite right.
I think it was wrong for him to label you like that, but I’m not sure if its worth getting quite so offended over either. I probably would have just thought up some sort of label for the labeller that was just as belittling so they had a taste of how that felt and then left it at that.
I’ve never thought Myspace was a place where peole ask about philosophical theories…
I don’t think I can be classified as one big label in any category, especially a philosophical category since I don’t know much about that yet :P
I don’t know much about philosophy. To me, eclecticism can indicate inconsistency of thought. But it doesn’t have to…
“Therefore, I stand by my position of creating a mosaic of opinions that fits each individual. Just because your own set of ideas don’t have an official name doesn’t mean that you can’t make up your mind.”
^ The idea of creating a mosaic sounds eclectic to me, but it doesn’t necessarily hint at inconsistency.
In that case, I believe that the wisest thing we can do is to become knowledgeable in all the theories that interest us and then extracting the the strongest points out of them.
In any case, I am pro-eclecticism, because I believe there’s a bit of truth and a degree of flaw in everything — there’s no absolute “right” in anything. With that said, eclecticism is the point of view most promoted in the Psychology department — they encourage us to become familiar with every theory and school of thought, because when the time for application arrives, you’re going to need all the resources you can get.
I do think that the guy’s attitude wasn’t the best one — he just stamped you with a label (”despues de joder tanto” =P) after you went through the trouble of explaining your beliefs to him. It was inconsiderate and judgmental of him and I would’ve been pissed off too!