Why study philosophy?

Question

..having read and understood the earlier questions in full across sections, or you may choose to answer this devoid of context.

COMMENTS
Interesting range of opinions all.

“In combination with illegal drugs, philosophy becomes philosophy..”
:: Just teasing there.

Answer 1

A philosophical question in itself.
Why indeed should we study philosophy. I think that to question things is a good thing. Children should always i think be encouraged to question, to find things out and answers for themselves. Questioning life is what i think has bought us as a race to where we are today.If we took everything that we are told or know as a given there would be no advances in civilisation.
Philosophy is something i wish i had more time to study. Perhaps when i retire i will have the time.

Answer 2

Philosophers have the reputation of being off the wall.
Mistaken people do not tend to be able to see their errors.
Therefore philosophers start from scratch and in minute detail are able to recreate the past using new words or symbols to destroy the patterns of error-making.
At one point new patterns are demonstrated and proven.
This continues since the truth of today is the lie of tomorrow with the some exceptions: the law of attraction acting within an expanding Universe and whatever that entails.

Answer 3

I don't understand most philosophy, but my aunt wrote a book on it called "The philosophies of Niche in the Light of Thomistic Principles" Now that a mouth full. She is a nun and compared Niche to St. Thomas. I read the first page and that's as far as I ever got. I don't understand the philosophies of Niche or St. Thomas. But I know it is helpful to others.

Answer 4

Philosophy is why we have come so far. We ask why, but without Philosophy that is all we could do.
Someone has to do it, some do it without even knowing it. If someone did not think about the answers to all the "Why"s and "How"s, then were would we be?
Answer: No where.

Answer 5

"There are many good reasons to study philosophy. Because of its breadth, philosophy has a bearing on just about every subject and profession, and recent studies have shown that students who have strong backgrounds in the liberal arts in general and philosophy in particular do much better than one might expect in the job market. While students with seemingly more useful degrees may indeed enter the market with higher salaries, the fact that a liberal education serves to broaden one’s understanding and to cultivate one’s capacities for critical thinking and life-long learning means that students with liberal arts degrees tend to rise higher in their professions than those who start out with what look like the more practical degrees.

Among the liberal arts majors, philosophy is one of the strongest. As a group, philosophy majors score on the GRE, LSAT, and GMAT in the highest percentiles. So besides preparing students for the graduate study that might lead to a career in philosophy, the study of philosophy helps prepare students for careers in such fields as law, medicine, government, business, journalism, publishing, teaching, and the ministry.

This may be enough to show that it can be a good idea to study philosophy, but it only hints at what the study of philosophy can really do for those who take it up. The study of philosophy broadens one’s intellectual horizons and it helps one develop a sense of one’s intellectual roots. In the process, it does a great deal to make one’s thinking genuinely freer and less servile. The authors of the American Philosophical Association’s 1992 publication on “The Philosophy Major” have put it this way:

The study of philosophy serves to develop intellectual abilities important for life as a whole, beyond the knowledge and skills required for any particular profession. Properly pursued, it enhances analytical, critical and interpretive capacities that are applicable to any subject-matter, and in any human context. It cultivates the capacities and appetite for self-expression and reflection, for exchange and debate of ideas, for life-long learning, and for dealing with problems for which there are no easy answers. It also helps to prepare one for the tasks of citizenship. Participation in political and community affairs today is all too often insufficiently informed, manipulable and vulnerable to demagoguery. A good philosophical education enhances the capacity to participate responsibly and intelligently in public life.

In short, the study of philosophy increases one’s intellectual powers, and as a result it improves one’s chances of staying afloat in the high and often choppy seas "

http://www.unco.edu/philosophy/why.html

Hope it helps!

Answer 6

In combination with illegal drugs, philospohy will change your perspective which will change your mind, which will change your behavior, which will change the world, which will change philosophy...!!

Knowing philosophy is knowing that you are part of a beautiful complex web of realities... Mmmm...

Answer 7

It is an attempt to draw up a set of moral values without reference to religious doctrine. Generally drawn up by intellectual atheists.

I think that it sees itself as the triumph of reason over faith. Appeals to left wingers.

Answer 8

Philosophy is the reason why we ask why...then we think about it. It helps expand our minds.

The real question is, why not study philosophy?

Answer 9

its upto. Some who get bore with world they start learning philosophy, like religion takes u near to god

Answer 10

there's no objective reason to. but if you have as a goal to try to think outside convential thinking and to question things others take for granted to attain different perspectives on the world, then yeah, it's important.