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December 12, 2006
Why Philosophers Are Important
By Andy from The Charlotte Capitalist,cross-posted by MetaBlog
Yesterday in my thoughts about Robert Tracinski's "What Went Right?" essay, I noted:
But there do have to be fundamental ideas, someone needs to package them into a system, and someone needs to advocate them -- or else they won't spread. That someone is a philosopher -- whether it is Augustine, or Plato, or Aristotle, or Aquinas, or Kant, or Democritus, or Ayn Rand or whomever.
And it is those systems of ideas which have both identified and driven the history of the world with varying consequences -- from the splendor of ancient Greece to the Dark Ages to the Englightenment to the horrors of the 20th century and now who knows where in the future.
If you wish to spread ideas, the value of pointing to a philosopher makes the job easier.
The key word is integration. To the greater degree that a philosopher can provide an integrated philosophy, the more important the philosopher. One may not like Kant, but one can not discount his integrated approach -- and his influence.
From personal experience -- prior to becoming aware of Ayn Rand, I was an implicit "believer" in reason. Religion was not an important factor and in fact I had told my girlfriend in 8th grade that I thought I was an atheist. I couldn't explain why other than religion didn't make sense. That didn't keep me away from religion as I participated in various groups, mostly for the social aspects, over the next few years.
But most important to me was understanding "why" and what was real. I remembering listening to adults and wondering where they got their opinions. Why did some ideas make sense? Why did some ideas some crazy? How would I ever decide what to say?
Politically, I endorsed "capitalism" without a definition. I knew it produced prosperity. I knew communism was bad because of the experience and stories of my Russian grandparents.
In the end, I was a "secular capitalist" (as Andy Bernstein once told me). But as you can see, I held a hodgepodge of ideas all loosely connected but unknown as to how by me.
I spent several years "shopping" for the connection. Was it religion? Conservatives? Libertarians? Liberals? None of them could provide a case that was both integrated and made sense.
Until I read "Atlas Shrugged" and followed up with other works by Ayn Rand. Now I had the tools to determine on my own what was right and wrong -- and most importantly why. I could see that ideas connected. Metaphysics to epistemology to ethics to politics -- it all made sense. I was able to begin to judge the good and bad ideas I held and the keep the good and toss the bad.
That is the value of a philosopher -- to provide an integrated view of life at all levels. Philosophers build systems of thought -- not random catch-alls. Thus, when Robert Tracinski says the following, he is incorrect:
Unfortunately, that has been an implication of the common Objectivist interpretation of the role of ideas in history. In this view, all important intellectual trends begin in books written by philosophers and are then propagated downward into a culture's political ideas, its art, its sense of life.
Of course, good ideas (such as reason) can be passed from person to person implicitly and without the knowledge of the important philosophers. Without a doubt that happens everyday. But the risky result is individuals and cultures won't have a clue as to the essentials of what they know and why they are important. Without an integrated view individuals and cultures can easily lose the good and their confidence.
Ideas are important. They are sacred to human life. They must be defined carefully and integrated with other ideas in order to provide value to human life and to be preserved. Individuals need to be able to access explicit abstract ideas in order to use them. And that is what philosophers are important.
Originally posted by Andy from The Charlotte Capitalist, ReBlogged for Meta Blog
