Early Conceding While Reading and Not Starting Discussions

[ActiveMind]

@Jarrod

@ActiveMind

I don’t really do anything philosophy on a regular basis

I just remembered this line from Hugh Akston in Atlas Shrugged which I liked a lot and should probably start taking more seriously (my bold):

What is wrong with a philosopher running a roadside diner? Or a cigarette factory, as I am doing now? All work is an act of philosophy.

Technically philosophy is involved in every choice you make, but I’m talking about things which would progress my philosophy skill or otherwise is more directly about philosophy like promoting philosophical ideas.

@Jarrod

I’ve seen ET post stuff about time tracking, weekly journaling, doing screencasts/livestreams/videos of yourself practicing philosophy and sharing those for criticism, etc.

I do time tracking. That’s how I know I’ve done ~1.13k hours of philosophy.

I do daily journaling, but if I’m busy I don’t do it and then I get out of the habit. I really should journal anyway and just make a short entry if I don’t have much time.

I could do screencasts, but I’m a bit worried about privacy. I think I prefer writing logs of my learning.

@Jarrod

If you’re not doing this stuff, it means that in practice you disagree with ET. Like you feel like it’s too much hassle to do these things and so they’re not worth it or you think it wouldn’t work for you or something. IOW, there’s some reason you’re not doing it (you can also use ET’s method for investigating intuitive disagreements to find out why you disagree with ET on these things and share that for feedback).

You’re right. It’s probably a good idea to discuss the advice I’m not following.

@Jarrod

Also, do you use any techniques like time block planning or timeboxing?

I’ve tried timeboxing before but I like natural stopping points more. I think I would rather like a priority list. But I haven’t stuck with any scheduling method.

Maybe I don’t stick with any scheduling method because I’m overambitious. Or maybe I have bad TCS influenced ideas about following fun or avoiding self-coercion:

@Elliot

It sounds like you guys (@Eternity @LMD @ActiveMind @Dface) may be influenced by TCS ideas about coercion, scheduling, tidiness and more.

@Jarrod

Also, ET has talked about discussing what you read with others while you’re reading it (rather than waiting until you’ve finished the whole book).

I’ve done that with: Studying The Goal and TOC [AM]. Also some of Elliot’s articles.

Also you might be making a mistake I’ve made:

@ActiveMind

I think it’s still holding me back that I think I have to do heavy analysis the first time I read important philosophy stuff. Perhaps I should just read things one time without doing analysis if I feel like it.

@Elliot

@ActiveMind

I have this attitude from:

Learning Philosophy · Elliot Temple

When you disagree with something, or don’t understand something, or feel uncomfortable/hesitant/doubtful, stop reading and post to the Fallible Ideas Discussion Forum. Don’t gloss over problems; bring them up. Don’t pretend you’ll go back and discuss when you get to the end of the book; discuss now. You need to get issues addressed now so that you can take those answers into account while reading the rest. Mistakes will spiral out of control, and destroy the value of reading the rest, if unaddressed.

So wouldn’t my early mistakes destroy my understanding of Popper books? Or was this directed towards people who wouldn’t do a rereading with more analysis? Personally I do think I would benefit a lot from reading your Popper recommendations right now.

This is itself an example of the issue I was talking about. I find a lot of times I give some advice, I later find out someone took it in a way I didn’t know about or intend. Like discouraging reading Popper wasn’t my intention.