A defense of the examined life

People practice philosophy every day whether they realize it or not. Whenever people interact with a physical object, they act on the principle that the material world exists. Whenever people makes a decision, they put a system of ethics into motion. And every time politicians make a speech, an entire universe of philosophical doctrines come into play, from the freedom of the will to the existence of a deity. Unfortunately, most people are extremely bad at philosophy.

In my experience, the average person cannot justify any of these beliefs, except to say that everyone else also holds them. Doing things without understanding why is a dangerous way to live life, especially when the questions are so fundamental and important. Without questioning the basic tenets of your life, you run the dire risk of being completely mistaken about the nature of the universe and yourself. As the quote attributed to Socrates says, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”

Philosophy is a frequently maligned discipline, but a systematic look at one’s fundamental assumptions is the only way to ensure that such assumptions are sound. It may be easier to simply accept what culture teaches, but that choice does not appeal to me. Rational study may have its limits, but the only way to find them is, that’s right, through philosophy.

I am not asserting that philosophy has all the answers. In fact, I would say that I know less now than I knew before I started studying it. For every question, it seems that there are many equally well-supported positions and the same number of flawless counterarguments. There is, however, a difference between accepting a philosophy without thinking it over and choosing the best of many flawed theories. Even if you are still mistaken, you now know what alternatives exist. Just like everything in life, philosophy is uncertain. That does not make it less important.

An excellent first step to making sure your worldview is consistent is to simply think about what fundamental assumptions underlie how you see the world. After you have a firm grip on what you believe, you need to subject it to outside scrutiny. The best way to do this is to read. A lot. History has seen many brilliant people, and the best way to discover new ideas is to read what they wrote. Due to the nature of philosophy, in which each generation builds off of the preceding thinkers, the best course of action is to read the great works in chronological order. Is this starting to sound familiar?

As a first-year, I have yet to take Contemporary Civilization. And as much as I am ashamed to say it, I am looking forward to it. One of the reasons I chose to attend Columbia was so someone would force me to read and, hopefully, think about these works. I think that a single two-semester class devoted to thinking about the important things in life is not too much to ask. That leaves plenty of time to learn all those practical disciplines like physics or economics.

The important thing to realize is that those disciplines, in one way or another, are all grounded in philosophy. How can you hope to understand physics if you don’t understand the limits of empirical study? Shouldn’t the question of whether or not every human action is selfish be of the utmost importance to the economist? As I said earlier, everyone is doing philosophy all the time. The people who have studied it simply do it better than everyone else. Philosophy is the only discipline that is fundamental in this way. While many academic fields depend on other fields, philosophy is the only one that ties to all of them.

I’m sure this is what the designers of the Core Curriculum had in mind. Of course, they added the ability to write as well as the ability to enjoy literature and art to the list of necessary skills for everyone, regardless of academic interest. While I agree that these are important things to learn, I still hold that philosophy is the most fundamental of fields. So we should be thankful we go to a university that knows how to teach the important things. And when the Core begins to feel unnecessary and arduous, we should keep in mind that we are doing the most important thing a human can do: philosophizing.

The author is a Columbia College first-year.