THE USES OF PHILOSOPHY
– THE INCOMPLETENESS OF SCIENCE
Leszek Figurski
To philosophize is
to attempt to see in a coherent and meaningful vision v the totality
of my whole existence. It is a renewed effort to see the essential
value and direction of my life. Ultimately to philosophize one must
decide for wisdom of life.
Here we face a
number of difficulties.
First a casual look
at the history of Philosophy reveals to us many and different
beliefs, ideologies, faiths.
As already mentioned, it seems that almost everything that has been
believed as true by some thinkers was also denied by others.
Philosophers do not seem to agree on the most vital issues, which
perennially confront every generation
of mortals.
Second a casual look
at the contemporary scene, at the world today, seems to suggest the
same. There are so many divergent views,
ideologies and mythologies and all have dedicated defenders and
followers sometimes fanatically sold to their visions of what is
valuable, true and meaningful.
This realization may
lead to despair. Is Truth
attainable at all? How can I know whether there is anything worth
believing at all? Is not skepticism
the most reasonable attitude? Is not everything relative?
Third the
observation of the great majority of people is not encouraging
either. It does not take much time to see that a great part of
mankind lives without paying much attention to the crucial questions
of human existence. False
notions of security, ignorance deliberately cultivated, thoughtless
pleasure-seeking, mad
activism are all glorified
and widely practiced. Preoccupation with senseless trivialities –
this is what we see everywhere, or it seems so.
Not many people like
to think deeply. Many deliberately evade confronting their inner
emptiness by constantly trying to run away from themselves. The
society in which we live provides immeasurable ways for making
it easy to plunge into thoughtless spending
of time. It is called entertainment:
drugs, alcohol, bought sex, etc. Many people live this way.
It is enough to
reflect on this all to be tempted very strongly to give up the
serious search for a true meaning
of our lives. Is there any?
This “temptation
to despair” is nevertheless the result of a superficial and
shallow observation. For philosophy is not a futile quest.
Many individuals found deep and rewarding meaning to their lives in
personal search; in Philosophy. The quest itself is certainly
difficult and may last a lifetime. But it is not quest.
Gradually light emerges. Many a truth,
a belief acquires through centuries of thinking and rethinking more
validity and more solid justification. Everyone wants to make his or
her life as meaningful as
possible. Mankind never gives up this search for meaning. If it had
it would stop existing as mankind.
There would be no humanity, we would not exist. For this search for
meaning, philosophy is the main striving force of one’s existence.
There is no life without it.
futile
The perennial
questions confront in some way every thinking human being, but the
horizon of knowledge,
the depth of insight differs from century to century. All humanity
evolves dynamically towards clearer understanding, toward fuller
awareness, towards simpler vision
of meaning of existence.
The differences must
be there, because each culture, each civilization,
each generation (and each
individual) has a perspectival, partial and limited view.
Nevertheless the insights, the answers gained gradually accumulate.
We must not let
ourselves be deceived by the perspectival and limited nature of human
knowledge. Since human beings are limited, so will be their visions,
but limited does not mean non-existent. Since philosophical questions
face each one of us, we are very privileged. We can examine how the
greatest minds of mankind struggle with the same problems. We have a
dialogue with the great
philosophers of the past and the present. This itself is a great
advantage. By examining their views, the way they formulated the
enduring all-human questions on the meaning of existence, we may be
spared going into blind alleys of improper ways of questioning. By
examining carefully their answers we may get tremendous insights and
depth of vision, perhaps even true solutions.
We are not alone in this human quest
which endures over the ages. My and your vision is certainly very
limited and meager, to say the least, but in conversing with the
great philosophers, the leaders and giants of insight
and vision, we can think the thoughts of the best of all humankind.
The great advantage of this fact cannot be overestimated ever. This
is most certainly the most exhilarating experience. It is growing
towards full human stature as a member of the whole family of men.
Are we not contradicting ourselves? First we realized that the
philosophical search for meaning must be done by each one for himself
and thus it is a lonely search, and now we are saying that this
search is nevertheless a search together with other thinkers in a
kind of enduring search – dialogue over centuries
of time! There is no contradiction here. What is important is
our aim, our goal: to shape
my meaning of my existence, for myself. The purpose of philosophy,
St. Thomas Aquinas remarked, is not to know what others
thought, but to attain towards the TRUTH of things. In studying
Philosophy each one must think for himself. Each one is all the time
searching and actively looking for his or her meaning. Philosophizing
is a constant determined reaching towards the vision of TRUTH.
Otherwise it would be a meaningless gathering of scattered
information only. So much is
always clear.
However, it would be
irrational and unjustifiable to reject a philosophical insight,
which after careful rethinking appears as true and valid, within an
important area of my search simply because it is not my own, but
someone else’s. This point is so obvious that it would be a waste
of time to dwell on it further. There lies the value and meaning of
studying the greatest and the best in Philosophy.
Some of the modern
thinkers are rather
skeptical of conclusion, transcending what they define as human
experience. This experience is conceived by them in a rather narrow
sense, called scientific. To those thinkers – contrary to the
Ancient Greek belief and Medieval attitude, philosophy should only be
concerned with what is empirically verifiable. By empirical
verification again they mean sense-verification. This attitude in its
extreme form narrows tremendously the horizon of inquiry
to the scientifically demonstrable only. There are some, who believe
that Science so understood,
is all we have to our disposal.
Scientific truth
– truth obtained by special sciences – has the redeeming
quality of being exact, but is never complete and never ultimate. It
does not suffice unto itself. It needs philosophical, that is more
fundamental, grounding. It originates in many assumptions which are
without much scrutiny
accepted as good. Scientific truth does not stand on its own feet and
is not fundamental enough. It must be integrated and rooted in more
complete and final kind of truth, which may be considered neither
“scientific” (in a sense described above) nor directly
demonstrable by senses. No
scientific theory is in any
way ultimate for each one can be – and historically often had been
– replaced by another one. Where science ends the problems do not
end, neither does the search for meaning. It must be noted also that
special sciences give us only piecemeal insight into very limited a
narrowly specified aspects of the world: by no means exhaustive or
complete. The scientist
himself within his field of specialization, as a human being needs
truth which is whole and complete. Whether he likes it or not, by the
very make-up of his human mind, he must form
a total concept of the universe and find his place in it. The
philosophic truth is more general thus less exact but more basic. It
is truth of higher rank not only because its horizon is broader and
deeper, but also as a type of knowledge. The inexact philosophic
truth is true truth and indispensable. A truth may be very exact and
yet very small and almost devoid of deeper meaning altogether.
Special sciences alone cannot ever completely satisfy the imperative
need for a meaning-vision of the totality of human experience as
human. As Sidney Hook
remarked, “Philosophy concerns itself with the place of man in the
universe from the point of view of certain -large and perennial
questions which all reflective men at some time or another ask. These
questions are not asked or answered in any of the special sciences,
but to answer them intelligently one must be familiar with the best
science and theology of the day.” Sidney Hook, The Uses of
Philosophy).
This then is
Philosophy as the quest for wisdom. Wisdom is concerned with meaning,
values and value judgments.
It is knowledge of what is good or better, bad or worse, what is
meaningful and what is not. It is knowledge which throws in the
concreteness of human existence a certain illuminating light at the
questions: Who am I? What is the universe around me? What can I
know? What I can hope for? What should I do? Does the universe
show a design or not? Is there a God or Friend beyond phenomena or
are we alone? Are human beings destined for immortal existence or
perchance only complicated sparks of chemical elements?
This of course, is
only a random selection of philosophical problems. There is a host of
other problems. All are interrelated and mutually trigger one another
and thus throw light at one another forming gradually a more
meaningful pattern of vision.
We are in the
position now to put together the answer to the question: Why should
we study Philosophy? Philosophy provides
(a) purpose
in life. It enables a person to attain a coherent system of ideas and
beliefs leading towards a more satisfactory mode of living;
(b) tremendous
enrichment of human
knowledge because it organizes the best of sciences and draws
conclusions relevant for the search for the meaning of life;
(c) contact with the
greatest minds in the history
of mankind. The problems of Philosophy are by their very nature
perennial. Mankind has been wrestling with these problems through the
ages and will continue in future. In each generation there are
geniuses of insight and
depth who have left their answers to be pondered and examined.
(d) a sense of worth
and meaning of life. An unexamined life is not worthy of man. An
exclusive preoccupation with everyday concerns without a more
comprehensive view limits and impoverishes life robbing it almost
completely of its value and import;
(e) social
evaluation. In our modern rapidly changing world of mass
civilizations a mass destruction becomes more and more probable. The
study of Philosophy helps towards an intelligent evaluation of he political scene and to constructive
use of one’s freedom for
the interests of civilization.
It augments the sense of meaning of each person’s individual
existence.
To quote Jacques
Maritain, Philosophy reminds men “of the supreme utility of
those things which do not deal with means, but with ends. For men do
not live only by bread, vitamins and technological discoveries. They
live by values and realities which are above time and are worth
knowing for their own sake.” (Jacques Maritain, On the Use of
Philosophy).”
This book was written with the purpose of proclaiming the duty of each individual to search for truth and the meaning of existence. The twentieth century produced such monsters as Hitler, Stalin, and Pol Pot who revealed the deadly drive of people who blindly followed these tyrants. Ignorance, passivity, and sheepish readiness to sell one’s life into the hands of self-made political “saviors” have created the sad reality of our times. Our world today is characterized by a growing cult of political power. There is an almost complete neglect of the individual person and of moral values in general. We should always remember that those who neglect reflection sentence themselves to repeat the same catastrophes and mistakes. Thinking requires determination and endurance. It is not easy. It demands courage to question the most fundamental convictions that may be accepted by others without any reflection or evaluation. Thinking requires courage because it involves a certain risk and may lead to unexpected conclusions. Above all, passion for truth is necessary for every honest seeker. The Socratic saying, “an unexamined life is not worth living,” is as true today as it ever was before. « less
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