Philosophies that are almost like religions?

[Blue3]

There's usually debate on if Taoism and Confucianism are philosophies or religions. If they are religions, it's because they are fully-formed philosophies that prescribe the proper way to live life.

But there are also other philosophies that are just as encompassing.

The ancient Greek philosophies, such as Epicureanism and Stoicism (and lesser-known ones like Pythagoreanism, Cynicism, Cyrenaicism, Platonism, Neoplatonism, Perapateticism, Pyrrhonism) come to mind.

What other philosophies are there that could basically count as religions, both historical and modern?

[Antonio the Sixth]

Comtean Positivism?

Hey, you didn't specify they had to be good philosophies/religions.

[Zioneer]

Transhumanism?

[Del Tachi]

Might be beneficial to differentiate the two before getting too deep into a conversation.

The most defining aspects of religion seem to be that it features a well-developed cosmology, soteriology and eschatology.   

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Dialectical materialism?

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Confucianism is the canonical example. I should state for the sake of honesty that there are schools of Buddhism that could fit this description as well, although the mainstream of that worldview, especially on a global scale, is absolutely a religion and it's foolish and ethnocentric to think otherwise.

Dialectical materialism?

Ooh, well-played.

[The Mikado]

Worth pointing out that Daoism involves literal magical spells and immortality.

[Blue3]

Might be beneficial to differentiate the two before getting too deep into a conversation.

The most defining aspects of religion seem to be that it features a well-developed cosmology, soteriology and eschatology.   

Not always. And really, finding the distinction between them still isn't agreed after centuries/millennia. I'll just list what I considered to be the main religions of the world, and some subcategories that are sometimes lumped in (the last one being the nonreligious philosophies this thread is about).


The main religions in the world are
1. Hinduism (from India) - bhakt/jnana/karma yoga, moksha/liberation from mental & spiritual obstacles to the ultimate truth, you are the universe, you already have what you really want
2. Buddhism (from India) there is no you, no universe, all temporary, let go
3. Sikhism (from India) just one path to God, be loving
4. Jainism (from India) just one path to God, be nonviolent and renounce possessions
5. Christianity (from Israel) - One God, but God is in us, God is love, God is self-knowledge, Jesus says love each other
6. Judaism (from Iraq/Egypt/Israel) - love God, love each other, good habits
7. Taoism (from China) - attune with nature, live in "the flow"
8. Confucianism (from China) - focus on relationships, focus on teaching/learning good habits and treating each other well
9. Islam (from Arabia) - One God, submit to God, treat others well, good habits
10. Zoroastrianism (from Persia/Iran) One God, good versus evil, good triumphs, all will be saved
11. Baha'i (from Persia/Iran) Unity of Religions/Humanity

- plus "Folk Religions" (Shinto in Japan, Shenism in China, Native American folk religion, African folk religion, Aboriginal folk religion, some remnants in the Middle East, the ancient Norse/Greek/Egyptian/Celtic/Finnish/Slavic/Baltic religions)... they all have a lot in common... nature being "alive" and having spirits, the spirits of ancestors... many godlike beings, connected to nature, but who are usually said to just be closer to more advanced/powerful race with a distant but good All-Father/Earth-Mother/Great-One-Good/etc. behind it all

- new religious movements, like Wicca, Satanism(NOT the same as Wicca), Tenrikyo in Japan, Falun Gong in China, Church of Scientology, Caodoism in Vietnam founded in 1926, and the religion that worships the Kim family in North Korea.... and a few others... but not really major status yet (and not really much in common... Tenrikyo and Caodoism and Falun Gong are, from what I know, similar to existing major religions... while Wicca is something else, more like an old nature-based Folk Religion... and Scientology and Satanism are completely something else, like for-profit Jungian psychology for Scientology and objectivist self-worship for Church of Satan)

- nonreligious philosophies (mostly from the Greeks, though some would include Taoism and Confucianism in this) like Stoicism, Epicureanism, Pythagoreanism, Cynicism, Cyrenaicism, Platonism, Neoplatonism, Peripateticism, Pyrrhonism (mostly about whether to accept life and find happiness in all things no matter what, or find tranquility through moderation and self-discipline and simple-living in tune with nature/reason/compassion, or to chase pleasure as the highest value, etc.)

Worth pointing out that Daoism involves literal magical spells and immortality.

No, only for some branches of Taoism, not all. Philosophical Taoism, like the ideas found in Taoism's main books including the Tao Te Ching, could even be said to be opposed to those kinds of beliefs.

[Santander]

Evolution and climate change

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

The more I learn about Ayn Rand the person, the more I'd argue Objectivism meets the criteria

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Dialectical materialism?

Ooh, well-played.

This was not even intended to be that type of snark.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Evolution and climate change

wow so clever maks u think

[Blue3]

How about more pre-1800 philosophies?

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Worth pointing out that Daoism involves literal magical spells and immortality.

No, only for some branches of Taoism, not all. Philosophical Taoism, like the ideas found in Taoism's main books including the Tao Te Ching, could even be said to be opposed to those kinds of beliefs.

Beside the differences between dàojiā (Daoist Philosophy) and dàojiào (Daoist Religion) it also bears in mind that the hard boundaries between the philosophies of Daoism, Confucianism (rújiā), Neo-Daoism (xuánxué), Neo-Confucianism (lǐxué) that we tend to make, don't really exist.  It'd be like claiming Protestantism and Catholicism are separate religions.

[vanguard96]

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As a person she had many toxic relationships and was prone to contradictions.

I have more of an issue with the living Ayn Rand Institute 'heirs' like Leonard Peikoff and Yaron Brook.
If they are not talking about foreign policy I agree with a lot of what the Ayn Rand even current Objectivists are saying on topics in general (minimum wage, government regulation, central banking, economic freedom, sound money, etc). The Ayn Rand lexicon is a nice summary of her own non-fiction writing on topics like liberals, socialism, etc. She definitely is a lot more convincing and acerbic in her own non-fiction writing than Peikoff, Schwartz, etc.

I think she would loathe Trump - I would say he is like a pre-Roark meeting Gail Wynand (Fountainhead) mixed with a little of the President Robinson figurehead from Atlas. Definitely a pull peddler of the first order. She would hate Clinton too perhaps even worse for that matter but the ARI endorsed Clinton. Idiots.

Some of the philosophy is lacking refinement and self-awareness and the ability to acknowledge the lack of reason in some of the policy positions they take.

If they only followed the 'rational' nature of their philosophy perhaps they would see calls for a pre-emptive strike on Iran as a bad idea and the near blind support of the pro-Israeli government position one to step back from.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

The Dead are in the astral plane as well as the sleeping.  That's why dreamers have premonitions in their sleep, because the astral plane is the future and where deceased love ones lie giving you guidance.

No one knows what happened to Jesus Christ of Nazareth, or if he Resurrected, like Theology says. However, he reached enlightenment and he reached nirvana.  And judgement day can come.

[vanguard96]

Frankfurt School / Kantian post modernism especially among social sciences & humanities educators

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Nationalism.

[The Self]

Frankfurt School /

lol

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LMAO

You realize that Kant is the godfather of Modernism, right? Like, post-modernism is broadly a reaction against the kind of Enlightenment philosophy represented by Kant.

[vanguard96]

Connections are pretty easy to see. Yet you laugh it off. Nice.

Kant:
Wikipedia

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From wikipedia for Frankfurt School:

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Post modernism:

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Kant's struggle to the end goal which largely goes on outside the individual's direct experience results in equality for all which is in line with the socialists goal of communism.

Postmodernists of the French New Left and the Frankfurt school did not identify with the old-guard Marxist ways and they revamped their action on the campuses toward a similar struggle replacing the old class warfare with cultural warfare.

Kant also heavily wrote on the idea of duty to the other. Taken logically with the dialectical struggle it fits well with both Marxism and the New Left and the concerted efforts of the left behind so many of the social justice movements of the current era for their end goal - equality and the destruction of the traditional (patriarchal, white, male, cisgendered, heteronormative dominated) order.

It makes perfect sense that Kant's tomb in Kaliningrad was preserved by the Soviets.

[The Self]

It goes to show you haven't read any of the works you're criticizing.

Kant's Critique Of Pure Reason was an attempt to establish universal forms of reason within the limitations established by Kantian metaphysics - that, while we can never know the 'thing-in-itself', we can, within limits, understand the world based on reason.

If postmodernism (which is a catch-all term that unifies thinkers who are really rather disparate) is influenced by Kant - and all modern philosophy is influenced by Kant - it's in a reaction against Kantian universalism.

As for the point about the Soviets, that just makes you sound like a retarded Cold Warrior.

[Since I'm the mad scientist proclaimed by myself]

I think she would loathe Trump

Proof that loathing trump doesn't require being a good person.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

I think she would loathe Trump

Proof that loathing trump doesn't require being a good person.

Jeb taught us that already.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

I think she would loathe Trump

Proof that loathing trump doesn't require being a good person.

Jeb taught us that already.

*Clinton

[TJ in Oregon]

It really depends on the semantics of defining exactly what a "philosophy" is and what a "religion" is. Both make claims about the world that are not universally held. Both can be all-encompassing lens through which the world is seen, with which those on the outside find unverifiable.

There are a couple distinctions though, in that religions generally include philosophies plus some set of revealed belief rather than just rote philosophy, and are, for whatever reason, associated with spiritual ideas. Though there are plenty of non-spiritual things that are called religions and spiritual things called philosophies.