In an era in which everything must be valued according to the price that the market can pay for it, philosophy is increasingly cornered: it is forgotten and undervalued in educational political reforms. Now, that does not mean that this training option has no value, on the contrary. Studying philosophy means learning skills that will hardly be developed in other disciplines.
And it is that there are plenty of reasons to study philosophy, as long as we inform ourselves about the nature of this source of knowledge. In the following lines we will see the most notable ones.
This is a selection of those strengths that philosophy offers to those people who decide to learn from it. They are not ordered according to a specific criterion, but surely you can order them in your head, highlighting those that attract you the most. If you are wondering why study philosophy it will be very useful to you.
1. Offers better scientific knowledge
Science is a type of method of obtaining knowledge that has proven to be incredibly valuable for centuries. Now, in practice, knowing about science does not always imply correctly interpreting the data that its research methods offer us.
And we often believe that scientific information is given to us by nature and conveys an obvious meaning to anyone who knows it, but this is not the case. The philosophy of science It allows us to know if certain interpretations of data are appropriate or not, if the research methods used allow us to draw the conclusions we want, or even if the hypotheses from which we start are defective.
Thus, training in philosophy is an excellent complement to science-based careers, on the one hand, and also allows you to carve out a career as consulting philosophers of science who can guide teams of researchers to review the approaches of their studies.
2. It is suitable for curious minds
Philosophy is the educational career par excellence for curious people, interested in the big questions about life and existence. For example: what do we live for? What can we know? What exists and what does not? How should we behave to be good?
In practice, the number of questions of this type that philosophers can ask themselves is infinite and, although they normally do not reach conclusions that fully satisfy their initial curiosity, The hunger to know more and more leads them to organize their ideas in an increasingly sophisticated way.
3. Allows you to develop constructive criticism
The world is increasingly moved by the logic imposed by the market, and that is why it is good to maintain a distanced perspective from this system and raise criticism of those dynamics of relationships and trade from which it is so difficult to escape. Philosophy was born precisely for this: to question the most widespread beliefs, those that dominate our minds so much that we do not even consider them beliefs, but absolute truths.
Thus, studying philosophy provides a rational counterpoint which makes it possible to have a different mentality, capable of detecting anomalies where other people cannot, and which consequently makes social change possible.
4. It can be applied to your own life
Many of the questions raised from philosophy have personal implications. For example, The existential crisis is not the same if you already have experience in this area and the same goes for doubts about how to act correctly and what types of behaviors to avoid.
In other words, philosophical activity does not take place outside of personal life; They usually merge into one thing.
5. It helps us reinterpret the world
Philosophy is not exactly a form of therapy, but it does allow us to reach stimulating reflections on one’s own experiences, the world, personal relationships and everything that surrounds us.
Thus, it makes it easier for us to find alternative ways of interpretation, those that satisfy us more and allow us to be happy. Ultimately, since we can never have a completely objective view of reality, it is better to direct our subjectivity towards what brings us closer to happiness and well-being.
6. Allows you to detect manipulation attempts
The analysis of discourses is one of the areas in which philosophy is most useful.
Given that both propaganda and advertising are increasingly present in our lives, and taking into account that we are often offered arguments that seem rational even though they are actually a handful of political slogans, philosophy helps us estimate to what extent certain statements are based on rationality or not.
Detect these intellectual deceptions Before they take root in our minds based on stereotypes and preconceived ideas, it is very useful to develop our own perspective on things, one that does not depend on ideologies.
