What is Philosophy?
“Philosophy is the critical examination of the grounds for fundamental beliefs and analysis of the basic concepts employed in the expression of such beliefs. Britannica also defines philosophy as reflection on the varieties of human experience, or as the rational, methodical, and systematic consideration of the topics that are of greatest concern to mankind.” Or as the Greeks would call it: “love of wisdom”. Philosophy probes and asks probing questions, but can every question be reasoned? And even more important, who defines what the most important question is? I think that when it comes to your every day Joe, or Joanne, we decide for ourselves what the most important question is because philosophy is subjective; it is also cultural and exceedingly personal.
Philosophy, I’ve learned, touches every aspect of our lives and is very much reflective of who we are as human beings. The great philosophers throughout history deserve enormous credit for coming up with their philosophical theories within the differing fields and styles of philosophy. Be it Plato’s theory of the Forms or William Ockham’s principle known as Ockham’s Razor, it’s these philosophers who have paved the way for us “normal” folk to learn and apply their theories, working them into our introspective thought processes and deciding whether or not they work for us. Philosophy is subjective in just this way , as it opens, or closes, intellectual doors and gives to who we are for having studied those philosophers differing viewpoints. We’re all better people for having learned about Plato’s “Form Land” even if some of us may not agree with the idea of a transcendent world where realities called Forms exist beyond space and time and independently from our minds and wills. Ockham’s Razor gave us the tool to cut away all of those unnecessary principles and realities (like Form Land) and get right to the simplest explanation for life’s important questions.
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