Philosophy. Why... The End is Always the Beginning

???

Either we ought to philosophize or we ought not. If we ought, then we ought. If we ought not, then also we ought [i.e., in order to justify this view]. Hence in any case we ought to philosophize. --Aristotle


So . . . Why? What am I doing? Where am I going? Where does it end? It seems these questions are some of the toughest that one will ever attempt to answer for themselves (if, indeed, one does ask themselves). And so here I am (or am I?)

Yes. I am. This much I know; cogito ergo sum, blah blah blah . . .

Almost six years go by, and before you can say 'holyfuckingpassageoftime', there it went. There it goes. Why philosophy? Well, like most questions in life, there is a simple answer and there is a not-so-simple answer.

The simple answer: Philosophy aids in conditioning one to think critically about their environment (as do many other subjects of inquiry). It helps one to make informed distinctions in regards to big and small questions alike. In fact, the whole point of philosophy is to not only think, but also to think about one's thinking. Very often the small questions turn out to be the biggest ones, and now the simple answer has become the not-so-simple one.

The not-so-simple answer: This one's not so easy (yeah-- not so simple). I chose the route I did in college because it has always been in my nature to seek common ground, search for reasons/alternatives, and hopefully gain a better understanding of what it is we're doing in this amazing and crazy 'ocean o' stuff'. The questions are big, and many seem unanswerable, though I found it best to go with whatever I thought might satisfy my curiosity (and that didn't happen, of course). There were few as many courses/subjects that piqued my interests like philosophy courses and the professors that taught them (I should say 'the humanities' in general, to which philosophy is undoubtedly tied . . . I might even argue that philosophy is an umbrella subject for all subjects-- one could philosophize about acorns if they tried hard enough.) There is a certain irony to be found in the fact that philosophy then led me to a newfound appreciation of subjects that I would have otherwise despised. Looking back I wish I could have gone through the last few years backwards; I might have enjoyed some of the courses a bit more. The point is that my undergraduate stint with philosophy led me to a fuller realization of the importance of education, outside of the common drive to earn a degree solely for the sake of earning money.

Money is not the point. Learning for the sake of learning is the point.

*tangent
Don't get me wrong; everybody needs to make a living, and this is no doubt some of why one might want to pursue a higher education. Another reason would be to make a living doing something you enjoy. Or to acquire significant amounts of debt. Whatever your reason might be, I'd be hard pressed to find many academic philosophers (or english professors) whose primary goal in pursuing a degree is to bathe in various forms of currency.

With that being said, I've been asking myself whether my intentions are pure in this regard, i.e., when I graduate in a couple weeks, will I then be working my ass off in grad school (indeed, just to get in to grad school) to improve myself, or to improve my wealth? If it's the latter, then I've surely chosen a difficult path; if the former, then I've surely chosen a difficult path-- though the end result will most-likely be the former, and less-likely the latter. Knowing this, it seems that my reasons for continuing with philosophy, and education in general, have little to do with the amassing of wealth, and much more to do with simply wanting to gain insight and share with others in the ongoing dialogue of existence and the ongoing, evolving-- sometimes devolving-- process of learning and experience.
*end tangent

Why would one want to go to the library and pick up an anthology of Ancient Greek, Jewish, African, Eastern, Middle-Eastern, Scientific, Mathematical, Moral, Religious... on and on... philosophy? What does one stand to gain from this? How could John Locke, Bertrand Russell or Lao Tzu enrich your life? Why would one want to bother with a subject that is often times extremely dense and/or mind-grippingly confusing. Well, I think most would agree that in general, thinking is a good thing. So when one reads an essay about, say, 'the purpose of existence', they can either put it down because it seems hard to understand (maybe not so aesthetically pleasing? depending on the individual?), or they can make an effort to try to understand what is being said, and thereby signifigantly increase their chances of walking away from the essay with a whole new perspective on life. Granted such perspective-shifts tend to occur in small increments, but small increments are better than no increments.

In terms of practical reasons, one might trudge through that anthology and come out being able to make better decisions in the common venue of the local supermarket. Just forming the capacity to realize that the word 'sale' does not always mean 'good deal' is one of the many reasons one might consider filling their lives with a few notes from Spinoza's treatises on 'substance'. It's about making better decisions, seeing things more for what they are, forming the capacity to recognize contradictions, see through bullshit, improve oneself, and lessen one's chances of becoming a victim of extremely erroneous reasoning (seemingly, at least).

Ultimately the question of why a person might want to study philosophy becomes the question of why someone would want to open their minds to learning anything at all.

Reconciliation.
Understanding.
A better sense of things.

And I'm attempting to make myself feel better about the path I've chosen, and all the work that lies ahead of me. Others keep telling me that I've reached the end, but it feels a lot more like I'm just getting started.

So . . . philosophy. Why not?