An Unoriginal Case for Philosophy
When I was growing up, there came a point in time in which I felt compelled to ask my mom: “What is philosophy actually?”. I don’t quite remember what her answer was regarding my original question but I do remember what she added to it in the end: “I am sure you will like it.” With every following encounter of philosophical treatises, my interest became ever more ignited indeed – you could say indeed that “I like it”. However, at the same time I only heard dismissive comments about the full-time study of philosophy – purportedly the “surest way to become a taxi driver”. Generally, the attitude of the utmost majority of people is reflected in this saying: Who would want their kids to contemplate the nature of the good, when they could “do good” by becoming an engineer or something alike. To many, the study of philosophy seems to be a life in a lofty dream palace in the sky hovering above reality with barely any connection to “real” issues. Ironically, the invocation of this argument first of all deserves an at least minimally informed supposition about what defines “real” – a matter of philosophy.
Before moving on any further into the metaphysics of reality, the word “philosophy” itself deserves some further attention: literally, it means the “love of wisdom” (gr. philia sophia). Therefore, being a philosopher is rather a certain mode of engaging with the world than a profession. Even more importantly, it is rather a mindset and a dynamic process than a static body of knowledge. Philosophy is not mutually exclusive with any other professional discipline, it is rather complimentary by adding additional dimensions of depth: Instead of building upon preconceived notions on what problems worth tackling are, it elucidates the map that is used to figuring out what problems are most relevant. With an increasing number of options due to the additional degrees of freedom modern life brings with it, the skill of figuring out which ones are worth pursuing becomes ever more relevant. It means taking the bird’s-eye view on the topology of problems, even if that entails temporarily detaching from the ground and ascending to lofty heights.
In the modern jungle of information and ideologies, it is easy to lose a sense of orientation as to what is true and what is right. Seemingly novel ideas are presenting themselves to us, competing for one’s attention left and right. However, such “new” fashions and ideas are often grounded in undercurrents best to be understood through studying what ideas have already been conceived over the millenia. It is in this light that Nietzsche wrote about philosophers:
“Their thinking is, in fact, far less a discovery than a re-recognizing, a remembering, a return and a home-coming to a far-off, ancient common-household of the soul, out of which those ideas formerly grew: philosophizing is so far a kind of atavism of the highest order.”
– F. Nietzsche, “Beyond Good and Evil”
More often than not, we revert to patterns of thought of which already generations before us were erroneously convinced to be refreshingly novel and original. In that manner, by having read Nietzsche, I at least do not fall prey to the illusion that the argument I am delineating here is but a recapitulation. Oh, the irony!
By not studying the space of ideas which have been conceived and fought over ferociously, we keep having to start from scratch in dabbling with the most complex matters – and potentially reenact historical struggles with a costly “victory” far away from promising the gain of significant intellectual ground. If we have any interest in contributing a genuinely original idea to the world, we have to have a sufficient understanding of how many unoriginal thoughts one has to have in order to arrive potentially at a truly novel one. We have to be humbled in realising our insignificance to have any chance of achieving something truly significant. Luckily, we have got the pivotal ideas that have shaped the centuries black-on-white for the most part, allowing us some insights into what our current understanding of the world is anchored in – and how much of fashionable talk is merely the ignorant regurgitation of centuries-old utterings.
Underappreciated about philosophy remains what goes beyond the descriptive, passive aspect of philosophy; that is the intake and digestion of how ideas were amplified and reflected by countless minds before they reached ours. We are not mere spectators in the colosseum of ideas wrangling with each other. We are in the pit. It helps us understand what historical contingencies and philosophical musings are pulling upon each one of us but after all we are shaping these ideas with every move we make and every word we utter. Awareness of the influence ideas from somebody else’s mind (most likely someone who is dead for generations already) have on us lets us get a grip on them and escape their headlock. But more importantly, as we free ourselves from our ignorance of their influence on each one of us, we become the ones deciding the course of actions and the values guiding us therein.
It is indeed inexplicably difficult to not live and perish as but a mere hollow vessel poorly deflecting the echoes of somebody else’s song. But gladly, it is possible for an individual with an extraordinary level of insight to think what absolutely no one has yet thought of. Otherwise, no progress and no innovation would be possible: They require deep insights into the structure of being. Fortunately, there is a shortcut to get around the futile attempt to (re-)discover from scratch the best ideas of the greatest minds that have existed throughout the millennia: the study of – rather the engagement with – philosophy.
It might be a lofty business but I suppose it helps to look at the world from above even if you can only navigate through the terrain with two feet on the ground.