Philosophy. What. (2)

Still Thinking...


The more I look at this title I've chosen, the more something in me says man, that's a hefty undertaking. Thus we conclude with a very general sketch, a brushover -- barely scratching the surface of what Philosophy is all about. To tell the truth, I'm not exactly sure where I'm going with this, so we'll see what happens when we get there...

In some sense, anyone is a philosopher insofar as they have beliefs and reason(s) to support those beliefs (even, unfortunately, if those reasons involve not having reasons -- for whatever reason). The problem with saying that everyone is a philosopher is that if this was so, there would be no need for the discipline. Like many other things people do, the extent to which one is a philosopher comes in degrees. Some people are curious, some people are obsessively trying to gather reasons and/or rational explanations for the big questions -- the philosopher falls on the latter half of the scale. Trying to find an explanation for how we know anything, or whether morals exist, or whether we exist could very well lead one to write an entire volume on why his or her hands don't exist. Yeah, deep. Nonetheless, most people do something like this... to some degree.

I once read in the preface to an introductory logic book that "philosophy is not always nice -- philosophy is about questioning the myriad of assumptions people make in their everyday lives". This is one of the best super-ultra-condensed definitions I've come across. I should add that philosophy is just as much about finding good reasons to support those assumptions. So when someone says something to the tune of "all politicians are corrupt, they always have been, it's just the way it is, so nobody should waste their time with politics", the philosopher will come up with three dozen assumptions that this person made, seek to explain why they are all wrong (or right, as it may be in some cases), and seek to provide better alternatives. Most often these situations get hairy (hairy in the sense of what many would view as "unnecessary rational discussion") and captain bad assumption (whoever that may be -- most, if not all people would fit into this category at some time or another) decides that the philosopher thinks too much and fails to understand.

So what is philosophy about? It is about searching for truths, even if those truths may not exist. Much more than that, though, it is about understanding who we are, where we are, why we are, and what we are doing.

Why would someone want to understand these things? Stay tuned (I hate saying that; my mind is a blank as to an alternative) for part 3: Philosophy. Why.

... and Skippy's almost at a million!