Jacqueline Mariña

Why is philosophy important?  The question is particularly pressing at this point in time, where more and more undergraduates are pressed to enter careers in the sciences and engineering and ignore fields such as philosophy. Many consider philosophy “useless” because it does not seem to lead directly to the production of things or the making of money.  Putting bread on the table, and the creation of things that can be used for various and sundry purposes are tasks that are certainly important, for we exist as physical beings in a physical world.  However, we ignore the science of philosophy at our own peril.  On this point it instructive to reflect on some words of Aristotle, who characterized philosophy as “pursuing scientific knowledge for the sake of knowing, not for any further use” (982a20), and who noted that “Just as we describe a free person as one who exists for his own sake and not for someone else’s, so we also describe this as the only free science, since it is the only one that exists for its own sake” (982a25). The philosopher’s quest is free in that it is not bound to predetermined ends that delimit the kind of knowledge that is to be sought or the way that it is to be produced and disseminated.  For instance, the knowledge sought by the chemical engineer is bound by preexisting practical goals.  In our current economy, these goals are themselves often in the service of companies such as oil or pharmaceutical companies  driven by the twin goals of providing services at a profit.  So not only is the knowledge of the engineer constrained by the discipline itself, which is theory laden and limited to the field of exploring chemical reactions, the nature of this discovery will also be driven by the goals of those who are in control of the resources for producing research.   Investigation is driven by  practical  ends.  In contrast, the ideal philosopher is not driven by pre-given ends.  Hence philosophy is a free science, for it is not bound.  For example, instead of being in the service of goals that have already been accepted as valueable, the philosopher will question the nature of value and what it is that is ultimately valuable.  The philosopher will ask, what is it all ultimately for?  Are certain given ends ultimately worth pursuing?  Hence instead of being in the service of ends society has deemed worthy of pursuit, the philosopher deliberates about ultimate ends and in the process questions what is accepted and that which has gone without questions.  In this way the philosopher helps others, and society at large as well, to set ends that are truly worthwhile, and to undertand the reasons why those ends are worthwhile.  Without the discipline of philosophy, the world proceeds along blindly, not seeking to understand or to question the ultimate wherefore of all our activities.