General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: We should have been colonizing the solar system by now. [View all]tama
(9,137 posts)is that the practice of philosophical discourse is not without practical merits, namely increasing the ability to think and communicate more coherently when that is the intention of discourse. Or to engage in playful poetic associations and non-sequiturs when intention is to play with language instead of logical control. Translated into Bob-speak that means that BS is a form of art, techne, which has always instrumental dimensions.
As numerous empirical studies have shown, prejudice and negative connotations makes people more stupid, not more smart. The art of projecting - seeing in others what we condemn and deny in ourselves (what Jung called 'Shadow') - is not to try to avoid or stop projecting, but just to become and stay conscious of the mechanism when it occurs. That is important part of the Socratic methodology of Know Thyself, which has many benefits in praxis and techne.