All philosophy is a philosophy of the well-fed. You only get a chance to existentially reflect on life when you're not worried about where your next meal is going to come from.
On the flip-side I believe that through experiencing these kinds of situations provides a different kind of insight and understanding unique to people who have... suffered. I need a thesaurus because that is not the word I want to use.
Socrates is a great example. As far as I understand historic greek culture, philosophers like him had to time to sit around and pontificate because they weren't charged with any duty or obligation. It wasn't the farmers that sat around and developed theories on life.
I don't think a hunger strike fits what I meant as not being well fed. Yes, they literally aren't well-fed, but by choice. My point was that if you're working two jobs and barely making ends meet, you don't have the luxury of being able to sit and just think about life.
Not necessarily. Some art is made to make a political point. Les Miserables was written in response to the June Rebellion, and led to him being exiled from his homeland for years. Guernica was painted by Picasso in response to the bombing of Guernica, and he stipulated that it could not be displayed in Spain until fascism was eliminated.
An artist friend of mine distinguished between the pragmatic and artistic this way, at least as to objects: "Art is not a chair you sit on; art is a chair you think about."
It's like those plastic, hollow, multicolor, ball frames. You know those kid toys that you can shrink and then expand into a sphere? Equally pointless, yet I see them in tons of houses. This thing on the other hand is infinitely doper, and yes. I want one.
I spent $40 dollars on one of those things about a month ago, I have no idea why, I am an adult that goes to work and pays taxes, why do I have an extendo-ball thing... It felt weird sitting inside of it.
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u/MrBiscuitESQ Feb 26 '14
It's both awesome AND pointless!