The Value Of Philosophy

 Philosophy is love for wisdom and this love is fulfilled in the mode of contemplation or meditation. To contemplate one has to withdraw from the realm of facts, don’t take it in the wrong sense that facts do not matter to a philosopher, what I mean by this is, in the contemplative mode facts acquire a different significance altogether than the one they have within the practical mode. In the practical mode, there are facts and theories to explain those facts which are incriminated, as if in a court of law, on the basis of whether or not they accurately represent facts or not, in physics for instance a theory is regarded as correct to an extent it allows correct predictions or more accurate observations i.e. there is a set criteria to follow to regard a theory as valid but the philosopher is interested in the norm or the criteria itself due to which something comes to be regarded as valid. For philosophy it is not so much the particular results of a science that matters but how people arrive at their results; one has to step back to get a clearer perspective on what one is doing. What matters is this coming-to-be, this arriving, this movement of reason that allows things to be the way they are and this coming to be is the coming to mean something and it is meaning the philosopher is interested in — not what something means to you, for some fish means food but the meaning of the fish is not exhausted thereby. So what matters to a philosopher is not just what is true, but how do we arrive at what is true, what is it to be true, why is it that we come to regard something as true or in other words how ‘truth’ comes to mean something to us and what its meaning is. The ideas we deploy in the practical mode unreflectively, in the contemplative mode we understand the manner in which they come to be of practical significance or use. Hence philosophy does not divorce itself from facts, on the contrary it looks at them very closely to uncover its silent movement that is missed in the practical realm. The scope of philosophy, it can now be appreciated is the whole of life, because it does not look at a fact as a particular fact holding some functional value for someone and excluding other facts, but it breaks through this fragmentary self-centered way of looking at things to look at life as a whole — not as an isolated fact as we do in everyday life but as a part of a whole through which it is itself understood in light of the whole while it also opens up a holistic perspective by pointing out at something else beyond it. Philosophy is sensitivity towards life.

What is the value of philosophy? First it has a practical value, since human beings are not fragmented creatures in a world of specializations, they share with others their humanity. Philosophy as I said breaks through this fragmentation and opens up an entirely different way of looking at life — which in itself is not physical or mental, Hindu or Muslim or Christian, of one particular race, affiliated to any one ideology, practical or theoretical. Those who often retort philosophy of being impractical miss the fact that life is much more than what they experience simply in their practical mode. What people regard practical is what always happens which is what already has happened and not what could happen and so what they have experienced always to happen but then out of nowhere there comes a twist in the tale and suddenly new things happen, new patterns are formed and then that comes to be regarded as practical. These practical people regard poverty as practical because nothing can be done for the poor, they blame people and not society and political regime for their misery, they become second-rate people in always being the blind followers and fans of someone else. They move goaded by external influences but always regard themselves as free, to look for likes, for the approval of many and to always do something only when there is a spectator to watch and this living in a rut is what is called by people ‘practical’. A philosophical life is a search for the good life, not the practical life which is regarded as good by many, but the taking up of self-responsibility for one’s thinking, one’s perspective, to really see what and why is something true rather than merely regarding it as true because of one’s sectarian interests or because one finds it as obvious. Philosophers question the obvious fact because familiarity as a philosopher said merely breeds contentment and discontentment is at the heart of philosophy; it is always moving, probing, exploring. The following words of Seneca tell you why philosophy is needed for a good life:

“Philosophy is not an occupation of a popular nature, nor is it pursued for the sake of self-advertisement. Its concern is not with words, but with facts. It is not carried on with the object of passing the day in an entertaining sort of way and taking the boredom out of leisure. It moulds and builds the personality, orders one’s life, regulates one’s conduct, shows one what one should do and what one should leave undone, sits at the helm, and keeps one on the correct course as one is tossed about in perilous seas. Without it no one can lead a life free of fear or worry. Every hour of the day countless situations arise that call for advice, and for that advice we have to look to philosophy.”

Second, philosophy has this practical value only because it lacks practical significance. All one’s activities are done only for the sake of something else, for some gain, for some profit but we never do anything for its own sake. Philosophy solely is done for its own sake because it is purely contemplation or meditation on life. In this pure contemplation because of its lack of any encumbrances that makes practical life self-centered, we find our true freedom:

“When a thinker follows a line of implication, the course of his thought is conditioned by the necessity in his subject matter, but far from being humiliated when he realizes this, he finds in it a ground of pride. For a rational being to act under the influence of seen necessity is to place himself at the farthest possible extreme from the behavior of the puppet. For a moral agent to choose that good which in the light of reflection approves itself as intrinsically greatest is to exercise the only freedom worth having. In such cases the line of determination runs through the agent’s own intelligence. To think at its best is to find oneself carried down the current of necessity. To choose most responsibly is to see alternative goods with full clearness and to find the greatest of them tipping the beam. This, in a way, is to be determined. But there is nothing mechanical about it. For it is what the rational man means by freedom.” — — — Brand Blanshard

When one begins to reflect on philosophy — then philosophy seems to us to be everything, like God, and love. It is a mystical, highly potent, penetrating idea — which ceaselessly drives us inward in all directions. The decision to do philosophy — to seek philosophy is the act of self-liberation — the thrust toward ourselves. — — — Novalis

Not only is modern man restless and precipitate, dulled and blasé, but nothing inspires, touches, lays hold on his innermost being. Finally he has only an ironical and weary smile for everything. Yes, in the end he makes a virtue of his moral degradation. He elevates the nil admirari, his incapacity to feel wonder, amazement, enthusiasm and reverence, into a planned habit of life. . . . This morbid condition is typical. It does not appear today for the first time in history. But whenever it has made its appearance, it has been a symptom of weakness and decadence, of inward failure and general pessimism

— — — Niccolai Hartmann

What is truly valuable in life has the least practical significance, we hold food clothing and shelter to be of the greatest practical significance and yet it does not add significant value in life because it is still the life of an animal. And so the work done out of love, is true work because it is not done for the sake of gaining anything else. Such a work is its own reward.