Everyone is a philosopher, albeit some are doing quite poor in the endeavor. If you find the first line a bit hard to swallow, then maybe you can at least agree with me that everyone has their own personal philosophy of life; some guiding rules, preconceived notions or expectations that govern their actions, and reactions to things in life.
So, I guess that my stating that “Everyone has a philosophy” would be easier to agree with, but I am still of the opinion that we play a much more active role in it than that. Maybe we just like to feel like victims when our lives and actions are so out of control? If you own personal philosophy is in a mess, then I’d assume that it would be much nicer to be able to point the finger to another source to blame for its authorship.
About two weeks ago I was in conversation with a young professor, who was pretty adamant in their profession of disdain for all studies of philosophy or religion… especially my own. Their main argument was that it was a waste of time, that forming and shaping a own personal philosophy or belief system held no benefit, and that it just got in the way of their own ideal of just accepting everything as it comes without further thought or consideration.
Which is funny, because that is her philosophy; however unshaped or unrefined, but philosophy none the less.
But, if no matter what, you are going to live by some kind of philosophy of life, would you not want it to be the one of your conscious choice? A good one, well thought out, decided upon, and even one that is slightly above you for which to strive for?
If not, then your philosophy is going to be based one other things, such as:
- How you were raised at home
- Society, culture, and media
- Purely reactionary, especially to traumatic events in your life
In the case of the lady I was speaking to, who held that she had no philosophy, her philosophy was shaped strongly instead by her family, upbringing, and traumas.
She stated that she was spoiled and bad with money, never denying herself any material item or worldly pleasure because her wealthy parents always got her what she desired without question. Her philosophy on marriage was based solely on that of her parents, and of her failed marriage in the past. Her concept of self worth was based on media, and her goals were based on what her peers around her accepted or condemned.
My point is, that if you do not control and shape your philosophy, it will not stop you from forming one… it will just simply be a very poor one.
Would you rather not take the rightful responsibility for it, and yourself, and choose how you would like it to be? Make it an educated, hopefully positive one, which guides and governs your life on a foreword path?
Maybe that takes the security blanket away of being able to say that you are selfish…because X happened to you, you steal because, you lie because, you are lazy because, you cheat because, because, because, because. But isn’t there liberation in becoming the master of oneself? And if you are going to have a philosophy regardless, why not take the time and effort to make it a good one?
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For more heresy please join me on my new blog at www.evolitionist.com
I just stopped by from Theresa’s Pondering a Myriad of Things
This post is interesting, as I could not handle any of my undergrad philosophy courses… nor did I enjoy hearing my fiancé discuss Great Philosophers and their works. I have always been extremely practical- and my degrees reflect that (psych, masters in Speech-Language Pathology).
At the same time- what you have proposed would seem a slightly different perspective surrounding the semantics of “philosopher”… which I completely agree with. I would much rather shape my own personal outlook, morals, belief systems from well thought out, educated information. I have always dealt with facts, research and findings… and while I was never a proponent of black-white with regards to human nature… I always found the philosphical courses to be filled with constant, endless debate.
perhaps the higher level study were different. at the same time I could say that it’s likely that your discussion with the Professor was more a misunderstanding of semantics as opposed to how you were interpreting the word ‘philosophy’…
I find your space extremely interesting and I’m glad I stopped by for a read.
Thank you very much for sharing your journey and your passion for Philosphy… you’ve created a tiny space with which the blanket opinion of “philosopher” may change and grow in my mind 
Blessings!
I’m doing something interesting at the moment – to me interesting, anyway – and that is, doing less of the consciously-chosen philosophy thing. Or rather, going with feeling more than I have in the past when deciding what to believe.
It was, for some time, that I would think hard about my philosophy and use a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats). I would imagine people arguing against my ideas continually until I felt I had covered every base, until my professions were watertight. And that was great for the time. It led me to some wonderful places, without which I would not be as I am now.
But now I’m tending to live with the assumption that I don’t have, at least consciously, the capacity to reason far enough and wide enough to know for certain that any given belief is perfect. So even with the willful, purposeful use of my mind toward the goal of coming up with a really good philosophy, I’m still in the end just guessing at the ramifications, and the accuracy.
Please don’t misunderstand me as saying that meditation on ideas and inspection of beliefs aren’t worthy – I think they are. In fact, a part of my every day has been for a while now the use of a process called Core Transformation to change beliefs I don’t like and don’t want into nice spiritual realisations – very cool, and the reason why I don’t do so much pondering but still continuously evolve my philosophy.
Actually, one belief that does seem to be creeping in lately is that real change to one’s philosophy must go hand-in-hand with change in oneself. Otherwise you’ll just be thinking of new arguments for what you already believe or introducing your philosophy into new contexts. And I think that the philosophy shift comes second, as a reaction to yourself shifting.
By the way, I agree with your use of the word “philosophy”, but hesitate about “philosopher” – I tend to be semi-careful about deciding for other people what they are
Thanks for the article!
You are welcome and thanks for the input and for a bit of your story. It is always great to hear what other people are experiencing. I will agree with you last point as well… I think we all dislike having labels placed upon us… my main point was that we all do have a personal philosophy and since we all are going to have one, why not take control of it? Why not intentionally carve it out for ourselves?