preview

The Importance of Philosophy Essay

Good Essays

The Importance of Philosophy ‘Philosophy is to be studied, not for the sake of any definite answers to its questions, since no definite answers can, as a rule, be known to be true, but rather for the sake of the questions themselves.’

(Bertrand Russell, Problem of Philosophy, pp. 93-94).

Discuss the usefulness (or the lack of it) of studying philosophy with reference to the statement above. Draw appropriate examples from your engagement with the subject so far as well as from your own personal experience.

I agree with the above statement to a moderate extent, as I believe that while …show more content…

In this essay I will attempt to demonstrate the practicality, usefulness, and relevance of Philosophy in our daily lives, and to show the dramatic impact it has had on the way I view things now.

Firstly, let us define the term ‘Philosophy’. In layman terms, Philosophy is often defined as the “love of wisdom”, and is the transliteration of the Greek words philos and sohpia[1]. Another possible definition comparing the fields of science and Philosophy would be that “Science is what you more or less know, and philosophy is what you do not know.[2]” However, these definitions are often too vague and somewhat inaccurate.

Instead, I feel that a more appropriate definition would be as follows:

Philosophy is a discipline or field of study involving the investigation, analysis, and development of ideas at a general, abstract, or fundamental level. It is the search for a general understanding of values and reality by chiefly speculative means and covers a wide range of approaches, and is also used to refer to a worldview or to the positions argued for by a particular philosopher or school of philosophy.[3]

This definition more or less encompasses most of the aspects of Philosophy, and is useful in helping us to grasp what

Get Access