# 200: What Is Philosophy?
Story behind the Passage
When I finished my PhD in 2013, I was awarded the “Doctor of Philosophy.” In fact, my field is American Studies, which is mostly culture and literature. It took me until AFTER my PhD to figure out that everything that really mattered to me personally came from philosophy. And the past tense is actually wrong here: All that matters to me is philosophy. The point is: That is funny! When business people think of the humanities, they have no clue what we are doing. When you tell business people “philosophy,” they know what you are talking about!
Do they really know it?
For most people in the “real world,” philosophy is ethics. Well, ethics is not necessarily philosophy, it is part of it. The same holds true for philosophy and the humanities. Philosophy is the basis of the humanities. But the humanities are not philosophy. They are just using philosophy as their theory. In fact, this is the thing that I understood too late. Everything I read, I approach from the perspective of a philosopher. But had anybody asked me back then if I wanted to study philosophy — hell, no! What can you do with philosophy? Now I know that I do everything with philosophy and based on philosophical reasoning. But you have to keep that to yourself, of course. Otherwise, people in business will tell you that you are useless and nuts.
So, who are these “people in business”?
The funny thing is, I am just noticing these days that both, people in business schools and people in management practice long for more THINKING. And thinking equals philosophy, I guess. At least, this is true from my perspective of looking at their perspective. The problem still is that everyone has a different idea about philosophy. If you want to teach philosophy to different people, you have to figure out a way how to teach it. That is where you can get stuck. I have decided to not get stuck. I simply do what I love doing: I teach everything based on literature. Literature is what they call “stories” nowadays. That is quite ridiculous but I know business well enough to know the value of marketing. And if literature under the label of “stories” sells — I am all in.
The book by Lakoff and Johnson found its way to my shelf while I was writing my dissertation almost 10 years ago. It was the first major work that addressed he cross-over of philosophy and cognitive science, even from a “Western-critical” perspective. It basically bridged the science-humanities divide by dealing with the nature of the mind and all other aspects related to thinking and being by considering the “flesh,” the material embodiment of the mind as well. It is funny how I look at the book from today’s perspective. Back then, I did not have much training in spirituality and I did not care about the natural sciences and physics that much. Even though, I still cannot claim that I am knowledgeable in these areas, I would still agree to the basic thesis of Lakoff and Johnson.
My Learnings
“We are seldom, if ever, conscious of what such philosophical views are, we find it difficult to articulate them explicitly, and we tend to be unaware of all their implications for our lives.” Wow! Are you getting what they are saying in just this one sentence? Let us take it apart: consciousness, language, and implications. These are the three areas in which philosophy obviously matters. This underlines why such a sentence appears in the chapter on “How Philosophical Theories Work.” I have no idea how they work, actually, and I have not reread the entire chapter now. What I know, however, is THAT THEY WORK. If they did not, my colleague from business studies would never have said a sentence like the following today:
“Without philosophy, you cannot understand anything these days.”
Wow!
Are you getting it?
This is not a statement about what philosophy is. But it is a statement that comes from someone who is conscious of the significance of philosophy, its implications on our lives and who is able to express these implications. Hence, all of the above-mentioned criteria from the quote are fulfilled. The problem to the philosophical mind now is: What did she mean by “philosophy”? And is it the same kind of philosophy that I am thinking of? And is it the same kind of philosophy that Lakoff and Johnson are talking about?
Of course, there is no answer to this at all. Hence, one might say hat there is no purpose in raising these questions. That is exactly “wrong” — if anything like this exists (at least, in logical positivism it does). What I am simply hinting at is the very value hidden in the act of asking such fundamental questions. And I believe, this is exactly what our society is missing these days. We can Google everything all the time but what is required for Googling in the first place is a simple step, i.e., raising a simple question:
“What does this mean?”
This is what is called “ontology” in philosophy. It basically means that you try to figure out what something means, what it is. This is easy? Well, then have fun. If I asked you what “business” means — how do you explain it? If you manage to come up with an answer from your perspective — let us proceed: What does business mean for humanity? Is this still easy to answer? If yes, then congratulations! The next level is that I ask you to write a paper about this. Oh, you cannot write a paper because writing is not your thing? Guess what, then your knowledge will be lost at some point. Yes, there will be YouTube clips all over the place but remember that people, if they really want to learn something from a reliable and profound source, still consult books.
Or do they not?
Will they not continue reading in the future?
I have no idea. I can just look at the world as it is now with the wisdom that our forefathers have left and with the ability of the mind that all of us human beings share. What fascinates me so much is the question of whether or not all of us use this capability or if we simply decide to stay in the dark cave of “unknowingness.” The nice side effect of this is that this state also exempts us from the awareness of knowing that we do not know anything. That is fine. I do not remember if Lakoff and Johnson talk about this question of “free will” in the book (they probably do extensively) but in any case, it is your choice to remain ignorant of the state of the world. And, unfortunately, I have to say this, even though I am a fan of empirical evidence and the natural sciences: these sciences allow you to find evidence for your thinking, but the thinking will still come from your MIND.
Are you getting what philosophy is all about?
Reflection Questions
1) Do you think philosophers are good for anything? What could be their contribution in your work environment?
2) What is the relationship between mind and body according to you?
3) Is there such a thing as “free will” according to your opinion? How do you define it?