Philosophy is primarily concerned with how we should live. In other words, what is the good, and best, way to structure our society, behave towards one another and the environment, understand the world through science and religion… etc. The starting point for these inquisitions, and what allows determinations of value (that something is good or bad, better or worse), is our emotive capacity – specifically our capacity for empathy, care, duty, responsibility and respect. These emotions, combined with the desire to better our situation, enable us to begin the process of finding out what is, what is good, and how we can achieve that good. The essential element within this, however, and the attribute which makes philosophy an academic discipline, is the application of reason, logic and argument to these questions. The necessary quality of reason and argument enables an intra-personal, or community pursuit of Truth (big ‘T’ or little ‘t’).
People often assume philosophy is concerned with irrelevant, abstract and impractical ideals. When I told my little brother I was trying to write about what philosophy is, he succinctly told me that 50 percent of doing philosophy is defining itself. I told him he was wrong, that really, philosophy did far more than that! Although this sort of statement reflects a very common perspective, I think that if philosophy is about finding truth, then it has a great reflective power. Even if Truths are not found, the process of examining, questioning and arguing brings clarity of thinking and a greater awareness to oneself, the greater community and academics as a whole. One might say philosophy is a proactive reflection on what it is to be human in the world.
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Thank you for sharing your thoughts on what philosophy is. I find your way of understanding it very promising. You start off talking about values, claim that our emotive capacity is what allows us to make determinations of value, and then add that it is important to apply reason and logic to these questions. I very much appreciate that your definition does not focus on reason alone, but allows a role (and an important role) for our emotional capacities as well.
It will be interesting to see whether and how your ideas here change over the semester.
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