What will the actual practice of philosophy means for our lives and interests? Does it prove anything?

Question

Thanks to all your answers. Have a great day!

Answer 1

Philosophy proves one thing, above all the rest, that there is an eager and inquisitive mind present, a mind that would not be content with things as they are, or as they might appear to be, a mind that would like to uncover truth behind all things coming within its sense and speculative delibration.

Philosophical endeavors, in their aims and their ultimate objectives, are to enable the mind to ask questions: the questions we ask might not be very clear in the beginning, but further along our philosophical quest we should be able to ask simpler questions more clearly and frequently. And in philosophy we find both the courage and the confidence to do just that: to ask questions not only openly, but also privately in the inner recesses of our heart and mind.

In philosophy of life the knowledge, the world and an infinitely inquisitive mind of a person should have a singularly comprehensible meaningfulness, where all things should integrate into one simple question at a time. We will never cease to ask question, even question that we have asked countless times before, we will ask again. We will keep searching, and the end of all our searches would be to reach where we once began and then search all over again. We will keep raising to the circles of life, illuminated by our knowledge, issues of our being in existence facing infinitely and wild possibilities.

Philosophical, in my view, is a religion without having to believe in God. It is a religion that validates our doubtfulness instead of requiring us to believe and have faith. But there is no doubt at its best human mind does start to recognize its needs to know and experience the supreme in realities, the best.

In actual live, however, practice of philosophy enriches our private thought in particular and our discourse in public forums in general. Philosophical thoughts deepen our sense of being, the self, and widen the circles of our awareness. Philosophical approach, as I have mentioned earlier, at its best enables us to ask questions not only about things of abstract nature but also about things of our actual life, or things influencing our ideas, structures, policies, practices, values and norms. We could bring to question philosophies underpinning our ideologies and common practices. Instead of accepting unquestionably what we may come across, we learn to form value opinions that then we can use to see if our philosophy, and our views based upon it, are objective enough to be useful in a world that we share with the rest of the populace, and that we need to collectively understand and value.

Answer 2

Wow! These are great answers.
Socrates said, "The unexamined life is not worth living." Part of this examination is an assessment of your morality. Although morality is relative, it's clearly not good to have no moral standards at all.
Soren Kirkegaard helped me a great deal here. He insisted that living a false life, a life based on lies, cheating, delusions about one's abilities and so on, was a worthless life. This led me to the existential confrontation with the self, which is painful but necessary. Fortunately I was not and am not a person of wealth, so I didn't stand to lose as much as other people might have. Nevertheless I lost my inflated sense of self worth, which was humbling. I had to decide that if I couldn't be famous, I could at least be useful.

Philosophy is indispensable for answering the Why questions of life, and for defining things that are beyond the ability of science to define, such as the question What is the nature of existence? Science can tell us a great deal about life and living things, but cannot tell us what it is. This is because definitions are left to philosophy.

Answer 3

What we practice is a philosophy as humans, no matter their differences. That this philosophy a human may act accordingly with and is not written in total description for full systematic reflection is irrelevant, even though incompetent. You ARE philosophy though incomplete and uncertain thereby and are yet empowered to revise and expand your self's philosophy, a representation for your personality code.

The Will is positive, the Judgment is negative.

Answer 4

"Philosophy is not a bauble of the intellect, but a power from which no man can abstain. Anyone can say that he dispenses with a view of reality, knowledge, the good, but no one can implement this credo. The reason is that man, by his nature as a conceptual being, cannot function at all without some form of philosophy to serve as his guide.

Ayn Rand discusses the role of philosophy in her West Point lecture "Philosophy: Who Needs It." Without abstract ideas, she says,
you would not be able to deal with concrete, particular, real-life problems. You would be in the position of a newborn infant, to whom every object is a unique, unprecedented phenomenon. The difference between his mental state and yours lies in the number of conceptual integrations your mind has performed. You have no choice about the necessity to integrate your observations, your experiences, your knowledge into abstract ideas, i.e., into principles. 1


Your only choice, she continues, is whether your principles are true or false, rational or irrational, consistent or contradictory. The only way to know which they are is to integrate your principles.

What integrates them? Philosophy. A philosophic system is an integrated view of existence. As a human being, you have no choice about the fact that you need a philosophy. Your only choice is whether you define your philosophy by a conscious, rational, disciplined process of thought and scrupulously logical deliberation — or let your subconscious accumulate a junk heap of unwarranted conclusions, false generalizations, undefined contradictions, undigested slogans, unidentified wishes, doubts and fears, thrown together by chance, but integrated by your subconscious into a kind of mongrel philosophy and fused into a single, solid weight: self-doubt, like a ball and chain in the place where your mind's wings should have grown."

http://www.peikoff.com/opar/excerpt_ch1.htm

Answer 5

As a guiding principle..to live life in perfect harmony with each other. It proves one thing though..that no matter how much life wisdom and experience we gained in life...still we can`t achieve this because each has its own perception and each has different experiences in life..thus interests, means , and ends also differs.

Answer 6

It may not be the meaning of life...but I'd die without it! And ears-first is the only way to go on a bunny....avoids the messy chocolate evidence that you have swiped your children's chocolate. :-)

Answer 7

of couse it doesn't prove anything! philosophy, by its very essence is factless. if anything is proved, it ceases to be philosophy and becomes science.

Answer 8

No captive audience = no need for an apology or proof.

Keep trying, Third P. Fuzzy feelings, cookies and milk, ect.

Answer 9

it means living to ones expectations rare indeed to live up to your standards beleives etc it will prove self woth, it will prove your believes if you act on em they will impact on others