What Is The Importance Of Philosophy?

When I first told my (South-Asian) parents that I wanted to study Philosophy at University, their first question was: "What on earth are you going to do with that?!".

To be fair to them, they kind of have a point. After all, if I had chosen to study medicine, I could have become a doctor. Or perhaps if I`d studied economics, I could have gone into accounting or banking - another clear route. But after a degree in philosophy, what would I become? A philosopher? In the words of my mother: "Good luck paying your bills with that."

Yet as my mother has now started her degree in law after a 30+ year gap from studying, among the first introductory pages in her textbooks, quotes from Plato and St. Thomas Aquinas are in their abundance. Even my father tells me of how his training to become a paramedic involved topics in ethics - a branch of philosophy otherwise known as moral philosophy.

This points to one crucial thing: philosophy is everywhere. My philosophy teacher describes the subject as parasitic; it feeds off other subjects. I prefer the term all-encompassing. There is a philosophy of (almost) everything, ranging from religion and science to politics and beauty.

Simon Blackburn tells us to consider the big themes; knowledge, reason, truth, mind, freedom, destiny, love, identity, God, goodness, justice and so on. Men and women wonder about these things naturally, for they shape how we live our lives and our place in it. Without even realising it, you may well be `doing` philosophy.

Once, a student asked Plato what could be gained from philosophising. Furious, Plato ordered a slave to give the student some money "so that he has gained something" and then to show him to the door. [Source: Philosophy Now, Issue 92]

The worth of philosophy comes not from what is gained at the end, but the journey that is traveled perpetually. Often, we will find ourselves never getting a final answer, but instead we may have learned more in trying to find that answer. Nothing is for certain, and not even that is for certain. That is perhaps one of the most beautiful parts of philosophy.