What is Philosophy?
This has been sitting in my drafts for almost a week now, so I figured it's about time I rip the band-aid off. I think I was worried I came off as too pretentious. It's also been forever since I graduated, so I was insecure about not sounding academic enough, too. Two conflicting insecurities! That's anxiety for you.
Philosophy is something I care deeply about, though. I spent four years of my life studying it formally, and considering how many people ask you "what's the use?" when you choose to do that, I felt strongly about studying it even as a teenager who had no clue what I wanted to do with my life.
So, here's what philosophy is to me. This won't be the end-all-be-all definition, and I don't want it to be. Hopefully, it makes someone out there curious to know more.
What isn't philosophy?
Philosophy is not knowing the Big Names and reading the Big Texts. These things only matter if you want to spend your life teaching and researching in a university. For most people, knowing those things could help you more quickly recognize, name, and question patterns of thought in society you might not have noticed before, but they're not necessary for that. You can also gain those skills from other sources.
Philosophy is not debate. This one might be a little more controversial. This is closely related to the idea that philosophy is about getting to the truth, the correct answer--being a winner. This seems like a very popular view on the internet, but I sometimes wonder if this is a particularly American thing, too.
The dedication to truth and correctness is something I did sometimes encounter in philosophy classes, and it almost made me quit. I think there's much more to the world than objective, measurable truths. I think that if you wanted objective, measurable truths, you should have studied to become a scientist or a mathematician, not a philosopher.
Ok... then what is philosophy?
Philosophy is much closer to art than anything else. It is less about being "correct" (which is nonsensical when you're talking about art) and more about bringing something new and interesting into existence.
Sometimes these new things are "useful" in a more traditional sense--new ways of understanding the world, new possibilities for study--and sometimes they are not--fun conversation topics, ways to pass the time, ways of thinking that may only be useful to one or a few people.
Philosophy is cultivating the skill of asking good questions, over and over again, and following the path they take you on.