User:Gaoxia

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This is an archived version of this page, as edited by Gaoxia (talk | contribs) at 21:34, 11 October 2005. It may differ significantly from the current version.
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  • Name:
    • Given: Jesse
    • Family: Private
    • Chosen: Arocoun--the original Algonquian name for the animal now known as the raccoon
  • Sex: Male
  • Upbringing: Lower-middle class. Parents are apathetic politically; additionally, they're athiests. Father is conservative. I was always encouraged to do my best, but always to do the best at what they want me to do. Generally, I am independent, and my parents weren't much of an influence. School sucked, because I had few friends and many bullies.
  • Problems
    • I feel a lot of philosophical loneliness--I'm the only person I know that has a radical mindset. Hell, I'm the only one I know that even appears to question the righteousness of his own actions or the system he lives in.
    • As much as I can't wait to begin living my life independently, I kind of fear my own weakness and inability.
    • I hate the computer, but since I am more and more radical minded every day, the intellectual loneliness I mentioned earlier kind of gets bad if I don't discuss issues and thoughts with other radicals, or at least read radical literature, and the computer is the best tool for that job.
    • I also hate the house and town I'm stuck in while helping out around here. Too many buildings and idiots; not enough trees, freedom, or solitude.
  • Unique views
    • When humans realize they are animals, the world will become a better place.
    • Self-acceptance is important. Needlessly fighting our natures and feeling shame for ourselves adds unneccessary complexity and unhappiness to our lives. To be happy, we must accept and love ourselves as much as possible.
    • Everyone should know how to defend themselves. Of course, I believe everyone should be able to care for themselves in all aspects, but self-defense is an issue that is widely neglected. Being unable to defend themselves is how an oppressor takes over and keeps control of people, after all.
    • Unarmed martial arts are the best martial arts for three big reasons.
      1. Unarmed martial arts are dependable, because they depend on your body. There's no situation other than being completely tied up (in which case, any martial art is useless) where unarmed martial arts can't be used. There is no building where you'll be asked to "please put your unarmed martial arts in the box", or area where you can't "buy, sell, possess, or carry" unarmed martial arts. You can't accidentally lose your arms and legs nor can they be stolen and used against you, and the chances of some part of your body breaking and needing replacement are pretty slim. Finally, UMAs are available in any environment or societal condition: Absolutely no advanced technology, licensing, imported materials, law researching, professional weapon smithing, or corporate or government involvment are necessary to learn an unarmed martial art.
      2. Unarmed martial arts allow for a lot of personal growth. UMAs require a lot of strength, endurance, toughness, skill, and intellect, and UMAs build all those things a lot when practiced regularly. A gun will only get dirtier, more worn, and eventually broken with use; a blade will only become duller (and, when sharpened, thinner), misshapened, and eventually broken. These things will not improve themselves, and must be replaced. The body, however, will become stronger and more durable with use, because it is living and adaptable; and unarmed martial arts use the most of the body and use the body most assertively.
      3. Unarmed martial arts aid in attaining true independence. Simply put, unarmed martial arts require no dependence on anything except the strength of your own body and will, and quite possibly on an instructor.
    • Any society where a person's societal worth is decided by property instead of the happiness (s)he brings to the world should be questioned. Any society where the human body and mind are inadequate should be questioned. Any society where righteousness is synonymous with popularity should be questioned. Any society where the means of happiness is readily available to one class but must be earned by hard labor for others, for an arbitrary reason, should be questioned.
    • I have a very unique system of martial arts, created under two basic ideas--the use of movements and weapons natural to the human body and mind, and some techniques used by predatory animals.
    • We have become the tools of our tools, as the saying goes. We have less time and energy to be happy and think, because we spend so much time to earn and care for our toys and computers. The result: We are proveably less happy and intelligent (though admitedly more knowledgeable) than we were a century ago. Simplicity and self-reliance are most likely to lead to happiness.
    • Everyone should name themself. A person's name is one of his most personal traits, and his most important identifier in many cases. This personal trait and important identifier should at the very least display the personality and mindset of the person using it, rather than those of his parents.
  • Plans: Due to the unforseen inability of my sister to stay out of trouble, my parents want to homeschool her. I was practically begged to stick around and help, so for the next year, I'm staying home and homeschooling my sister.

Pages Created[edit]

Important Contributions[edit]

Philosophy Quiz[edit]

I am happy that this quiz has become pretty popular! I'd like to thank everyone for the many compliments and the constructive criticism.

For v1.02, I fixed the spelling of the word "Divine" (which about 1/4 of the responses pointed out as being wrong). Thankfully, that was the only definite mistake pointed out to me. Also, I put a link to my Wikipedia site on all the descriptions, so that people could get see the results for the other philosophies (I was surprised how many requests I had for that). Finally, I made it so that the Existentialism questions would be a little harder to agree with, because I noticed that so many people got it as their top match.

For v1.03, I changed some questions which I was informed were too long, switched the quotes for Divine Command, and changed a question for existentialism, so that it would ask if you actually put serious effort into deciding your life's meaning and purpose.

If you come here, and have any further comments, feel free to discuss the quiz on my talk page.

Quiz Results[edit]

Utilitarianism[edit]

Your life is guided by the principles of Utilitarianism: You seek the greatest good for the greatest number.



“The said truth is that it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong.”
--Jeremy Bentham



“Whenever the general disposition of the people is such, that each individual regards those only of his interests which are selfish, and does not dwell on, or concern himself for, his share of the general interest, in such a state of things, good government is impossible.”
--John Stuart Mill

Existentialism[edit]

Your life is guided by the concept of Existentialism: You choose the meaning and purpose of your life.



“Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.”
“It is up to you to give [life] a meaning.”
--Jean-Paul Sartre



“It is man's natural sickness to believe that he possesses the Truth.”
--Blaise Pascal

Kantianism[edit]

Your life is guided by the ethical model of Kantianism: You seek to have consistent laws rule your actions, and your will is directed by reason.



"I do not, therefore, need any penetrating acuteness to see what I have to do in order that my volition be morally good. Inexperienced in the course of the world, incapable of being prepared for whatever might come to pass in it, I ask myself only: can you also will that your maxim become a universal law?"
--Immanuel Kant

Nihilism[edit]

Your life is marked by strong Nihilism: You feel that nothing in the world, even your life, has much or any meaning.



"For out of fear and need each religion is born, creeping into existence on the byways of reason."
"There are no facts, only interpretations."
“Every belief, every considering something-true, is necessarily false because there is simply no true world”
--Friedrich Nietzsche

Strong Egoism[edit]

Your life is very much guided by the concept of Egoism: You work primarily to promote your own interests.



“I swear by my life, and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.”
“I am not primarily an advocate of capitalism, but of egoism; and I am not primarily an advocate of egoism, but of reason. If one recognizes the supremacy of reason and applies it consistently, all the rest follows.”
--Ayn Rand

Divine Command[edit]

Your life is directed by Divine Command: Your god and religion give you meaning and direction.



“Even as a tree has a single trunk but many branches and leaves, there is one religion--human religion--but any number of faiths.”
--Mahatma Gandhi



“Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations.”
--King James Version of the Bible

Justice (Fairness)[edit]

Your life is guided by the concept of Fair Justice: Everyone, yourself included, should be rewarded and punished according to the help or harm they cause.



"He who does not punish evil commands it to be done."
--Leonardo da Vinci



“Though force can protect in emergency, only justice, fairness, consideration and cooperation can finally lead men to the dawn of eternal peace.”
--Dwight D. Eisenhower

Hedonism[edit]

Your life is guided by the principles of Hedonism: You believe that pleasure is a great, or the greatest, good; and you try to enjoy life’s pleasures as much as you can.



“Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die!”

Apathy[edit]

Your life is marked by quite a bit of apathy: You don’t seem to care much about the direction of your own life, much less society in general.



I would find a quote or two to better describe the virtues and thoughts behind apathy, but ironically those who would espouse the concept of apathy are too apathetic to write about it.



“Eh, who cares?”
--Myself, just now...

Responses[edit]

I have recieved plenty of comments, and I feel that a few of them are particularly worth responding to.

"For responses, I would suggest a range of 5 rather than 6. I find it mroe useful when the options are of an odd number, because then it\'s easier for me to be smack dab in the middle ;)"

I actually made it 6 on purpose. I could just as easily made it 5 or 7, but I chose 6 precisely because it forces you to choose one way or another. It gets you out of that middle-of-the-road comfort zone, and makes you choose, if only one little bit, which way you feel about something.

"good quiz =)

very well done and thought out..

In fact, I learned quite a bit from taking this quiz. I might have to dig into some esoteric research =)

-Dave"

To the folks who respond like this, I'd like to say both "thanks" and "you're welcome." I like it when I can help others learn.

"It may just be me, but I think there ought to be a few more \'types\' of answers. Whatever happened to Nietzsche\'s Ubermensch philosophy? That could be a fun one to design questions for...

Otherwise, this was much fun." "what about Buddhism, socialism?? your quiz sucks."

Well, there are problems here. I'm one person, using a limited quiz engine--I most certainly can't make a quiz which includes everything! Or even a hundreth of everything, for that matter. So when I was choosing which philosophies I'd use, I chose those which:

1. Were not extremely limited to a particular cultural set or time period, like the Ubermensch philosophy, and

2. Didn't have much to do with a particular political stance. Socialism, for example, is a political system which exists outside of oneself, while being socialist is an internal condition; the question, then, is why is one a socialist? It almost certainly has something to do with one's own personal philosophy, which is what this quiz tries to find.

In the end, I decided to choose eight (plus apathy), and make it so that everyone that I could conceivably think of could be adequately described by one or more of the terms. There is no way that a simple combination of eight results can describe anyone with great detail, but I (and a few who commented) think that my humble little quiz does the job as good as any other, at least.

Finally, for those who wanted pragmatism included, I must say that it seems that there are entirely too many people who consider themselves pragmatists (in other words, it's too broad). If I included that, the problem of everyone scoring as pragmatists would be many times worse than the problem of everyone scoring as existentialists that I just got done with. I'm sorry if that doesn't work well for you, but I don't see much that I can do about it.

Favorite Links[edit]

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