10 Reasons to Study Philosophy

Or, why you should think both about what and how others have thought

The Death of Socrates, Jacques-Louis David (1787)

We should scarcely call a person educated who knows nothing of the various ideas that have participated in the great conversation that has shaped the Western tradition. Each idea that has emerged as an influential force on a culture or society at a particular cultural moment did so as a result of the discovery of some real or perceived truth by way of dialectic, investigation, or in some cases, revelation.

To a large degree, to philosophize is to discern between good ideas and bad ideas, to trace the paths of discovery and conversation that led to and emerged from said ideas, and to try to understand the truth of things as they stand.

While I would argue this is the primary meaning of philosophize in the modern sense, to say so is itself a philosophic decision because the meaning of the word philosophy has varied in time and context. C. S. Lewis notably uses the word philosophy as an example when he warns his readers of the dangers of misunderstanding a word’s meaning and then misapplying it in a foreign context. In his book, Studies in Words, he explains:

The dominant sense of any word lies uppermost in our minds. Wherever we meet the word, our natural impulse will be to give it that sense. When this operation results in nonsense, of course, we see our mistake and try over again. But if it makes tolerable sense our tendency is to go merrily on. We are often deceived. In an old author the word may mean something different. I call such senses dangerous senses because they lure us into misreadings. In examining a word I shall often have to distinguish one of its meanings as its dangerous sense, and I shall symbolise this by writing the word (in italics) with the letters d.s. after it. Thus, since…philosophy (d.s.) means ‘philosophy in the sense of metaphysics, epistemology, logic, etc. as distinct from the natural sciences’—the sense we are in danger of reading into it when old writers actually mean by it just science.¹

Lewis means that we need to be careful about imposing our modern definitions on older writers’ use of words because frequently they don’t mean the same thing. In using the word philosophy, for example, older writers often mean something like our modern use of the word science (i.e., the pursuit of rational knowledge) rather than the narrower field of abstract inquiry (i.e. ethics, metaphysics, or epistemology, etc.).

With this in mind, let me perform the first duty of a good philosopher and provide a working definition of philosophy before offering 10 good reasons to study it.

The word philosophy derives from the Greek philosophia “love of knowledge, pursuit of wisdom; systematic investigation,” from philo- “loving” (see philo-) + sophia “knowledge, wisdom,” from sophis “wise, learned;”² To provide some additional context, in relation to ancient Christianity, the term philosophy (love of wisdom) refers to the various ways Greek thought, starting from the 6th c. BC, seeks to understand and explain the realities (truths) and the meaning of the cosmos.³

Ten Brief Reasons for Studying Philosophy

1. Following collective classical thought (i.e., Plato, Aristotle, Cicero), the ability to philosophize (to study and/or practice philosophy) is the mark of an educated person.

2. In its original sense (philo + sophia), philosophy is the pursuit and unification of truth in the service of wisdom and this is something every human being should pursue.

3. The practice of philosophy disciplines the faculties of the mind (i.e., it teaches us to ask the right questions, order our thoughts, etc.)

4. Following Plato in The Republic, philosophy is a kind of moral formation since it orders the soul toward the Good.

5. Following Socrates, philosophy prepares us to die well by helping us discover what matters most in our living.

6. Following Aristotle, philosophy cultivates wonder since all men desire to know.

7. Following the medieval Scholastics, philosophy is the foundation for all the other disciplines, especially theology.

8. Good philosophy challenges assumptions and exists to answer bad philosophy according to C. S. Lewis.

9. Following Boethius, philosophy liberates our hearts and minds, even when our bodies are captive.

10. Following Anselm (and others), philosophy leads us to understand and love God, the one in whom nothing greater can be conceived, and in whom our faith rests.

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The Stuff of Stones are meditations on philosophy and culture. C. S. Lewis wrote that "Good philosophy must exist, if for no other reason, because bad philosophy needs to be answered." Often attributed to Thomas Aquinas, “The purpose of the study of philosophy is not to learn what others have thought, but to learn how the truth of things stands.” I’m taking the title of this column from Richard Wilbur’s clever and charming little poem titled, “Epistemology.”

I.
Kick at the rock, Sam Johnson, break your bones:
But cloudy, cloudy is the stuff of stones.

II.
We milk the cow of the world, and as we do
We whisper in her ear, 'You are not true.'

1. C. S. Lewis, Studies in Words, Second Edition. (New York: HarperOne, 2013), 11.

2. Oxford English Dictionary https://www.oed.com/dictionary/philosophy_n?tab=meaning_and_use#30786224 and The Online Etymology Dictionary https://www.etymonline.com/search?type=all&q=philosophy

3. Hubertus R. Drobner, “Philosophy and Ancient Christianity,” ed. Angelo Di Berardino and James Hoover, trans. Joseph T. Papa, Erik A. Koenke, and Eric E. Hewett, Encyclopedia of Ancient Christianity (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic; InterVarsity Press, 2014), 176.