What is Philosophy?

Possibly the most fundamental question we can ask ourselves.

Stemming from the Greek word, phílosophía, you might say philosophy is the ‘love of wisdom.’

Maybe it’s simply the study of knowledge or “thinking about thinking” or learning how to think.

Broadly you could say it’s an activity people partake in to discover the truth, seeking to understand fundamental truths about the world and themselves.

You could say philosophy is about asking questions and then reflecting on those very questions. Where you might often find yourself more confused and curious from the point you started.

Hmmm so it’s about asking questions, what questions?

The why questions. Think of a seven, eight, or nine-year-old child who’s going through the why question phase, essentially philosophy is about answering those questions. Why do we do x? Why do read? Why do we go to school? Why do we need to sleep? Why do we need to eat our vegetables?

Some common questions from children that leave their parents frustrated and proclaiming, ‘because it just is’!

Philosophy is about answering those questions and then continuing that inquiry throughout life, uncovering morality, ethics, meaning, and continuing into the endless abyss of questioning.

But has the question of what is philosophy evolved? Has it become answered, has it found a more definite truth?

Well, through observation, you might see philosophy as a beginning point, a method of asking the best questions for science. A way of sorting through the questions about life and then passing them on to science.

Just look at consciousness, the question in philosophy of what is consciousness? It’s a complicated question and this article is not the place for the answer, but we can see that a lot of our progress in understanding consciousness comes from neuroscience and the sciences.

But wait, does this mean we are evolving past philosophy?

Far from it, the questions we ask ourselves about consciousness such as, what is it to be conscious? What is personhood? How does human consciousness compare to other creatures? All of these had a starting point of human inquiry. That starting point of doing philosophy––inquiring to ask the right questions.

In one sense philosophy is thinking about conceptual puzzles, as in what are the logical consequences of our conclusions.

These conceptual puzzles make the discussion of philosophy really interesting. See, people doing philosophy are not routinely going out and doing empirical studies to find the answers in the world, that’s where science comes in.

Philosophy is more about asking the questions for those empirical studies and what those studies mean for us conceptually. In a simplistic sense, they help us think about the meaning of life.

Along with these conceptual puzzles, you’re playing a sort of mind game, trying to fit everything together––forming a coherent and consistent worldview.

This is what philosophy helps to do, it takes our inconsistent viewpoints about life and destroys them. It demonstrates the logical inconsistencies that they force you to conclude. It takes you from what you intuitively think the world is to what the world actually is––from your perspective.

This broad range of inquiry allows philosophy to put it’s foot in all areas, from the sciences, technology, health, politics, and anything else you can imagine within the world of ideas. It’s all a conceptual puzzle waiting for philosophical inquiry.

Importance of Philosophy: Why we need to study

Currently, our cultural dialogue is broken. By consequence, our society is slowly breaking down into a divide. Some of this stems from a broken education system, a broken mindset, and a broken way of thinking. We have forgotten the importance of philosophy, the importance of learning how to think.

We have a large portion of people within our society fearful of being left alone with their own thoughts. They see academia, politicians, and corporatist in their own secs of society, excluding themselves from the rest of us. These are legitimate concerns, but addressing a fundamental change that needs to be made for the sake of a better society, a civil society: making philosophy more appealing to the masses.

This can be a criticism of most areas in academia, however, I want to focus on my concern with philosophy. The study that gives us a foundational building block to our ability to reason, understand knowledge, speculate, critically think, and much more. Understanding and doing philosophy is something that everyone should do. Be alone with your thoughts and look to understand our various perspectives on life––the meaning of life.

My fault with academia in philosophy is it has become this closed off sec of society, it doesn’t appeal to the masses. I do not put full blame on academia, as some responsibility is in the people to pursue this more fulfilling understanding of our lives and the lives of others. However, the experts within philosophy have a responsibility to make these topics appealing to the masses––connect with them.

In college, when people learn, it’s in an unrelatable way, they never develop a deeper interest in discovering why philosophical questions are important, or how they shape our understanding of life itself. Students are left with no mechanism to apply the array of philosophical concepts to their own lives. When they walk away from the classroom, they leave philosophers and their theories behind on an ivory tower––untouchable ideas from ancient men.

See, philosophy is something that can be applied to all areas of our lives and the perspectives we hold. This can shape how we value things, the career we choose, the political positions we take, and how we spend our time. This deep understanding of ourselves can only lead to a better discussion that can help improve the lackluster discussions throughout many debates in society.

Academia suffers from confirmation bias, not expanding beyond their groupthink, only discussing with those within their area of expertise. As a philosopher, you should make yourself open to the rest of society, as what is the point of your newfound understanding if you only provide it to the few? Should we not hope for more of a discussion from the many?

Some things society will just wrongfully find unimportant but many issues can be formulated to appeal to many in our society. Even beginning with the political and utilizing ethics to understand politics. Possibly even utilizing pop culture entertainment to introduce philosophical ideas and concepts. Instead of choosing fringe topics for discussion, choose topics pertaining to a broader viewer base should be more widely considered.

Even ideas that have already been established can be brought to the forefront with a new intuitive perspective that can be reshaped to broaden our societal knowledge base. Philosophy should be brought to every age group and a discussion should be had on how to fulfill this task. Philosophy is a foundational tool for understanding our world, if we don’t provide a foundation of thinking to fall back on, what are we really thinking about?