Why Study Philosophy?
By Nadeem Khokhar, with my thanks to Ms Sarah Armstrong for her editing.
I believe there are three reasons that you should study Philosophy: The development of critical thinking skills, The joy of speculation/wondering, and the way that Philosophical thinking helps to develop a well-formed conscience.
I like to say, ‘if you don’t learn how to think for yourself, someone will happily do it for you- and probably not with your best interests in mind.’ You may not think it, but you need Philosophy. It is a powerful antidote to the fake news stories circling the media today. Short of moving to a desert island alone, you cannot escape the distorted, cacophony of background noise that flood our senses though various channels such as Twitter, Facebook, TikTok etc. Everyone has an opinion you MUST listen to; everyone has an idea they want you to buy; remember students that everyone is selling something and if they aren’t selling you anything, then YOU are what they are selling.
The chance of evolving into an authentic person becomes ever more remote the more we are exposed to what others ‘would have us be or believe’. Philosophy is one way to effectively reason with and rationalise all these ideas and emerge with your integrity intact.
I do caution every student in my Philosophy class that rigorous self-questioning of long-cherished assumptions is not easy, but nothing worthwhile comes easy. To quote the great Stoic, Emperor Marcus Aurelius: “Growth and comfort do not co-exist.” If you study Philosophy in earnest, you will discover exciting revelations, and uncomfortable truths about yourself and the world around you. Philosophy is a call to action, to real change. This is the source of great personal growth.
The second reason is wonder. The great Philosopher Plato famously remarked “Philosophy begins in wonder.” It is inescapable that from time-to-time the trivial façade of everyday life is stripped away. We find ourselves staring into the night sky trying to count the infinite number of stars, and for a moment our finiteness becomes a stark reality. In that moment you may begin to wonder what the purpose of your life is? For Existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre, it was on a crowded and cramped tram, shoulder to shoulder with the people next to him, that he realised the absurdity of the ‘rat race’ his daily life had become. “Why am I here?” Sartre asked himself. Is there any real underlying point? Or are such questions themselves pointless?
This line of questioning in oneself can result in a reckoning, as it did for Sartre that day, with some of the ‘big questions’ of life, such as, what is this reality of ours? How can I know anything for certain? What is the difference between right and wrong, good, and bad? What does it mean to live a good life? And how do we construct a better society?’ You will encounter some of these questions and more and examine them with the rigour of structured and logical thinking. To wonder about something, to question thoughtfully and rigorously, is the very beginning of thinking Philosophically.
Finally, studying Philosophy assists your development into a confident and well-adjusted human being. It is a humanities subject, after all. That is, it ‘humanises’ you. In this subject you are exposed to a wide array of ideas from Philosophers who shaped and continue to shape how we see ourselves, which in turn influences how we interact with others. Philosophy put into practice sets up filters in your mind which assist you in negotiating the constant barrage of ideas and information form the world around you, but it also gives you the ability to step aside and observe your thought patterns and analyse and how this information is affecting you at a deeper level. This is an important ability to learn and maintain because to change is to grow.
I asked a lecture who specialised in the works of German Philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, what had impacted him the most by the time he had completed his PhD; “I learned how just little we know about anything.” Scrutinise your fellow students, the popular media, the news, your family and peers, and your good selves. How often do we hear opinions espoused with such certainty, whose foundations fall apart when we scrutinise them too closely for the presence of logical fallacies? You will meet and get to know some of the greatest minds the world has ever seen. For example: Aristotle, Hobbes, Locke, Kant, Mill and Camus. These and many more will become your intimate companions on your journey to self-awareness. I encourage you to challenge their arguments and assumptions (nothing is sacred in philosophy), and to wrestle with your own pre-conceived ideas and thought patterns. I will repeat “Philosophy is a call to change”.
Recall to mind if you would the famous scene in the sci-fi movie The Matrix (1999), where Morpheus offers his young protégé, Neo, a choice between the reality-revealing Blue Pill or the comforting Red Pill. In studying philosophy, we desire the former for sure, but you will learn that it is not an easy pill to swallow. Most humans, like a child huddled under a blanket during a storm, seek to make this big, bad world as comforting as possible for you. I see the attraction, but this comes with a cost. Remember the aforementioned words of Marcus Aurelius in this blog and decide if you are ready to step out of your comfort zone. Can you challenge and be challenged? Will you be changed and moved? Do you want to learn to be assertive and confident in who you are and what you believe? If you answered yes to these questions, then I look forward to seeing you in my Philosophy class.