Philosophy - Then, Now and in the Future

Philosophy as we know of it has existed for more than two thousand years. The ancient Greek philosopher Plato (427-347 B.C.) founded a first institution of higher learning called 'Academia' - a kind of today's university. Aristotle (384-322 B.C.), the famous student of Plato and the teacher of Alexander the great, had a school of his own called 'Lyceum'. It was not really until Kant (1724-1804) that philosophers were able to make a living by doing only philosophy - by teaching, by giving a lecture, by publishing philosophical works. Kant was one of the first major professional philosophers, for whom philosophy was truly a profession.

Many of the philosophers that we are familiar with were not really philosophy professors. Hume was a diplomat professionally. Spinoza was a lens crafter. Aristotle once was a tutor of Alexander the great. Cicero was really a politician. In his last days, Descartes made a living by privately lecturing philosophy to Queen Christina of Sweden. But this was a mistake because he had to do this early in the cold morning in Scandinavia and he caught a cold, which later developed into a fatal pneumonia.

Unfortunately, not many people can find jobs in academia that will enable them to do philosophy professionally. This is, in a sense, natural because our society does not demand much of philosophy in economical terms. Imagine what society will be like where most members are philosophers by profession!

Philosophy does not produce shoes or wheat or blue chips. But philosophy can provide a valuable insight about our life, our world, and our thoughts. As Hegel once put it, philosophy is like Minerva's owl that opens its wings only at nightfall. It may not lead people's lives in the way the economy or law or science does but it can give us valuable "food for thought." This suggests that one may not necessarily be a professional philosopher to practice philosophy. If one is dedicated, one can be productive philosophically.

Don't have time to publish? No problem - Socrates, one of the most famous philosophers, did not publish any work, not even posthumously. Yet he is one of the most influential philosophers that ever lived. He may be the most important of them. (Incidentally he was the first philosophy martyr.) Contemporary philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein once claimed that philosophy is an activity. If he is right, it cannot consist of some ideas or propositions or even treatises no matter how noble or brilliant they may be. Its value rather consists in engaging in an articulate set of highly sophisticated yet powerful and critical intellectual activities.

In any case, if you are really worried about making your ends meet, you shouldn't try to get a job as professional philosophers. You should instead go to law school or business school. The irony is that it is exactly because of this unpractical aspect of it that philosophy is most attractive. It liberates our being from the shackles of ordinary life - distancing us from the mundane world - and takes us to the world of freedom - free thinking, free vision and free being. I boldly predict that there will be philosophy as long as there will be civilization.

- Dr. Halla KIm

For questions and inquiries, please contact Dr. Halla Kim, Department of Philosophy and Religion, UNO, Omaha, NE 68182, (402) 554-3934, hallakim@mail.unomaha.edu