Facebook philosophers

In the ancient days, we had philosophers such as Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. To a lesser extent (though not to those who study philosophy), we had the likes of Socrates' predecessors such as Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes, Heraclitus, Leucippus and Democritus. China was also well-known with philosophy and had well-respected philosophers in figures like Confucious and Micius. During the zenith of the Islamic Civilisation, we had philosophers (who were also polymaths) such as al-Kindi, al-Razi, al-Farabi, Ibn Sina, Ibn Rushd and al-Ghazali, just to name a few. There are also numerous philosophers from the west from the time of the Renaissance all the way up to the modern day. And in Asia, there are also a number of well-known contemporary philosophers.

Today, in the age of Facebook, I notice the number of "philosophers" growing. These are people who put up their "philosophy" as their status. A few of these stem from their own experience and observation. Some are humourous. There are those which are in response to current issues. Most, however, are quotations of others.

I admit I do this from time to time. Putting up so-called "words of wisdom" for friends to read and comment. But I hope let us all who do this be honest to ourselves. Let's not preach to others what we don't do ourselves. Let's not have the holier-than-thou superiority complex.

What is important is that these "words of wisdom" are there, not just to remind others, but more critically to serve as reminder to ourselves.

This posting is beginning to get philosophical. I think I'll end here before this gets too deep.