What does philosophy truly wish to accompany in the world?

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This was originally posted as a "viewpoint" at Aeon Conversations


Cicero looked upon philosophy as a way to prepare for death as it worked in two ways. Firstly, reason and contemplation distracted us from quotidian cares and drew our souls from our bodies in a semblance of death. Secondly, the purpose of gaining wisdom is to teach ourselves to not be afraid to die.

Death and taxes, Benjamin Franklin noted, are the only two inevitable things in
House of Excise Collector (built in 1841), Prague (Photo: Wikimedia/Public Domain)
our lives. We can hope to influence taxes by changing our politicians every now and then or, in the case of despotism, get rid of our rulers by more violent means. But we have no choice but to accept death. Cicero looked upon philosophy as a way to prepare for death as it worked in two ways. Firstly, reason and contemplation distracted us from quotidian cares and drew our souls from our bodies in a semblance of death. Secondly, the purpose of gaining wisdom is to teach ourselves to not be afraid to die.
Existentialism stresses the fact that as death is unavoidable, we as individuals need to learn how to live in the present and try to find meaning amongst all this absurdity. Hence, philosophy is not the domain of the professional alone. As Karl Jaspers pointed out, philosophy “would seem to be the affair of man, under all conditions and circumstances, of the slave as of the ruler.”
Typing Monkey (Photo: Kater Begemot/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA- 3.0)
To be efficacious, philosophy needs to be rooted in the everyday - essayist Simon Leys referred to the practical philosopher as “a hermit who knows the railway timetable” - and know its own limitations. Philosophers use tools such as epistemology, dialectics and logic - and reason. But reason alone may not provide all answers. Philosophy should acknowledge that “there are more things in heaven and earth,” than would be revealed by use of our intellect alone. There is also the risk that philosophers could become slaves to their reason and become Sophists for sophistry’s sake. The Hindu lawmaker, Manu (c 100 CE), held that someone who relies on reason should be shunned and driven from the company of the virtuous. Hence, a philosopher should be able not only to reason but - perhaps more importantly - feel.

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