Why Do We Need Philosophy to Live?

Lately we tend to believe that healthy minds are the most efficient. Those who think faster, those who self-regulate better, those who know how to detect problems and plan strategies to solve them, those who are able to adapt well to complicated situations without succumbing to moods related to unhappiness.

They are functions that seem more like useful features for finding a job or for adapting well to the productive system and which, although they are positive, They offer a somewhat limited conception of what the human brain. You could almost say that they are abilities that could be measured on a scale from 0 to 10 according to our ability in each of these areas, and that they give us a very flat portrait of what we understand as “cognitive abilities.”

But there is a discipline that reminds us that the ability to break mental patterns and frameworks is always there. And no, it’s not about advertising or marketing: it’s the philosophy.

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Philosophy to transgress

Both philosophy and art have been gaining powerful enemies due to the relative difficulty with which they can be “domesticated”, tied into bundles and sold in packages. It is natural, considering that Both are based on the possibility of subverting laws and going beyond pre-established thought patterns

However, while art can be appreciated for its more or less striking aesthetic aspect, philosophy does not seem to have that capacity to materialize with such a spectacular result. It seems that he does not have favorable treatment from the entertainment society and viral videos on the Internet, and it is even increasingly common for it to be posted in institutes and universities.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that philosophy doesn’t matter. Behold seven reasons why philosophy enriches our way of thinking not only in our moments of reflection, but also in our daily lives.

Philosophy serves…

1. To consider what is important in life

Many people He usually associates the word “philosophy” with old books and abstract theorizations that can only interest a few. It has also been said many times that philosophy, like art, is useless. This criticism is, at the same time, evidence of why we need them both: to question the criteria of what is useful and what is not. A concept of utility that, if not questioned, will be the one held by those people who only live to produce in series.

2. To know what is known

One of the first philosophers, Socrates, made famous the phrase “I only know that I know nothing.” This is not just a paradox: one of the immediate effects of philosophy is that it makes it easier for us to recognize where the limit is between what we know and what we do not know, and at the same time allows combining areas of knowledge with others of ignorance In this way we can recognize in advance aspects of reality that we do not understand and do not “overreach” in our assumptions.

3. To have consistent thinking

Philosophy helps get to the root of problems and concepts. Thus, allows detecting the strengths and weaknesses of a philosophical position, be coherent in our lines of thought and avoid theoretical contradictions. This has very palpable implications both in our way of communicating and in our way of acting, whether we are individuals or organizations.

4. To be “indies” of thought

Much of our mentality and our typical way of imagining things comes to us “as standard” through the cultural context in which we are immersed. It is comfortable to be carried away by these currents of ideology predominant in our country, but it is also something that makes us more manipulable. Through philosophy (and possibly combining it with the habit of traveling) We will be able to see to what extent many of those things that we considered a dogma are relative, and we gain autonomy to build our own vision of the world. An example of this is Schopenhauer, who in the middle of 19th century Europe developed a philosophical system influenced by Buddhism.

5. To better understand history

You cannot understand history without also having understood the predominant philosophical foundations at each moment. Each era is strongly marked by the superstructure, that is, by the ideas and values ​​prevailing at that time From the perspective of those of us who live in the 21st century, many historical stages and events may seem inconceivable to us. One of the causes of this strangeness towards the past may be the lack of knowledge of the cultural and thought patterns of a certain historical context.

6. To better understand the rest of the societies

In the same way, if we do not know the philosophical assumptions on which other cultures are based, we will be judging them, erroneously, from our own culture. The result It would be like imagining an unflattering caricature of what we seek to understand

7. To have a clearer picture of how we think

The fact of reflecting on our way of understanding life makes us have a clearer self-image to we know ourselves better and we know how to easily recognize which people are most similar to our way of thinking.