Is Philosophy Still Relevant?

[Rhodevus]

In my opinion, philosophy is extremely important to learn. It teaches you how to think outside the box, which is needed in a progressive society. But, if Philosophy is paired with another degree, such as science, engineering, arts... pretty much anything useful, then that person is unstoppable (in a figurative sense of the word)

[Conserative Morality]

i find it strange that many people equate something as basic and broad as ''thinking'' with a single very esoteric academic discipline.

I'm sure academics from the other disciplines would be frowning right now if they heard these implications...

All that counts are objective measurements. Can you measure thinking? No? Who cares, then?

I find it disturbing that what you got out of that was "People think only philosophy = thinking" rather than "Objective measurements mean jack shit"

[Liriena]

As someone who studies social sciences, I think the OP's main problem is that they are approaching the value of philosophy from a purely utilitarian and positivistic perspective, a perspective that has actually been rendered obsolete in many disciplines.

To answer the question, yes, philosophy is still quite relevant. We're speaking about the discipline that gave birth to all disciplines, the science that studies human thought itself, the science that helped and continues to help set theoretical frameworks for all other sciences... How could it not be relevant?

[Rhodevus]

philosophy is asking the question, "Why?"
We learn the basis of philosophy form the moment we learn how to argue. So wanting to know and understand the "why?" can definitely always be helpful

[Infected Mushroom]

As someone who studies social sciences, I think the OP's main problem is that they are approaching the value of philosophy from a purely utilitarian perspective. I find that quite sad.

To answer the question, yes, philosophy is still quite relevant. We're speaking about the discipline that gave birth to all disciplines, the science that studies human thought itself, the science that helped and continues to help set theoretical frameworks for all other sciences... How could it not be relevant?

It seems to be no longer relevant now. All of the world's useful achievements and progress are being achieved by the other disciplines which are imparting real, objective, and practical on-the-ground concrete skills.

In my view philosophy is like that Wright airplane. It may have inspired other aircraft but once those aircraft have been invented, philosophy itself seems quite obsolete.

What does philosophy have to compare in the last decade to the advances in engineering, science, medicine etc?

Just because something was great in some age thousands of years ago doesn't mean its status as a relevant field is guaranteed for all of eternity. In my view its about as useful as a sword on the modern battlefield...

[United States of The One Percent]

Practicing philosophy is like being in a swimming pool; there's always someone who's a little bit deeper.

[Lavan Tiri]

As someone who studies social sciences, I think the OP's main problem is that they are approaching the value of philosophy from a purely utilitarian perspective. I find that quite sad.

To answer the question, yes, philosophy is still quite relevant. We're speaking about the discipline that gave birth to all disciplines, the science that studies human thought itself, the science that helped and continues to help set theoretical frameworks for all other sciences... How could it not be relevant?

It seems to be no longer relevant now. All of the world's useful achievements and progress are being achieved by the other disciplines which are imparting real, objective, and practical on-the-ground concrete skills.

In my view philosophy is like that Wright airplane. It may have inspired other aircraft but once those aircraft have been invented, philosophy itself seems quite obsolete.

What does philosophy have to compare in the last decade to the advances in engineering, science, medicine etc?

Just because something was great in some age thousands of years ago doesn't mean its status as a relevant field is guaranteed for all of eternity. In my view its about as useful as a sword on the modern battlefield...

And that's the problem. Not everything has to be useful. Wallpaper, paint, and carpets? Not useful. But damn relevant. Tim Burton? Useful, nope, relevant, yes. The OP seems to believe that if it doesn't serve a specific purpose, like "on-the-ground knowledge", it's no longer relevant. Many of the smartest people to ever live were philosophers. Who are we to say that they weren't relevant?

[New Reading]

Perhaps philosophy is not relevant solely and in itself as much as in the past, but the outline and implications of philosophy are relevant to almost any discipline.

For example, human nature greatly influences theories of classical realism in international relations; historical contextual analysis uses epistemology greatly. Literature, the logical background of scientific theory and the scientific method (falsifiability, induction and deduction)... all incorporate philosophy. Literacy of philosophy is undoubtedly important.

So, philosophy is greatly relevant. It may just seem like it is in the "background." There's a reason that a doctoral degree is called a Doctor of Philosophy in a subject.

[Liriena]

As someone who studies social sciences, I think the OP's main problem is that they are approaching the value of philosophy from a purely utilitarian perspective. I find that quite sad.

To answer the question, yes, philosophy is still quite relevant. We're speaking about the discipline that gave birth to all disciplines, the science that studies human thought itself, the science that helped and continues to help set theoretical frameworks for all other sciences... How could it not be relevant?

It seems to be no longer relevant now. All of the world's useful achievements and progress are being achieved by the other disciplines which are imparting real, objective, and practical on-the-ground concrete skills.

And once again, you are bringing an extremely market-oriented form of utilitarianism into the mix, without actually giving us any reason to give that perspective any legitimacy.

We could apply your perspective to an awful lot of other careers. The study of ancient languages and literature, the study of history, archeology, paleonthology... One could argue not one of those serves any practical purpose other than amassing knowledge, which I would believe is the only reason why all sciences should exist: to acquire a better understanding of our Universe and ourselves.

In my view philosophy is like that Wright airplane. It may have inspired other aircraft but once those aircraft have been invented, philosophy itself seems quite obsolete.

What does philosophy have to compare in the last decade to the advances in engineering, science, medicine etc?

First of all, philosophy is a science, so your use of the word as it is underlined is quite... awkward... to say the least.

Second of all, your lack of awareness on any advances made by philosophy in the last decade doesn't make it obsolete. For once, you must keep in mind that you live in a society where the positivism of the nineteenth century has made social sciences in general practically invisible.

Just because something was great in some age thousands of years ago doesn't mean its status as a relevant field is guaranteed for all of eternity. In my view its about as useful as a sword on the modern battlefield...

And, once again, you base all of this on an obsolete brand of positivism and utilitarianism.

[Donut section]

As stoic philosophy has empowered me to overcome my depression and relieve me if my drug dependency issues where both counselling and medication did not help, I find it very relevant to my life. I would like to see philosophy introduced during high school.

[The New Sea Territory]

Is being able to think useful? I would say so.

[The Scientific States]

Of course. Philosophy often helps explain life, morality and various other things. Without philosophy, we wouldn't have high levels of critical thinking and the like.

[Aggicificicerous]

Is being able to think useful? I would say so.

All that counts are objective measurements. Can you measure thinking? No? Who cares, then?

Objectivity is a goal, not a standard. There is no aspect of society that did not come about at least in part by thinking. If we can't measure thinking, we can't measure anything.

[The Batorys]

Are threads started with unfounded assertions still relevant?

Have they ever been?

[Soldati Senza Confini]

Philosophy is still relevant.

[Soldati Senza Confini]

Are threads started with unfounded assertions still relevant?

Have they ever been?

Yes.

[Cetacea]

Should Philosophy be studied at College?

NO Philosophy should not be studied at college, by the time someone reaches college they should be able to think critically and furthermore all courses of study from Engineering to Economics should have an emphasis on asking deep questions and considering reasoned ends.

If anything philosophy should be part of the elementary and high school curriculum, 14 year olds can be surprisingly insightful, not some BS left for navel gazing College students

[Christian Democrats]

None of it seems very applicable to real life.

Strange. I think philosophy is quite applicable to "real life."

There isn't much ''progress'' in philosophy.

There isn't much progress in human anatomy. We've known for an eternity the parts of the human body.

[Soldati Senza Confini]

Should Philosophy be studied at College?

NO Philosophy should not be studied at college, by the time someone reaches college they should be able to think critically and furthermore all courses of study from Engineering to Economics should have an emphasis on asking deep questions and considering reasoned ends.

If anything philosophy should be part of the elementary and high school curriculum, 14 year olds can be surprisingly insightful, not some BS left for navel gazing College students

I think that philosophy can also be useful for college students.

[4years]

Should philosophy still be something to be studied in college?

Of course.

I mean, it doesn't seem terribly useful besides being something some people might chat about in their spare time over tea.

Well besides the part where it is used to formulate the guiding principles behind science, politics, and so forth that is fairly accurate description.

It seems that philosophy is at a dead end anyways. Nowadays it seems to me philosophers just keep thinking of slightly different ways to say the same post-modern stuff (there is no Truth, there is nothing objective). None of it seems very applicable to real life.

So you have a problem with one specific type of modern philosophy. That doesn't serve to critique philosophy in general especially since there is more than modern philosophy?

There isn't much ''progress'' in philosophy. In other disciplines you can measure progress. For example, in science we invent bigger bombs, more medicines, more communication etc. In history we unearth more about the past, we accumulate objective knowledge so we can better build our world in the future. But in philosophy? What exactly is contributed besides highly abstract things that can't be proven one way or another?

>Ignoring that fact that the nebular theory of the universe, Newtonian physics, the theory of evolution, and atomic theory all have their roots in philosophy.

>Ignoring that philosophy is part of history.

>Making a philosophical claim to critique philosophy.

It seems to me that philosophy should no longer be taught in college. People are always welcome to write and sell books about their own personal outlooks on life but I don't understand why we need academics to ''study'' it (how can you ''study'' something that isn't about accumulating objective knowledge or improving technology/actual skills?).

Education is about a lot more than objective knowledge and technological skills. In fact those are the last things education is about: memorizing objective information is outmoded by modern technology and technological skills mean very little without understanding the general principles behind them. Education in the modern world is about learning how to learn, how to think critically, how to interpret and process information, how to take fact and fit into a coherent world-view, and about developing the aforementioned world-view.

Another thing that vexes me about modern philosophy is how so many of the authors seem intent on frustrating the readers by writing books that are completely incomprehensible. Yes, ''how artistic'' and ''how hip'' is it to demonstrate that there is no Truth by writing a book on the topic that is purposefully incomprehensible and loaded with non-existent words. Any reason it needed to be this bad? I'm sorry but this isn't scholarship to me. Its just quirky, self-conscious publicity-seeking. Unfortunately I feel this is pretty much the norm with much of the modern academia of philosophy. Just pick up a book by Boudrillard or Deleuze and Guattari and you'll see the perfect examples for what I'm talking about. Intentionally over-convoluted, incomprehensible, ''academic'' stuff designed to illustrate a point that can't be proven (there is no Truth).

Just because you don't understand something isn't reason not to teach it.

[Valkalan]

Philosophy is not relevant to the labor market. I see no reason to offer it on the school curriculum. The few who are interested in the subject can study it in a library for a fraction of the price of a college course.

[Greed and Death]

I believe the question is why ?

[Totalise]

well if as many of the Nationstates forum posters insist that God is dead.... then as hawking points out in his book so must philosophy.

[4years]

well if as many of the Nationstates forum posters insist that God is dead.... then as hawking points out in his book so must philosophy.

1. "God is dead" comes from Nietzsche not Hawking.

2. I assume the scientist you ment to reference was Richard Dawkins due to his book The God Delusion.

3. Nietzsche was a philosopher.

4. There is more to philosophy than philosophical idealism and religion.

5. Materialism and empiricism are philosophies.

6. Atheism generally rests on a philosophical basis.

[Scomagia]

Philosophy is not relevant to the labor market. I see no reason to offer it on the school curriculum. The few who are interested in the subject can study it in a library for a fraction of the price of a college course.

Education is not solely about market applicability.