Why You Need Philosophy

What comes to mind when you think about Philosophy?

Maybe you think….

• Philosophy is boring and complicated
• Philosophy is about a bunch of old, dead men (mostly)
• Philosophy only explores lofty ideas and questions that are unanswerable
• Philosophy is a waste of time and not relevant to my life

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970), British philosopher, says that one who does not value philosophy ‘is oblivious of the necessity of providing food for the mind’.

The value that philosophy has in our lives is immeasurable and truly one of the most important things in life. If more people explored philosophy (and related disciplines), the world just might be a more peaceful and happy place.

If we open our mind up to this type of learning and exploration, we may be surprised by how much meaning it brings to our life.

When we learn, we expand, we grow, and we change – And it is always for the better. You will never know if something could change your life unless you open yourself up to learning about it.

For example:

• How do you know that Existentialism has no place in your life if you have never taken time to explore it?
• Have you explored Ancient Philosophy and know with certainty that it can bring no value to your life?
• Are you the happiest you could possibly be and find no need to look anywhere else for happiness?

Will every philosophy be of interest to you? Probably not, but you will certainly find something that speaks to you and changes your life.

What is most important, however, is the fact that learning about the world and different ideas is essential to learning about yourself. In order to be happy and have meaning in life, you have to know yourself and know what you value.

Let’s look at each of the potential thoughts about philosophy that are listed above:

Philosophy is boring and complicated

It may be true that philosophy can be boring and very complicated. It can, in fact, hurt your head.

BUT it does NOT have to be that way!

Philosophical ideas can be broken down into very understandable and thought-provoking ways. The problem is that most philosophies are presented in ways that are not always easy for a non-philosopher to comprehend. It’s all in the presentation!

Yes, there may be topics within philosophy that are not that exciting, but there are many topics that can and will change your life. These are the topics that must be explored – ignore the rest.

Instead of boring and complicated, philosophy can be exciting and life-enriching. There are many very wise philosophers that believed (and still believe) that the only way to be happy in life is to explore philosophical pursuits.

Philosophy is about a bunch of old, dead men (mostly)

While many philosophers are men (and many are old or dead), philosophy is not about a person it is about ideas and ways of thinking about the world.

Philosophy is about everyone. Everyone has a philosophy and everyone ‘does’ philosophy whether they know it or not. In fact, we cannot live without having a philosophy.

The following is from Karl Popper:

We all have our philosophies, whether or not we are aware of this fact…. The impact of our philosophies upon our actions and our lives is often devastating. This makes it necessary to try to improve our philosophies.

We should always work to improve ourselves and our philosophy of life. The trouble with many people is that they don’t take the time to think about philosophical ideas. They don’t think about life, happiness, meaning, value or purpose.

Philosophy is alive in all of us and to deny this is to deny life. To not explore philosophy and life is to live in the dark.

We must always strive to expand, evaluate and improve our world view, and the views we hold about ourself. This is the only way we can grow, find meaning, and be happy.

Philosophy only explores lofty ideas and questions that are unanswerable

To think about this, we really need to think about what philosophy is and what it aims to do.

Broken down, ‘philosophy’ literally means the love of wisdom:

          philo = love      sophia = wisdom

So it is the love of knowledge, the love of contemplation and discovery. Yes, philosophy asks questions that do not have answers. That is the very definition of what philosophy is! Meaning, if something has an explanation or an answer, it can’t be a part of philosophy.

Without philosophy, however, the sciences wouldn’t exist. There was a time when nothing or very little was known about the stars and the planets. Anyone who thought about these things (Ptolemy, for example) were contemplating the unknown – they were doing philosophy. Once answers were found for the many questions, the science of Astronomy was born.

Similarly, there was a time when little was know about the living world around us. Philosophers questioned and investigated many things and eventually found answers and the science of Biology was born.

The same can be said for all of the sciences. What if no one were to question the world around them? There would be no medicine, no computers, and no advancement.

So does philosophy ask questions that do not have answers? Yes, philosophy does ask questions that do not have answers… YET. The whole purpose and goal is to find the meaning and answers to all the questions that are asked.

Shall we stop questioning? Shall we believe that we already know all that there is to know about life, the world, happiness, meaning, purpose?

If we do, we might as well give up on life! Just because we do not have definite answers yet does not mean that we never will.

Thank goodness for the tenacity of so many philosophers, otherwise cures and vaccines for many deadly ailments would not exist.

Philosophy is a waste of time and not relevant to my life

Hopefully, you are beginning to see that the opposite of this is true. In fact, one could argue that philosophy is the most important thing in life.

There will be some people who will still think of it as a waste of time. These are the people who are not interested in growing and expanding their horizons.

They are not interested in bettering their life or trying to understand themselves or the world around them.

This is not the life that I would want to live. I am with Socrates when he says:

The unexamined life is not worth living.

When we contemplate philosophical ideas we open our mind up to new possibilities, we flex our intellectual and creative muscles. And as a side bonus, we change our life for the good!