Philosophers love thinking and they love wisdom. In this game which isn’t a game you are given a philosophical question to ponder and discuss. You might even find out what you think when you say it.
Rules of the Game
Each person takes a turn as a Philosopher at the Table. The Philosopher selects a unique number from 1 to 168 and then reads that question out loud from the list below and everyone responds in turn.
The Philosopher’s job is to get participants to think and talk about the question. When conversation on a question is exhausted, the Philosopher sums up the conversation and participants move to the next Philosopher at the Table.
QUESTIONS:
1. Is it worse to fail at something or never attempt it in the first place?
2. If you could choose just one thing to change about the world, what would it be?
3. To what extent do you shape your own destiny, and how much is down to fate?
4. Does nature shape our personalities more than nurture?
5. Should people care more about doing the right thing, or doing things right?
6. What one piece of advice would you offer to a newborn infant?
7. Where is the line between insanity and creativity?
8. What is true happiness?
9. What things hold you back from doing the things that you really want to?
10. What makes you, you?
11. What is the truth?
12. What is reality?
13. Do you make your own decisions, or let others make them for you?
14. What makes a good friend?
15. Why do people fear losing things that they do not even have yet?
16. Who defines good and evil?
17. What is the difference between living and being alive?
18. Is a “wrong” act okay if nobody ever knows about it?
19. Who decides what morality is?
20. How do you know that your experience of consciousness is the same as other people’s experience of consciousness?
21. What is true strength?
22. What is true love?
23. Is a family still relevant in the modern world?
24. What role does honour play in today’s society?
25. If money cannot buy happiness, can you ever be truly happy with no money?
26. How do you know your perceptions are real?
27. How much control do you have over your life?
28. What is freedom?
29. Isn’t one person’s terrorist another person’s freedom fighter?
30. What happens after we die?
31. What defines you?
32. What do people strive for after enlightenment?
33. Do we have a soul?
34. What is intelligence?
35. How should people live their lives?
36. If lying is wrong, are white lies okay?
37. Is trust more important than love?
38. Is it easier to love or be loved?
39. Is it better to love and lose or never to love?
40. Do aliens exist?
41. The structure of DNA appears to be intelligently designed, what are the implications?
42. If everything evolved from amoebas, how does the world still have amoebas?
43. Is life all a dream?
44. When does consciousness begin?
45. Have we become less happy in this age of technology?
46. Can we have happiness without sadness?
47. How did the universe begin?
48. Is there a supreme power?
49. What is education?
50. What will happen at the end of the world?
51. Is there a reason to life?
52. Where does the soul live?
53. Is it more important to be liked or respected?
54. Does sound happen if nothing is present to hear it?
55. What is infinity?
56. Where does the universe end?
57. Does observation alter an event?
58. Does the Law of Attraction exist?
59. What is true friendship?
60. Where were people before they were born?
61. What is beauty?
62. Where do thoughts come from?
63. Is mind or matter more real?
64. What is time?
65. How can people believe in truths without evidence?
66. Why is there something rather than nothing?
67. Is our universe real?
68. Do we have free will?
69. Does God exist?
70. Is there life after death?
71. Can you really experience anything objectively?
72. What is the best moral system?
73. What are numbers?
74. What is Good? (Ethics)
75. What is Evil? (Ethics)
76. How can we tell what is Good and Evil?
77. Why should I be moral at all?
78. Are humans just physical entities or do they have an immaterial self?
79. Do humans have an essential nature?
80. Do humans have free-will?
81. Are humans morally responsible for the things they think, do, intend, etc.?
82. Does the personal identity of a human persist through change?
83. What are the anthropological implications of determinism?
84. If we can prod the brain and produce a physical or even a mental effect, what implications follow?
85. Can spirituality make you a happy person?
86. Is time a physical entity or a metaphysical entity?
87. Is science compatible with religious belief?
88. What is science?
89. Does living your life for others make your life have meaning?
90. Are we happier now as a society than in times past? Why or why not?
91. What makes something immoral?
92. What is Truth?
93. How can only one religion be true?
94. How do you define “good” and “evil”?
95. Are miracles possible?
96. Can we know certain truths without evidence?
97. What role do “supernatural experiences” or “mystical experiences” have to play?
98. Do abstract objects exist (i.e. does the number 2 exist)?
99. Do universals exist?
100. Is the mind the same as the brain, or do we have souls?
101. Can computers think, or fall in love?
102. Can computers be creative?
103. What is consciousness?
104. Can we really know what it feels like to be a bat?
105. When you have a toothache, is the pain in your mouth or in your brain?
106. What is an emotion?
107. Is love just a feeling?
108. How is love different from passion or sexual desire?
109. Are emotions irrational?
110. Which would you rather be – an unhappy human being or a happy dog?
111. What is the meaning of life?
112. Is happiness the most important purpose in life?
113. Is it always better to have more choices?
114. Does freewill really exist?
115. If there is no freewill, should we punish people at all?
116. If God exists, why is there so much evil in the world?
117. Is morality relative?
118. What is wrong with incest?
119. What is friendship and why do we need it?
120. What is art?
121. Is there progress in art?
122. Can food be art?
123. Is it wrong to spend money on expensive food when people are dying of hunger?
124. If someone is drowning and you refuse to help, are you responsible for his death?
125. Why do we punish people?
126. Is it alright to torture terrorists to extract information?
127. When is it ok, if ever, to disobey the law?
128. Is it the main purpose of law to promote morality?
129. Should governments penalize people for unhealthy lifestyles?
130. Why ban drugs and not alcohol or trans-fat?
131. Should prostitution be legal?
132. How much freedom should people have?
133. Are people free to sell themselves into slavery?
134. Why think there are universal human rights?
135. Is democracy the same as decision by the majority?
135. Should people who pay more taxes get more votes?
136. Is democracy suitable for all countries?
137. When should governments intervene in the market?
138. Is there a difference between free trade and fair trade?
139. What is wrong, if anything, about protectionism?
140. Is patriotism irrational?
141. Can wars ever be just?
142. Is the preservation of culture a good reason to limit immigration?
143. Is race a biological category or a social construct?
144. Are you the same person you were ten years ago?
145. What is a person? Is it the mind, or the body?
145. Do we think with language or pictures?
146. Why do we dream?
147. Can animals reason?
148. Do animals have rights?
149. Should we let people commit suicide when they are terminally ill?
150. Should we fear death?
151. Is life meaningless if we can live forever?
152. Does every event have a cause?
153. “This sentence is false.” Is it true or false?
154. “It will rain a week later.” Is it true or false or neither?
155. Is truth relative, or a matter of opinion?
156. How do you know you are not dreaming right now?
157. If we live in a computer simulation, does it make a difference to the meaning of life
158. Would you choose to live in a computer simulation if it will make you a lot happier?
159. Can we be certain of anything?
160. Why believe in electrons and blackholes if we can’t see them?
161. What’s your philosophy of life?
162. Do you live to eat or eat to live?
163. How should we live?
164. What’s more important, the individual or society?
165. Do you understand the difference between “thinking” and “being”? What is that difference?
166. What does it mean to live up to your full potential? Are you living up to your full potential?
167. Are you being the best person you can be? If not, what should you be doing?
168. Should we judge acts based on their outcomes alone?
If you have more questions, email: philosophyofenjoyment@gmail.com.
Sources of questions:
1-65: 65 Deep Philosophical Questions Operation Meditation
66-73: 8 Great Philosophical Questions that We’ll Never Solve & 8 Great Philosophical Questions – A Vedic Perspective
74-99: 50 IMPORTANT PHILOSOPHICAL QUESTIONS
100-160: 101 Philosophical Questions
philosophy of ENJOYMENT 