Bertrand Russell on the Value of Philosophy
From The Problems of Philosophy, Chapter XV
The value of philosophy is, in fact, to be sought largely in its very
uncertainty. The man who has no tincture of philosophy goes through
life imprisoned in the prejudices derived from common sense, from the
habitual beliefs of his age or his nation, and from convictions which
have grown up in his mind without the co-operation or consent of his
deliberate reason. To such a man the world tends to become definite,
finite, obvious; common objects rouse no questions, and unfamiliar
possibilities are contemptuously rejected. As soon as we begin to
philosophize, on the contrary, we find... that even the most everyday
things lead to problems to which only very incomplete answers can be
given. Philosophy, though unable to tell us with certainty what is the
true answer to the doubts it raises, is able to suggest many
possibilities which enlarge our thoughts and free them from the tyranny
of custom. Thus, while diminishing our feeling of certainty as to what
things are, it greatly increases our knowledge as to what they may be;
it removes the somewhat arrogant dogmatism of those who have never
traveled into the region of liberating doubt, and it keeps alive our
sense of wonder by showing familiar things in an unfamiliar aspect.
Filed in...

Comments
No comments yet. Be the first to comment.
Lest they devolve into the infantile comments on display at YouTube and elsewhere, comments require registration and are moderated, not for point of view but for quality. » Register or » Login