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Ask HN: Can too much “intellectual curiosity” cause psychological problems?

3 点作者 lainon超过 6 年前
HN's maxim - "anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity" seems to become a serious problem for me. I can't stop thinking about stuff. Not in a good way as if it would lead to me some brilliant inventions, but rather in a troubling one that I question everything to a point where it becomes pathological. I spent a lot of time reading theoretical philosophy (External world skepticism, solipsism) etc. Most people seem to think of these as quixotic thought-experiments, but they become a serious trouble for me in my journey to "figuring everything out". Is there anything such as epistemological psychotherapy? lol.

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undershirt超过 6 年前
Well, I can tell you what has helped me so far in my own epistemic crisis:<p>The first two chapters of “Maps of Meaning” helped me separate truth-as-a-descriptive-framework vs truth-as-a-functional-framework, which was great for recovering from what postmodernism did to our sense of truth.<p>“Postmodernism for Rationalists”[1] really helped me define the chaos i felt about truth, and helped me put words and philosophers to different thoughts that I didn‘t know were there.<p>“States and Nomads”[2] helped me realize how all models are wrong, and their utility is ultimately contextual. It also introduced me to Jorge Luis Borges, who has written a lot of creative fiction around ideas like this.<p>A big reprieve came from this analysis of an Emily Dickinson poem on truth[3]. The part about “circumference” of truth really worked for me, I feel now that peace has to come from outside that circumference, not inside (which is what you might be struggling with?). Bertrand Russell spent his life trying to find a philosophical basis for religion and never found one, but this is as close as I&#x27;ve gotten.<p>For my happiness, I intersperse fiction (poetry, short stories) with more serious essays of philosophy. I think that resulting balance between art and treatise has been important for me in getting through this, but I haven&#x27;t been on this for long.<p>If any of this has landed for you, we can swap sources and thoughts sometime, which might be a good therapy (both ways).<p>[1]:<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;palegreendot.net&#x2F;assets&#x2F;2017-10-09&#x2F;postmodernism_for_rationalists.pdf" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;palegreendot.net&#x2F;assets&#x2F;2017-10-09&#x2F;postmodernism_for...</a> [2]:<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=KGaFcI2UNrI" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=KGaFcI2UNrI</a> [3]:<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=55kqNg88JqI" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=55kqNg88JqI</a>
gus_massa超过 6 年前
Not sure that this will help ...<p>Take a few mathematics and physics courses. In the mathematic course try to think as a mathematician. In the physics courses try to think as a physicist. Sometimes it&#x27;s good to view the world from a different perspective.<p>I have a Ph.D. in Math and 50% of a major in Physics. It&#x27;s very interesting to see similar topics in both areas and understand how each one approach the problem. [And sometimes it&#x27;s interesting to translate the problem to the other field and fill the details.]