Perils of Life Got You Down? Philosophy Can Help

I carefully closed the enormous book and placed it on the floor. I deemed it could not be done. It is too hard, I thought. In an attempt to read Aristotle’s Metaphysics, I developed a hurting brain. I would leave graduate school, I decided, and alleviate my suffering. What I did not know is that challenging ideas, difficult texts, and the study of one of the greatest thinkers the world has ever known was strengthening me. I was learning to write better, organize data points, and make an argument.

Fast forward to my social service job just out of graduate school, where I found myself writing to the county seeking to secure a $250,000 grant to fund a job-training program. The director asked if I had any grant-writing experience. I replied no, no I did not. The grant practically wrote itself because what I did not realize is all the reading and writing and brain aching had resulted in an ability to make persuasive arguments and analyze information to make sense and urge others to action. We secured the grant. I thought I needed to thank Aristotle for the help and all those professors who required 15-page thesis papers.

Art illuminates the human condition and philosophy helps to make sense of it. Its mission is to have us be reflective and analytical thinkers. It provides a systematic account of how when I state the chair exists, we really can truly know it does. Philosophy teaches us to hone in on the central features of a moral decision and analyze the merits of a friend’s argument. It helps to make us stronger in mind and spirit, expands our world, and allows us to shape and construct our lives.

Philosophy means love of wisdom. Notice it is not the study of but the loving of knowledge, understanding, and insight. To love takes work. It requires us to identify what makes the object of our love special, desirable, and enjoyable. It asks of us to keep those things in our mind’s eye, focus on them, engage them, and hold them in high regard.

Are you yearning for something to be true? Are you hoping to get that job, have a loving relationship, or secure a promotion at work? William James may be able to help. Beliefs have a practical effect, James thought, and can transform and influence our world. In his efforts to prove free will exists, he did something astonishingly simple, he started by just affirming it. If it is not certain to be known, why not assume it? This bold assertion can create the lives we live. In our hope to attain certainty about something, start by believing in its existence. It is an excellent starting point for establishing truth.

Are you struggling with a challenging co-worker or feeling frustrated with your in-laws? Seek help from Iris Murdoch, the wonderful philosopher of Ireland. Murdoch believed as moral agents our most important task is the development of our internal energies. Morality is based on goodness. The inner life of the moral agent is a central feature of ethics. This was a departure from the notion that ethics lie in the consequences of an action and the rules that govern them.

Iris Murdoch links morality with change and the continual improvement of the self. When confronting unkind thoughts regarding your colleague, the decent thing to do is change your views. Begin by switching the words you use to describe them. If annoying is a label you assigned, change that to unique or challenging. The new descriptions offer an unfamiliar perspective, which in turn renders a new pattern and a fresh way of relating to them.

So, pick a philosopher, grab an idea that resonates, and get to work—the work of loving knowledge and ideas, for they are what fuels the world. It just may do something for you in unexpected, very-needed ways. If your brain starts aching, rejoice—for you know you are on your way to a newfound love.