What is Philosophy ? Why study it seemed the very obvious first two questions. Lack of culture which promotes questions doesn't appear to the hallmark of our society alone. Socrates' execution is case in point. Asking questions and challenging dogmas has never been entertained. So anything which produces a bent in 'space-time' can only do so with the application of external force. It's law of nature(Thermodynamics) for all things to lose energy(lowest entropy) and settle in a state of lowest energy. Following dogmas, then, no questions asked is but ingrained in all things out there. So don't blame yourself if you've been shying away from all things philosophical in life. Haven't we been shying away from open ended questions always ? Part of the reason why we've matured into restless and impatient society . There are no easy answers , arguably there ARE no answers at all. Logic is something which would find 'application' in real world to begin with. Metaphysical debates can last debaters and hence have been sadly sidelined in modern discourse , one would feel.
However, along comes a teacher and those ' deductive inferences' ... ' Nothing changes by making an act. RTE is an act... hence..
Why ask foundational questions anyways ? Why bother standing in queue when you can pay the tout and get the thing done that much quicker ???
Why ask foundational questions anyways ? Why bother standing in queue when you can pay the tout and get the thing done that much quicker ??? 
Asking more questions that giving answers ? Thats what Philosophers do ? eh ?
ReplyDeleteSo all those 'counsels' for asking more questions to the ruler than giving him the answers ??
Talking of shying away from asking fundamental questions , One is led to wonder how can someone who believes(if he believes) that everyone can be educated and intends to do so , because of goodwill or part of job, NOT ask such foundational question as what exactly IS education ? Because it takes one to the realm of philosophy ? So much for fear of a discipline ?? Or because of the duration and intensity of mental engagement that it requires to keep 'at it' ? The questions asked by Socrates more than 2300 years ago are still as relevant as back then.
It's anybody's guess how far these foundational questions are asked? One can philosophize anything but beginning with state itself ,asking 'what exactly is the meaning state' before you begin to wonder on the 'welfare of state' appears to be foundation of all that follows on the discussions on society. Can philosophizing about it solve any 'practical' problem ? Doubtful. Can NOT philosophizing and asking foundational questions help in giving long term solutions ? Maybe no. Be that as it may, but one thing's for sure that no one's gonna ask any question if not encouraged and helped in doing so.
"Philosophy is the activity of working out the right way of thinking about things" is the simplest answer i came across. By activity we mean stepping back from what you’re doing, and ask questions about it – what it presupposes, and whether it’s the right way to go about things.but, we do this most of the time. The logical flow of evidence and reasoning consider to draw a conclusion in philosophy makes philosophy important thought not fundamental.
ReplyDeleteso, our task in this co-dev could be identify which areas of philosophy we want to explore or which issue's to be discuss in light of philosophy. How do we approach the consider issue can be another venture.outlining the utility or the relevance of our work can be another task ahead of us.
A lot in India's 'Shasan' ,consequently in it's 'prashasan' , owe its genesis to Marxism and the role of state envisaged therein. Be that "inspector raj" or 'red tapism' , this school of thought has influenced the founding fathers of this country to the extent that we bear its burden long after its demise worldwide.
ReplyDeleteThe examples of school 'inspector' and the concept of "adhikaari" and how plans are made in Delhi , a la Planning Commission, are direct offshoot of strong centre idea of Nehru which was an old Soviet style functioning where the ration to all provinces was fixed and all plans were made from Moscow (read by Stalin and his henchmen).
Centrally made schemes , tyranny of textbooks and centralised curriculum are direct results of that , have made teachers dependent on textbooks and trainings on how to use them in way that Microsoft's O.S. has made the softwares dependent on itself. Change the O.S. and you need to update your software. Change the curriculum and textbooks and you need to train the handlers of it from scratch.
With so much being influenced by this philosophy I wonder why all citizens ,teachers moreso , should not know about this.
ReplyDelete