Is What We are Doing Really Philosophy? - Zelda Peach
Preface: Philosophy is confusing and it makes my head hurt. As a personal life goal I have always wanted to read The Republic in its entirety, but now, even though I am reading it I am not sure if I will ever fully understand it. Don’t get me wrong, I think I understand the surface meaning of it, I just feel that this book is so dense that one could read it 20 times over and still not fully understand its content. Look at Socrates himself, he was “The wisest of all men” and he still said that he knew nothing. I guess what I am getting at is that if you are struggling, you are not the only one. I feel good about the conclusions that I am making about this book so far, and am generally proud of the fact that we are even reading this book in the first place. (At least that is what I tell myself while I’m banging my head against the wall). Anyways, that was just a thought floating in my head that I wanted to say,. On with the blog post...
In book 6 Socrates talks a lot about how philosophy is disrespected and overall not supported by the cities and/or citizens. He mentions how philosophy is disrespected and often things that are not philosophy are called so. Not only is philosophy not supported he claims, but that people with true philosophical gifts will be pressured and twisted by society to abandon the true nature and wisdom of philosophy. One line that I found really interesting on this subject was on page 185 saying, “So philosophy is left solitary and unwed; those most truly her own abandon her for a life of illusion and error. Now that she is orphaned, their place is taken by others unworthy suitors who rush in upon her and dishonor her. These are the ones substantiating the reproaches of her critics who accuse some few of philosophy’s comrades as being of no account while the rest account for many mischiefs.” Basically, Socrates is saying that the true leave philosophy due to different influences in society and are replaced by people who don’t understand what philosophy really is. My question is: Are we fit to define and understand philosophy? Or are we the ones who are the “unworthy suitors”? Certainly, Socrates would want us to be questioning and trying to learn as much as possible, but part of me wonders if this is what he had in mind or if we as a society today put philosophy into too much of a box. It is just a thought, although it has been messing with my mind a lot ever since the idea came into my head. What do you think?
P.S I commented on Moriah and AnnaKate's posts.
P.S I commented on Moriah and AnnaKate's posts.
Well, let's take a look at Socrates' life. He remained true to philosophy and didn't abandon it under peer pressure from all of society, and they killed him for it. Society will always put real philosophy into a box; remember the gadfly. People who question everything are a nuisance. If allowed too much freedom, they might even become a danger to the present order of things, and that's something the people in charge will never like. Depending on the amount of social upheaval a philosopher might call for, most citizens might not like it either.
ReplyDeleteThere are two ways the people can deal with this; the first is to dive headlong into philosophy themselves just like Socrates does, either finding that his teachings are true and accepting them, or finding solid intellectual grounding for an alternative stance and debating Socrates into submission. The downside with this solution? It just requires too much effort, and you might find out that you were honestly wrong anyway. The second solution is to swat the gadfly and make up whatever alternative teaching you know will be the most readily acceptable in the minds of the masses. Put intellectual freedom in a box, slander anyone who uses it to disagree with you as a hateful bigot, and feed off whatever faux philosophy is the easiest to stomach.
So yes, society as a whole has kept philosophy in a box for a good while now. That's the easy, safe thing to do. The open-minded people, the ones that might actually change their stance on an issue even if it costs them friendships or social status, are the ones you've got to watch out for. They're the ones who will give anything to find real truth.
Socrates almost conveys emotion in describing how nearly every philosopher falls away and chases other values or riches. He states that the leaders need to be wise and true philosophers, and continues to describe how easy it is to become corrupted in their quest for knowledge. I may be blatantly wrong, but I understand this extended description of the perils present to philosophers to be a result of Socrates witnessing many of his friends embrace a similar quest for knowledge only to fall into other lifestyles. Philosophy itself is not a term many people in today's society can confidently define and I would agree with you in stating that they have put philosophy in too much of a box. However, I am certain that society would not consider opening the box for fear of what is inside.
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