Tommi Pajala
Mäkelänrinteen lukio
Opettaja Heikki Jäntti
1.
Every human being
thinks about death, birth and other similarly philosophical questions at
some point. Therefore it could be said that everyone philosophises to some
extent, although the individual in question may not regard his actions as
philosophy.
The fact that
everyone is a philosopher himself and the fact that most students seems to
look down on philosophy, is a very ironical combination. The students are
undermining themselves without realising that they are actually the
target. This has everything to do with the fact that the essence of
philosophy has not been properly brought to people’s attention. Few and
far between are those students who have an idea about the function of
philosophy – most think of it as pointless rubbish.
Although, it must
be said that an idea about the function of philosophy is not essential in
being a philosopher. Wittgenstein found philosophy to be purposeless;
Nietzsche had a similar attitude with the expectation of his own
philosophy – which was the greatest, naturally.
It is true that
philosophy develops argumentative techniques, analogical thinking and a
critical point of view, but the claim that philosophy is a ‘school of
freedom’ is one of a more controversial sort. Generally speaking,
philosophy tends to make people think more careful, more frequently and
more critically. At first glance this does not seem to have anything to do
with freedom. If you are questioning everything in your path, are you not
confined to scepticism, though of a milder sort than that pursued by the
Pyrrhonian school?
By questioning things you create a pattern, and
therefore an idea of you as a questioning person, which you thereafter
follow. I would claim, however, that you are still more free than you
would without philosophy. With philosophy you learn to refuse to accept
other views without acceptable arguments and therefore do not readily
accept every dogma that is thrown your way.
In philosophy
authority can’t be used as an argument. Authoritarian abuse, both physical
and mental, has a huge impact on a society, even in the western countries.
Without critical thinking, the idea of free will is unreachable and thus
one’s rights remain to be unfulfilled. So, it could be said that
philosophy is paramount to the fulfilment of human rights.
Philosophy is an
abstract concept; it does not develop tools for it is a tool in itself.
The teaching of philosophy is not an elevator to heaven – you have to take
the stairs and use your head as well. Even though a course of philosophy
is mandatory for Finnish high school students, the impact on the thinking
of the youngsters has so far remained to be insignificant: students are
lectured about the ideas of Plato, Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas but they
never understand what the whole point is. This leads back to the
unawareness about the function of philosophy. The practical functions of
philosophy need to be emphasised more.
A questioning
attitude is a valuable asset in life. Constant reflection on one’s values,
goals and methods tends to make one a more balanced person. With the help
of philosophy more than one ethical point of view can be achieved, thus
decreasing racism and other bad things. Philosophy helps avoiding the trap
of an egoistic attitude, which to me seems to be one of the greatest sins
of the modern world.
