What is the usefulness of philosophy? why do we need it?
Question asked by: knowitall
Philosophy is very useful and despite bad press, practical.
Philosophy is basically the love of wisdom and therefore entails asking intelligent questions about the world in which we live.
These questions are not just abstract and useless but can really help us find out about the world we live in.
Indeed all science is really a special branch of philosophy; until modern times the distinction was not made and many scientists were described as natural philosophers.
It is only because science is so specialised and has found so much through asking questions about the world that a distinction is now made between philosophy and scientific practice.
Philosophical questions can help us understand about ourselves, the nature of time, the world we live in and how we should live - important stuff.
For instance, if we ask a question like 'what does it mean to be good?' or 'how should I live my life?' clearly these questions are very important.
Through philosophical methods and questioning you can come up with real answers to how you should live your life which will clearly have a massive bearing on how you act.
In short, philosophical enquiry can change our opinions, thoughts, beliefs and actions. This is powerful stuff, and therefore philosophy can be immensely important to our lives and to an entire society.
On the basis of a whole society and how they interact with each other, their different outlooks on life are often explained by an underlying philosophy - for instance that everyone is born equal, or not, or that everyone should have certain rights, or not.
Then clashes between cultures can be looked at in terms of different belief systems - often studied by philosophy.
It may turn out through philosophical enquiry that the differences between cultures are not really that great; or indeed that they are profound: therefore we can explain a lot of human nature and interaction through philosophical discourse and enquiry.
Finally we can even shape the opinions of whole people's and the future of humanity through philosophy.
Imagine that we showed the fundamental tenet of many societies: "all men are created equal" was empirically false, or that at least the question 'equality of what?' was such a thorny issue that we should logically abandon the claim.
This could de-stabilise entire societies and attitudes and opinions, and therefore radically change the world in which we live.
Therefore in summary philosophical enquiry can help us find out more about ourselves and the world we live in - it may not be necessary, but it is fundamentally human to ask and explore these questions.
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