When I discuss philosophical issues with non-philosophy types, most of them wriggle down the orthodox yet unappetising path of – “well there’s no answer, so there’s no point to any of these theories.”
This is not only a depressing and intellectually stunting way to think about things, but it is also a sad reflection of the way we are taught to think these days.
The problem is that people are taught to believe that “right” and “wrong” are absolute; everything that isn’t completely and perfectly right is totally and equally wrong.
And those things that are wrong are utterly useless and play no role in everyday life.
The notion of “right” and “wrong” being absolutes seems to arise in early life, when children who know little are taught by teachers who know little more.
How much is 2 + 2? The answer is 4. That is right. Anything else is wrong.
Having exact answers, and having absolute rights and wrongs, minimises the necessity of thinking, and that pleases students, parents and teachers. It is far too difficult to teach that 2+2 may have no definitive answer, or that there is a scale of right-ness and wrong-ness and that if one child said 2+2 was 5 and one said 2+2 was purple, yes, they may both be wrong but isn’t one more wrong than the other?
And if one child said 2+2 was an even integer and one said it was 3.999, wouldn’t one child be nearly right?
But if the teacher wants 4 for an answer and won’t distinguish between the various wrongs, and a student gives 4 for an answer because they want the best grades they can get, doesn’t that set an unnecessary limit to understanding?
Philosophy, with its limitless boundaries on understanding and its discard of any universal quantification of what is right or wrong, useless or useful, is why so many people struggle with the subject, and why so many people view it as “useless”.
Ironically, the people who have considered most deeply that philosophy is a waste of time are the philosophers themselves, yet philosophy is not a discipline only fit for fools who have nothing better to do than ponder the unanswerable.
It is often those who have not considered the subject to any depth that are the quickest to discard philosophy. Philosophy doesn’t need to be taught because you can read it independently, as a hobby. There’s no applicability to philosophy – it bears no use in real life.
Well sure, you can learn anything on your own, but what does that mean about the validity of the field itself? Nothing. And if the institutionalised issue with philosophy is that it can’t be applied in a careerist sense, then this proves problematic for any subject that isn’t vocational, and is hardly something singularly idiosyncratic of philosophy. Or, you take a subject like maths, which although not vocational for bankers, is still usefulbecause it equips you with the quantitative, conjectural and analytical skills the job demands. Philosophy has its own set of skills that prove valuable in pretty much every job under the sun.
Philosophy is the oldest subject in history and has daughters in science, mathematics, literature, religion, law and ethics. It is the pursuit of knowledge, and much like science, is beautiful and infinite. Yet just because philosophy is not grounded in empirical evidence, does not mean it is aimless. We are awash in an ever-growing sea of knowledge, struggling to quell the chaos with order and meaning. Science is very good about quantifying the “how,” but it is not equipped to explain the “why.” This is a void that philosophy can bridge.
Many people are not aware that philosophical notions make up their entire mental furniture, or if they are, these notions are not worthy of discussion because they are self-evident. As a rebuttal to this, Hume claims any proposition that claims to be self-evident is self-contradictory and so there are no self-evident truths.
Philosophy expands your range of thinking about the realm of rational answers and the range of viewpoints on any topic of discussion. It encourages you to question and dig below the surface.
If you are looking for objective, verifiable answers, well, it does not do that.
The unexamined life is not worth living – Socrates
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