Are you not a philosopher?
In the past few weeks I've spent a considerable amount of energy talking to a very young mind. In many ways you could say it's just me being curious about how a new generation thinks, and that would partially be true, but on the other hand I derive a lot of purpose from the idea of us humans sharing knowledge with each other.
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I guess we could break down most interactions as informational transactions, but it's not hard to imagine them having different qualities, and thus different levels of importance. Interestingly enough, in the very attempt to define how important knowledge may be, we are exposing ourselves to mistakes, since such judgement is intrinsically subjective to say the least.
To abandon abstracts and to make my point a little more palpable, I tend to talk a lot about animals. I love drawing parallels between their behaviors, which we can say are untainted by layers of thought complexity and ours, which can be extremely confusing and paradoxical. Why do I find conversations about animal behavior valuable you ask? Well, because their actions really shake up our ideas of good and evil, and ground us heavily in simpler pragmatism.
It was of course, in one of these conversations that my audience of one, decided to ask me if I was a philosopher. Funnily enough, I had to think about it for a second, and wrongfully replied that I simply could not be. I say wrongfully because confronted with such positive accusation, I could not help but to wonder if I deserved such title, as if accepting it would mean my knowledge would be held to a higher standard.
If you are sitting there scratching your head and wondering if I'm beginning to lose my mind, know that you are not alone. However, I did remember a very old piece of knowledge regarding philosophy, and possibly the only thing that matters when it comes to the question I was presented with.
Philosophy means, simply said, the love of wisdom. And this does not mean that all knowledge has to be right, since knowledge is ever evolving. It does mean however, that if you seek out wisdom, if you are driven by the idea of removing ignorance from your life, the task that is never ending, never complete, you just might be a philosopher. Even if you can't write that well, even if you are not a good speaker.
I went back to my accuser, the one who asked me if I was a philosopher just a day before and left me stuck in thought and accepted the accusation. "I guess I am... and so are you..... but it does not mean we are right"
Confused?
Nice post, and idea, of course the fact that you are willing to exchange with a youth, and thus leave your comfort zone is, a very philosophy thing to do ;-)
A solace to me is that truism "The more we know, the more we know how little we know." It is nescience that is most confident in it's certainty, because it is least aware of mitigating factors. To make that even worse, it is simply a matter of adding hubris to the mix.
It is seemingly paradoxical that it is humility and uncertainty that best indicates wisdom, but it is so anyway, and you seem to have lit upon both in your peregrinations.
Thanks!
thank you kindly for your comments brother. I'm always looking forward to your contributions.
Nice post. I guess i am now begining to see myself as a philosopher because i love wisdom though i love seeking wisdom let me put it like that
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“The unexamined life is not worth living” – Socrates
Those that avoid knowledge and learning are missing the opportunity to actually live as being static is the same as being ignorant as the world revolves and changes every day.
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Hey meno, you are so right, we can all be philosophers but can we all be wise? So maybe a post on wisdom would make an interesting post ... just some philosophically thinking going around in my head.