Why Study Philosophy?
From a philosophy grad who made it through the madness.
Philosophy tests your every assumption. By opening everything — the self, the mind, morality, society — to scrutiny, philosophy breaks down every belief you held, every mold you thought you fit into, before kindly asking you to put the pieces back together yourself.
Philosophy, in other words, encourages us to provide our own answers to those ‘answerless’ questions. Questions that, because they are in some part unanswerable and in every part difficult, often go untouched in day-to-day life. It prompts us to find our own way in what often seems like a nihilistic and morally-bankrupt world. And it does this by pushing its students to ask not what matters, but to work from the assumption that nothing does and find an answer that is, at least in part, authentic.
Does It Really Achieve This?
On the one hand, yes. Philosophy students make great stereotypes — right down from the irritatingly well-read Platonist who has a counter-argument and quotes for every question, to the thoughtful soul who loses his head in Hermann Hesse.
But all this rough-handed stereotyping allows people to forget that the individual who eventually emerges from this labyrinth of existential angst and Socratic skepticism is one with personal values that are unique in their depth.
In short, the philosophy student is one who has escaped the trial of abstract-thought and ambiguity alive and, usually, with a sense of conviction that only comes from finding yourself in the blazing midst of uncertainty.
This conviction, along with the ability to get comfortable with ambiguity, is incredibly valuable in a world where uncertainty is the only constant.
Playing Devil’s Advocate Is Difficult
On the other hand, philosophy is tough.
This isn’t intellectual snobbery: I don’t mean that philosophy is harder than economics, engineering, or hard science, even if it is academically challenging. No, philosophy is difficult for the sheer size of the cliff-edge it tells you to look over — for the maze of rabbit holes it encourages you to go down. It’s not only about learning, but unpicking and reassembling everything you learn, it involves a kind of dizzying — and risky — mental exercise.
Philosophy is the challenge of holding up whatever we once assumed to be true and solid, and realizing how utterly fluid and contingent it really is.
That light-stomached churn we feel when the world suddenly shifts and becomes unsteady, because we’ve learned or experienced something new: that’s philosophy. It’s the challenge of holding up whatever we once assumed to be true and solid, and realizing how utterly fluid and contingent it really is. It’s not easy. Like standing on a surfboard in choppy water, it takes years to master and even then there’s a strong chance you’ll fall off.
Easy, Tiger
Studying philosophy can be exhilarating and incredibly freeing. But it can also be wildly disorientating and even dangerous if it leaves you without a sense of meaning, value, and stability.
If you’re new to philosophy, dip your toe before diving into the deep end. Take it in moderation, combine a little philosophy with a lot of living, and you’ll be well on the way to the good life. You’ll find countless nuggets of wisdom and insight as you go. But if you’re looking for answers, as Hunter S Thomson once put it:
“f you’re genuinely satisfied with what you are and what you’re doing, then give those books a wide berth. (Let sleeping dogs lie.)”
The Apeiron Blog — Big Questions, Made Simple.
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