Seven Motivations for Philosophizing

Greetings,

I suspect that there are a vast multitude of reasons for the study and/or practice of philosophy. I thought it would be interesting to survey a few of the different approaches. In the comments, feel free to address any/all you would care to, as well as suggest additional motivations that I may have missed.

1. Edification
Those whose motivation is edification believe that philosophy can provide a sort of sustenance, whether for the mind or soul. They pursue it in hopes of an upbuilding, a strengthening, and/or and endowing that stems from their studies. An example of one who believes philosophy to be edifiying is Kierkegaard (who argued that Hegel, for example, was an excellent professor of philosophy but a poor philosopher, because there was no edification through his system).

2. To Discover Truth
Those whose motivation is to discover truth believe that, to quote Muldur from the X-Files (rock on), "the truth is out there". Whether metaphysics or ontology, they believe that arguments can-- in truth-- be sound, as opposed to merely valid, for there are concrete propositions that have a definite truth-value. It is possible to pursue edification but not truth, as I would argue that Nietzsche did. It is possible to pursue truth but not edification, as I believe Hegel did. An example of one who pursued philosophy to study truth is Hegel.

3. To affect policy/habits, and/or to better society.
Those whose motivation is to affect policy/habits, and/or to better society, believe that philosophical study and work can have tangible benefits. They believe that people can be served, and tangible, positive results brought forth, from such pursuits. It is possible to have this motivation but not pursue edification, such as those who disavow the soul but argue that agents can still be held accountable for their actions. Aristotle is an example of a philosophy with this motivation, and his primary concern was to affect social ethics through habituation.

4. To create "truth".
Those whose motivation is to create truth believe that "truthfulness" is intrinsically tied to perception, and one can actually modify the truthfulness of a statement by adjusting the perception of that statement. According to those who pursue philosophy to create "truth", humans define what does and does not have value and what that value/those values is/are. I believe that Foucault and Derrida are examples of philosophers with this motivation, although I only have a basic knowledge of them both.

5. Because it is interesting.
Those whose motivation is to study systems believe that philosophy is worth pursuing because it is interesting, regardless of whether or not it is edifying, a method of revealing truth, or et cetera. Some may pursue systematism, such as analytical logicians, while others may abstractly consider broad metaphysical issues. I might include Lewis Carroll in this category, although I'm sure that will be controversial (both his inclusion as a philosopher and the claim about his primary motivation).

6. To earn income.
Haha... I kid!

Seriously, though, there is money to be made via philosophy. Ranging from research into formal logic yielding jobs in IT to professorship, it's not a bad way to make a living. That being said, it's probably not the most efficient method of earning an income, but it could certainly be a secondary method. Unless you're someone like Saul Kripke, in which case you could probably focus on this and do quite well for yourself.

7. To have something to do.
Honestly, I believe that some people engage in philosophy because it keeps them from being bored. This does not mean that they find it interesting, but it can be used as a tool to abstract themselves away from reality and have one more habit to get through life. Call me crazy, but I have a secret (well, secret no more) hunch that Wittgenstein might fall into this camp. Feel free to reject that association, if you see fit.

Why study Philosophy?

Hello to everyone, and for all the new visitors, welcome to Areté! If this is your first time on the site and you’re interested in entering our fabulous cash-and-prizes-for-comments contest, this is an excellent post to start out with if you wish (see the details for the contest here). Don’t worry if you feel philosophically uneducated – we value and encourage the input of all you philosophers out there! So here’s a nice, accessible introductory sort of topic for everyone.

My friend and I were enjoying a meal yesterday in Valhalla, and began to discuss the inevitable stresses that come along with course registration time. What follows is the paraphrased transcript of our conversation. When asking about the classes she had signed up for, she made the comment that she got “stuck with a philosophy class.”
Why ever would she choose that phrase?
“Philosophy is just a big waste of time. You won’t ever really use it. I don’t know why you or anyone would want to think about that kind of stuff and just end up wasting your life,” she replied.
Ok, I responded, but if I were to ask you what wouldn’t be “wasting your life,” what kind of living you think is best, can you really be sure you are right? “The uncontemplated life is not worth living,” said Socrates. How can you stand living your life without really pausing to consider the best way to live it? You only have one shot in this game of life, and the risk of blowing it, or of living for a lie or in futility, is just too high to take. You agree that you want to be happy, but are you sure you know what happiness is – do you know that the kind of happy you want is really for the best kind? In philosophy, your quest is to find the best way to live and the best way of being happy; instead of blindly feeling around in the dark on a path you haven’t clearly seen and aren’t sure of the destination, philosophy can offer some light to live by.
“But what if you’re just wasting all this time for nothing? What if you never find the truth or whatever and let your whole life slip away while you’re reading what a bunch of dead people wrote? Why should I care what Plato said? I know he’s a pretty smart guy, but what if he’s wrong? Even if I live and do things without knowing it’s the best way, at least I’m still living, while you will just waste your entire life and never come up with an answer. Or what if you find the truth and it’s depressing? What if there is no point? I’d rather just live without thinking about it too hard, and be happy.”
Well, there is that possibility that the contemplative life will not make you happy. But it’s a chance you have to take. It’s better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a pig satisfied, said John Stuart Mill. You may not be happy as you’d normally think it, but that is only part of the whole truth of it. Your dissatisfaction is a better life than the carefree pig. Can the pig really be happy?
“Yes, pigs are happy. And they don’t think about the things we do. That’s how we should live.”
Pigs don’t think about things at all. They can’t be happy; content, probably, but not happy. Only we can ever really be happy. Let me tell you about Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. (**Click on the link to read the story I told her about.) They’re content in the cave, all their needs are provided for, but you wouldn’t say you’d want to live like that. They’re not happy and can’t be, while living by the distortive, man-made fire (representing man-made, artificial knowledge).
Once dragged out into the Sunlight (that is, divinely-created, transcendent knowledge of the whole world outside of their little cave), they can think, and see for real, and know, and live and be happy.
“Ok fine. Here’s my life philosophy: I don’t want to think all the time about everything about life. I just want to be happy, and I don’t mean just little happiness. Like, I mean, lasting happiness. Not just, I don’t know, sort of happy now, but in a more lasting way. Real happiness.”
That’s actually what Aristotle says about happiness – or for the Greeks, eudaimonia or flourishing. That’s exactly the kind of happiness I think we all want, but you have to make you live the right way to get it! So you see, even you agree with Aristotle about something about life.

**** So what are your thoughts about philosophy? A big “waste of time” or is it the only way to live? Or maybe something in between, an enjoyable diversion to talk about at the coffee shop? Does it give us the answers to questions about life, or just more unanswerable questions? Is it even possible not to philosophize? (Consider Aristotle: "If you ought to philosophize you ought to philosophize; and if you ought not to philosophize you ought to philosophize: therefore, in any case you ought to philosophize. For if philosophy exists, we certainly ought to philosophize, since it exists; and if it does not exist, in that case too we ought to inquire why philosophy does not exist – and by inquiring we philosophize; for inquiry is the cause of philosophy.")