by RonF, 12 October 2009

Please click here for bloggers' bio

Of all the university degrees in the world, I had to choose philosophy…

In retrospect, I must admit, it was not well thought out, so I guess you could say that it was a bit of a whim — there are times now when I feel that I should have listened to my parents and friends and gone for a practical, “money-magnet” course like law or finance - after all, at the end of the day, money and position do matter in life.

So why study philosophy?
Now that I think of it, it was premature of me to think nothing of its practical use in society and life. Let me explain the practical uses below.

Initially, my reason to study philosophy was inspired by one of my Ancient Greek lectures: about the ancient Greek philosopher Thales who famously believed “that the Earth rests afloat on water”.

And, the reaction from friends, “What is this? That’s what you are studying? Why study “ancient” stuff anyway? It’s impractical and useless.” Right, I can see where they were going with this, but now I’ve just the answer for you naysayers out there!

Let’s begin with my question to you:
How would you convince Thales that your view of the world is right?
How many of you would seriously consider using our current knowledge of the universe to form an argument to correct his mistake?

But would you bother convincing him how he is wrong? Would you take the time to understand how he came to his conclusion?

Many of the big issues of the world, whether individual quarrels or major religious conflicts etc., are borne from the womb of misunderstanding, and compounded by the lack of patience and right skills needed to resolve them. In many cases, people become agitated when confronted by seemingly outrageous or ridiculous claims by others, and often respond with almost spontaneous ridicule. We say “that is ridiculous”, “of course that’s wrong!” and the like without so much as a thought about why others would think such things, nor try to understand it from their point of view.

But the problem here is that the person who made that ridiculous claim actually believes that he is right, and may in fact even have good reasons for holding his beliefs.

As for Thales, he was far from the village idiot, and is the acknowledged founder of Western Philosophy. In believing “that the Earth rests afloat on water”, Thales made no logical mistake, he merely lacked accurate facts to begin with, and thus it is not surprising that he doesn't come to the right conclusion about the world.

Our job, as philosophy students, is first to avoid the knee-jerk reactions, to overlook seemingly blatant displays of "ignorance", and instead, to try to fit ourselves into that similar mind set in order to uncover the reasons behind those erroneous beliefs, and eventually to come to a more constructive understanding of the underlying principles governing the flawed worldview.

Name calling and mocking the mistakes of others gets us nowhere, and can even lock us in a destructive cycle of abuse and misunderstanding. Sometimes, the difference between deepening the wounds of dispute and isolation, is instead to trigger the positive cycle of mutual understanding. The difference between war and reconciliation, is whether we decide to take that first step to understand the other.

COMMENT BELOW: Do you think it is a waste of our time to spend any effort on understanding a plainly ridiculous idea? Why shouldn't we just laugh at the idiots, and let them simmer in their ignorance?