Practicing Philosophy

Studying philosophy has opened my mind to new ways of thinking. I learned how to trace the origins and evolutions of ideas through time. Ethics and morality are concepts that are slowly becoming etched into my psyche. Thinking through and articulating my ideas and thoughts are becoming second nature to me. The patience I gained from sitting down and reading hard texts is transferable to many other areas of my life. I'm still early to this world, but so far I can say that I found it to be intellectually stimulating and practically useful. The most valuable gem I've gained from my studies however, is the realization of my stupidity. Philosophy was the light that revealed the breadth and depth of my ignorance and ethical failures to me. But thats a topic for another post.

This essay is my personal attempt at constructing a philosophy on how philosophy itself is to be practiced. This starts with a problem. In addition to the value I gained, I also sense some deceptions and pitfalls that studying philosophy can bring. Particularly with the attitude that one can develop from engaging in philosophy. The prideful but fruitless disposition of the intellect that unfortunately, is fairly common in this day and age. The false sense of intellectualism from studying philosophy can be a consuming temptation. It is easy to delude yourself and assume that the interest in philosophy alone is making you smart. This can be noticed amongst many people who engage in philosophical discourse by name dropping philosophers and regurgitating their ideas. But this is a symptom that runs downstream of a deeper issue.

Philosophy as a collective enterprise, especially in academia, deeply idolizes the early thinkers. Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Nietzsche, Kant, and Bentham are some of the names whose works have laid the foundation of humanities discourse on the most important matters. But the problem is that the discourse is usually just an analysis, commentary, or mere footnote of these early thinkers ideas. People treat their theories, pontifications, and dogmas as the highest earthly wisdom. This is despite the numerous errors in their works, which is often pointed out and discussed, but rarely resolved from a unique perspective. Learning what histories greatest minds had to say is an honorable pursuit, but it must have an end or a final cause. Studying philosophy for the sake of itself will not lead to anything good. It is making an idol of other mens thoughts - and idolatry is a sin.

Merely reading philosophy does little to the soul. It is the practice of it - synthesizing ideas from different authors, wrestling with ideas, generating original thoughts - that give value to the individual and society. Being a student of the matter then, is just one side of the coin. Ideas can be learned but wisdom must be earned. Reading Plato or Hegel does not internalize the insights they've acquired into your being. But their ideas can serve as useful starting points or building blocks for you to explore and live out your own unique philosophy. Just as Aquinas built upon the ideas of Augustine and Aristotle, so too must anyone with a philosophical disposition and the intellect for its matters advance what has been handed down to them.

One can argue that you don't need to read philosophers since you can construct your own ideas. Why read what dead men wrote in disgustingly written prose? To that I would argue that you'd be retracing the steps that many men before you have already walked. You might do all the work of thinking through your own ideas, only to have arrived at the same conclusions. Perhaps you'll come to a truly novel idea that isn't tainted by other peoples thinking. But original ideas are extremely rare. A wise king once said "there is nothing new under the sun." This happens more often than not, even amongst the early thinkers, especially amongst political philosophers. The value of neglecting the early thinkers is that you may acquire their scars since they fought the same issues. After all, you walked the same the path. But you'll end up in the same place.

Reading philosophy then, can put you at the frontier of the problems it explores. Instead of starting from where you are, you'll begin from where your predecessors finished. In this regard, reading philosophy will equip you with the tools that men from before have used and established. By seeing how other men have attempted to solve important problems, you'll gain context and insights on how to apply yourself to similar issues. Reading Nichomachean Ethics for example, will give you a prototype to develop your own moral framework - one that is rooted in ancient insights on virtue but extended upon with your own unique perspective. You can apply the virtue-ethics template to any human pursuit and tweak it, fine tune it, and customize it to fit the needs of that specific context. In doing so, you're not retracing the steps of Aristotle, but are contributing to the corpus of knowledge that humanity needs to live rightly.

It is through the act of synthesizing your own ideas - while using established ideas as building blocks - that you meaningfully practice philosophy. You inherit the maps and use it to carve out truth in uncharted territories. Use what the ancients have given us, but also contribute to the great discourse. Philosophy needs fresh ideas that build upon the foundations laid by men whose bones have rusted but whose names have stood the test of time. Synthesizing ideas that are uninformed is rarely fruitful. Instead - wield the pen as a sword and the philosophers' works as a shield. Advance the wisdom of mankind and embody not only what you read, but also what you think.