Why should I worry about philosophy?

Question

Seriously, what good is philosophy? I was forced to take a few philosophy classes, I hated them and so did everyone else in the class. Now that I'm in the real world I never read any books about it or even think about it. I just say the meaning of life is plentiful supply of good food, good beer, and good sports, why should I bother to examine life beyond that?

Answer 1

Socrates gave philosophy the classic line that "the unexamined life is not worth living." I suggest philosophy to people because far too often the "real world" is not very real at all, and serves largely as a distraction from the truly important things; surely a nine-to-five job and a game on tv are not all that matters. It seems people are moved to question and ask why, and reading philosophy is a good way to find some interesting answers or at least start you on a path to proposing some of your own, which is a pursuit that appears to be intimately tied to a person's sense of fulfillment and happiness. It would be a shame if your only experience with philosophy was a poorly taught college course and this put you off so much that you miss out on a grand human tradition.

Answer 2

You probably took bullshit philosophy classes. Did they make you try to answer a bunch of stupid questions regarding what you thought about this or that?

Sorry that happened to you.

Philosophy answers questions regarding the natures of:

reality
knowledge
right action
mind
language (structure and meaning)
science, method and theoretical structures
logic and logical analysis

...and a few others.

Those are legitimate questions, they belong to what we call philosophy, and they lie at the root of many other inquiries that more people are familiar with. Also, science was born out of philosophy. So was theology. They are there own methods and areas of inquiry now. Such is the impact of philosophy.

Contemporary philosophical method follows strict standards, largely involving logical analysis. The methods in some ways are more exacting than those of science.

Don't blow off philosophy because you had a teacher who wasted your time on mamby pamby crap.

If you took several phil classes and none of them were the History of Western Philosophy (at least a two semester sequence), then you didn't even have a proper introduction to the subject. You probably got a few classes designed to "ease people into the real topics by provoking thought over puzzling or controversial topics." This is couterproductive, in my opinion, and leads people to draw the conclusion that you have drawn. The assumption is that you are too stupid to pick up on the real material right away. Then again, many people take philosophy electives "to get an easy grade." Well, there's nothing easy about real, academic philosophy. So for that reason many people drop out if it is the real thing right away. After all, for them it was only an elective. So that's one reason for the mamby pamby you find in some of those classes. Another reason might have to do with instructors who do not know how to teach the real, hardcore stuff.

Answer 3

worry!!
philosophy is highly important and of the utmost interest to humans. Reason is the most distinctive feature of humans, the more apt we are at using reason the better humans we become.
The way we all think is a combination of many philosophies. After a few thousand years studying many forms of thinking some ideas have been proved to be more practical than others in certain situations. knowing which forms work better and are more useful to our lives will enrich our life experience.
You could be applying not just the right ideas but the best ideas to your life. imagine how much happier you could be if you were able to sort out he ideas that will allow you to add to your life experience. instead of simly applying unconsciously ideas you have been feed by the culture you were acculturated in.

Answer 4

This is a great question.

As I scientist myself, I have to admit that at first glance, I find some of the discussions of philosophy somewhat abstruse (take a look at 'empty names' for example...), so I can understand your skepticism. However, as a number of other answerer's have pointed out, what philosophy tries to do is look at "what we know", rather than "what we think we know" and this is important. At it's "worst" (and I use the word "worst" in the sense of what most non-philosophers would probably think ("what!, you get paid for THAT??")), the deductions and concepts discussed are of merely academic interest...but that criticism could also be leveled at much of science and art. At its best, it provides us with a clear headed framework for the analysis of real problems (look at people like Peter Singer and his discussions of ethics).

On a day to day basis, you are probably right about "why bother" ...but this is in the same way as you might not "bother" to understand exactly how the CPU in your computer works, or food gets delivered to your local supermarket or how cancer drugs treat disease or...... etc. It's still important that SOMEONE is worrying about these issues, even if they seem to have little practical day-to-day application.

Answer 5

Please don't worry about Philosophy. And why are you wasting your time asking the question?

It is natural for humans to question the orgin of life, the meaning of life and other questions that are considered
Philosophy

You would of eventually be questioning the why of things

Answer 6

because philosophy...

- defines who we are
- defines what we are
- helps us discover what is our purpose for existence
- helps us to clarify issues
- helps us to make right decisions
- makes use the best featuire of man, which is Reason
- is where we derive principles and beliefs from
- lets us acheive not only a good life, but a life worth living

Answer 7

You shouldn't if you don't want to, but obviously you are because you've had to ask the question of why you are doing it.