Studying Philosophy will improve your life. Philosophy is a vast and broad topic that can take you anywhere and everywhere. Easily one of the most versatile topics that you can study. The benefits of studying philosophy can be almost overwhelming but if you keep reading I’ll break it down and hopefully motivate you to start the journey of studying one of the oldest intellectual occupations.
What is Philosophy?
Philosophy literally means “the love of wisdom” but is usually referring to the study of the three main branches of knowledge known as ethics, metaphysics, and epistemology. Ethics is about moral decisions and what’s right and wrong. Metaphysics is about the first principles of everything. Epistemology is about the theory of knowledge. While these are the main three branches of philosophy however there are more that we’ll save to talk about another time.
Philosophy is the study of almost anything you can think of. This is what makes philosophy truly unique, it appeals to almost everyone and anyone’s interests. There’s a philosophy of film to a philosophy of computer programming. Almost every subject you can think of has a philosophy of how and why it’s done and even when it’s done well.
Now that we have given a brief explanation of what philosophy is and how it can be used. You are now ready to see why you should study philosophy.
What are the Benefits of Studying Philosophy?
The benefits of studying philosophy are just as diverse as the topic of philosophy itself. As stated earlier in this post we will now begin to dissect and explore these benefits. A quick overview of some of the benefits are:
- Helps you to understand someone else’s point of view
- It will make you a more rounded and interesting person
- Could be used to motivate you to read more
- Teaches you how to construct good arguments
- Learn how to question your assumptions
These I have found to be what I have benefited the most from by studying philosophy. Now we will go through each of these points that I have listed and explain why they might be good reasons for you.
1. Helps You to Understand Someone Else’s Point of View
When you begin to read any book about philosophy you’ll quickly find yourself reading about a philosopher or a school of philosophy that has a very different opinion than your own. This is inevitable to happen and might be in a topic that you care a lot about like religion or politics. You might get frustrated with the author but instead of grinding your teeth while huffing and puffing about how wrong he/she may be, try to use this moment to learn and understand the other side.
After doing this for hours and going through their logical arguments, you’ll not only understand where they are coming from. You’ll also become less emotional over it because it has become more of a mathematical formula and help to stop taking opposition to your point of view as a personal attack.
2. It Can Make You a More Rounded and Interesting Person
As said before philosophy is a very wide-ranging topic that dips its toes into other topics. In theory, and I definitely see this in myself, when you start to read about other topics you’ll inherently know more about those topics. The more you know about a wider variety of topics you will become rounded/interesting because you pushed yourself to learn something else that you wouldn’t have otherwise. Now you can finally free yourself from being stuck to only talking about the weather or what your friend said at work the other day.
3. Could Be Used to Motivate You to Read More
Come on, we all know you’ve been trying to finish that reading goal you’ve made for your New Year’s resolution. Even if I need the motivation to read more, sometimes you can’t just talk yourself into being motivated. Personally, I’ve found having a hobby involved helps motivate me to read more. In this case, studying philosophy would be a hobby (wow so fun!). Now with this new hobby, you’ll have another reason to read more than you usually would and with that extra reason comes extra motivation.
4. Teaches You How to Construct Good Arguments
What is a good argument? how will I know if I or someone else has made a good one? Learning philosophy will answer these two questions and more, heck a whole branch of philosophy is called Logic, which is essential for building a good argument. You’ll also learn what a bad argument is as well as spot logical fallacies in other people’s arguments. if you find yourself always on the losing end of an argument or you want to be on the correct side of one, then studying philosophy is essential.
5. Learn to Question Your Assumptions
Questioning one’s assumptions is vital to growing as an individual. It’s not always easy to know how to question some of the most vital assumptions we make. You probably never asked yourself “what does it mean for something to be good?” or “what does it mean for something to be true?”. It’s okay if you haven’t, these are questions that our environment/culture often answers for us, so we never think about it, yet they need to be questioned.
Philosophy will help you to learn how to question these and many more assumptions. A huge part of philosophy is just questioning your and others’ assumptions. Studying philosophy will train you over time to do this.
Conclusion
We’ve discussed what philosophy is and how studying it can benefit you and those around you. These benefits range from learning how to understand someone else’s point of view, to helping motivate yourself to read more. Hopefully, this post motivates and encourages you to go read and study philosophy. Whether it’s just reading a page daily in a book written by your favorite philosopher after a day at work or you decide to become a philosopher yourself.
Thank you for taking the time to read this!