How to Become a Philosopher. Understand that there is no exact way to become a philosopher. You must free yourself of all limitations such as prejudice, ignorance, and point of view when examining an issue. The Philosopher is one who dwells in reflection (but not maudlin navel-gazing): s/he takes every experience and seeks to understand, even if they need to be brutally honest with themselves. Philosophers are often people who see the world from a childs eyes. It is important to listen to people, and travel a lot, to get a sense of the world and the people in it. Asking people in your town about what they think of the war in Iraq isnt really going to help, as a lot of these will give stereotypical answers, and will not be well-informed. Understand that it is not uncommon for philosophers to adopt a certain bias over time or in a specific issue. These are merely frameworks; patterns of thought. Many of the greatest philosophers do just this, the evidence being perhaps most prominent when comparing Eastern Philosophy to Western approaches. In this case, the incorporated bias is acceptable if justifiable. Yet remember to examine the issue without bias as mentioned in the first step, with biases tending to emerge solely in responses, and are subject to critique. Understand that there is also no exact way in which you can investigate, and this is part of philosophy. Some philosophers, like Descartes, only trusted their mind and logic, and not the senses. Some say that the best way to start off, is to research about philosophy. When you study philosophy in college or university, you study about all the different philosophers and their opinions. Think about it, and agree--or disagree--with what they think. In this step it is important to actually take a stance on the topic at hand in order to find truth and achieve progress. If one were to remain free of point of view indefinitely as stated in step one, nothing would be accomplished. Think about the world, what it means to live, to die, to exist, and what the point of it is. Be the source of your own investigation. Since youre always available to yourself, any line of investigation about yourself (and there can be many) allows you to always make some progress. Consider the basis for what you believe. Why do you believe what you believe? Start from scratch and identify your reasoning. Write down what you think about these subjects, including ideas you think you shouldnt write down (possibly because you think others may think they are stupid). While you may not be arriving at any striking conclusions, you will be exposing your own assumptions to yourself. You will probably marvel at how silly some of your assumptions can be, and in the process you will mature. The true power of philosophy lies in the continuity of thought that youll be maintaining in your writing. As you investigate a concern, a single entry may do little on its own, but as you return to that concern throughout the day(s), the different circumstances you encounter in a day will allow you to bring fresh insights to your investigation. It is this cumulative power of thought that will bring you to those Eureka! moments. Re-write your ideas more formally and let others read your work, so you can get others to hear your ideas. You can ask friends, relatives, teachers, or classmates if they could offer some thoughts on your work, or you can post your writings online (through a website, a blog, or a message board) and look for responses there. Engage in any debate possible. This will increase your ability to think freely. Keep in mind, however, that you are not engaging in intellectual Olympics. There will always be someone who knows something better than you, and arrogance will stop you dead. You will need a healthy measure of humility. Yet it is also important to bear in mind what is in fact the truth of the situation. It is not uncommon for debates to be decided in favor of the less truthful side due to a number of extraneous factors, especially in an informal setting. Weigh the actual evidence, and avoid being swayed solely due to repetition and ignorance. Read philosophy copiously, learning new questions and problems to think about and past solutions, and their criticisms. Pursuing a bachelors or masters degree in philosophy is a good way to structure these studies, but many great philosophers were also self-taught. Balance your copious reading with your self-investigative writing: where reading broadens your perspective of the world, your writing will give you depth of understanding. The technical framework that underscores the effort of the philosopher, is that of model development: Whether were aware of it or not, each of us has an abductive model of reality, that is constantly modified to fit our observations. We can employ deductive reasoning (given the existence of gravity, the stone is obviously going to fall when I let it go), and inductive reasoning (Ive seen that weather pattern many times; Ill bet itll rain again, though I cant be sure) to create this model of successive approximations. Unlike the majority of people, the philosopher will never permit themselves to become sandbagged by the complexity of nature; even under the most trying of times, theyll be looking to learn something about themselves, and about the world around them. They will do this in their writings. While these writings will be largely self-investigative (they will have earned a PhD in their studies of themselves), they will not hesitate to read from other sources to help fill in blanks. It is in this way that their model of reality will allow them uncommon insights into our world.
Posted on: Mon, 12 May 2014 20:05:02 +0000
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