Why Study Philosophy? Julia de Lorimier SCU Class of 2015 January 11, 2013 Allen Sanford Award One thing I can say without a doubt is that almost every philosophy major has experienced that question which inevitably follows in conversation when he or she states his major: What are you going to do with that? Philosophy is great to think about, it s interesting, you might even learn one or two things that will be useful to you later in life, but it doesn t have any real, practical applications in the real world. Right? Wrong. Philosophy is one of the most practical subjects a person could study. The study of philosophy will not only aid the individual in whatever profession he chooses to pursue later in life, not only help him make major life decisions, but will literally help him to live. It will affect his every waking moment, the way he approaches life, what he believes he can and cannot do, what he knows about himself, what he believes about others, and what he knows about the world. Philosophy is not an impractical subject of study. It is the most practical subject of study. There are a myriad of reasons I have chosen to be a philosophy major, but among these, it is clear that studying philosophy is beneficial to me personally as well as to the world as a whole. Philosophy teaches me how to live and prioritize my life, and on which principles I should base major life decisions. Dance is a discipline I have devoted a very significant portion of my time, effort, and energy towards since high school. I consider pursuing dance professionally an alternative to pursuing academic studies in a traditional university and a more typical, non-art-related career path. I would love to devote my life to the development of my skills and career as a dancer, but, because I have been profoundly blessed in my life with education and an apt mind, I feel morally obligated to
de Lorimier 2 give back to the world through whatever work I pursue with my life using these blessings. Because of this, I have always struggled with the notion of devoting one s life to art, because there are so many other needs yet to be fulfilled in the world and so many other causes to which I could contribute my life and work. Working for these other causes seems more beneficial to humanity, because they help people in a very concrete way. It is true that art has the power to inspire, give rise to passion, and can even be used, in some cases, as a means of breaking barriers and forming bridges between conflicting groups of people. In spite of this, there are questions that haunt me: Aren t professions such as being a doctor who literally saves people s lives, or an engineer who helps create means of increasing food production in third world countries, or a politician who ingeniously maximizes the distribution of his country s resources to those most in need and effectively serves its citizens aren t all these helpful to human beings in a way much more imminent than creating or teaching any form of art is? I have struggled with this question more than any other fundamental question as I near the choosing of my own career path. Philosophy, which does its best to define the meaning of life and how to fulfill this meaning, is a tool I am using to help myself answer this question that is so important to my future and the work I choose to do now. Beyond aiding me in making life-changing decisions, philosophy helps me live a better life day to day. After reading primary and secondary literature on Aristotle s Nicomachean Ethics last year, I began repeating to myself, excellence is [a] habit. This statement and understanding the power and truth behind it helped me to do my best in structuring my life as a freshman in college. It helped me form and better relationships, be confident in myself, be confident in my physical capabilities, be productive in my
de Lorimier 3 work and with my time, and to be a virtuous person (or, at least, to be aware when my actions lead me away from virtue). Last year was one of the best years of my life, and during the times I most fully embodied the notion that excellence is habit I was happiest. Thinking of excellence as a habit is one very concrete way that philosophy has already helped me to succeed in my daily life. A recurring theme in philosophy is that something is only intrinsically good if it is its own end. That is to say, a thing that is only good because it leads to or results in a good end that is actually separate from the thing itself is not good in itself; rather the ultimate end which is good in itself is the thing that is truly fundamentally good. Eating, for example, may be considered good because it nourishes the body. However, the true good in this example is health, as eating can be used to ruin health as well as contribute to it. Therefore, health is the true good in this circumstance, not eating, because eating is a means to health, not the end in itself. When one considers disciplines of study, philosophy is, like health, intrinsically good. It is one of the very few, perhaps the only subject of study that is truly its own end. It is the only subject that, in itself, gives an individual reason to study it. My philosophy teacher last year, after noting in class that fated question I have already mentioned which every philosophy major encounters (What are you going to do with that?), exclaimed in exasperation, You don t do anything with it. You study it for itself It s the wisdom of the gods! why wouldn t you want it?! Besides being beneficial to me personally, the study of philosophy is beneficial to the world as a whole. In Book V of The Republic, Plato explains the importance of philosophy to the world: Unless those who are now called kings and rulers come to be sufficiently inspired with a genuine desire for wisdom; unless, that is to say, political
de Lorimier 4 power and philosophy meet together there can be no rest from troubles for states, nor for all mankind there is no other way of happiness either for the state or for the individual (Thales 209). My dad works at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, a medical workforce newly integrated between the Army and the Navy. The integration process has been advancing for about a year and my dad is in charge of a large part of this integration. As he and other workers with genuine intentions struggle to make the entire establishment function cohesively, I have heard countless stories about how frustrated he is with people who bid for decisions that benefit themselves or their department specifically, but fail to benefit the needs of the entire facility. While the integration process is happening slowly but surely, it is, needless to say, a logistical nightmare. In bringing up in conversation at work the fact that I, his daughter, am a philosophy major rather than the track he would have preferred I pursue (engineering), a coworker he greatly respects apparently made a remark to the effect of, Well, maybe she should be a philosophy major. We need more good thinkers. If we had more philosophy majors in the world, maybe this (indicating the myriad of frustrations arising from the integration of the two complex workforces) wouldn t be happening. The study of philosophy and ethics how to think, how to be a good person, how to make decisions that are ultimately the most beneficial for a society is critical to the political and logistical structures and institutions that affect people of every nation. Philosophy is also beneficial in that it contributes to the understanding and advancement of other disciplines, especially science. It is striking, the insight that ancient philosophy had into the workings of the world that physics now proves. In On the Nature of Things, Lucretius, an Atomist, says, since the atoms are moving freely
de Lorimier 5 through the void, they must all be kept in motion either by their own weight or on occasion by the impact of another atom (Saunders 23). It is now known that inertia (which comes from the mass of an object, which is where weight comes from) is what keeps an object in motion. It is also known, according to Newton s Second Law, that in order for an object s velocity to change (meaning its speed or direction changes), an object must be acted upon by an outside force. It is amazing how on point Lucretius observations were and how well they accord with the science of physics. The brainstormings of philosophers have arrived at countless conclusions that were later proven by science as fact, Newton s Second Law being among them, as well as the once earth-shattering idea that the earth is not the center of the universe. Many truths of the universe were revealed by philosophical thought long before science proved them. There are many reasons to study philosophy, and these reasons have been enough to convince me to choose it as my major. It is valuable for practical reasons, it is personally favorable to the individuals who study it, it benefits society at large, and it inspires awe. Philosophy foreshadows science and reveals truths that hold across all aspects life. Philosophy is not icing on the cake of academia, it is the very first layer of cake that gives shape to and supports the rest of the cake. The study of philosophy is not arbitrary, it is invaluable.
de Lorimier 6 Works Cited Allen, Reginald E. Greek Philosophy: Thales to Aristotle. New York: Free Press, 1991. Saunders, Jason L. Greek and Roman Philosophy after Aristotle. New York: Free Press, 1994.