Sunday, April 6, 2008

Twelve Characteristics That Make A Good Philosopher

1. Ability to see the big picture, the whole picture, as well as to see clearly how all the individual pieces come together to affect the whole and fit into the whole...

2. Ability to take the essence of an important idea and to run with it...

3. Ability to make important associations....

4. Ability to make important distinctions....

5. Ability to say what other people are afraid to say -- to risk being 'politically incorrect'...

6. Ability to put together a clear, idealistic but pragmatic vision...

7. Ability to see man's weaknesses and transgressions clearly...

8. Ability to offer hope and optimism...

9. Ability to trigger new awarenesses...

10. Ability to creatively integrate a few or many different sets of similar and/or opposing ideas....

11. Ability to use 'philosophy as a hammer' and/or as a 'surgeon's knife, hammering away at the truth behind man's hypocrisies, double standards, and conflicts of interest...and cutting to the bottom of man's individual and group corruption, making transparent man's illegal, unethical, and/or immoral narcissistic transgressions, draining away the posions that make individual's and society's families, corporations, businesses, government agencies, bureaucracies, legislations, medical institutions, educational institutions, scientific bodies...and other cultural reflections 'psychologically and philosophically sick'...

12. To creatively construct new and pragmatic ways of living, governing, learning, conducting business, and negotiating healthy, 'win-win' conflict resolutions...

dgb, Mar. 30th, 2008.

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