What is philosophy?

Before defining it, let me share Douglas J. Futuyma’s few remarks (taken from “Evolution, 2^nd Edition, Chapter 11, page 282),

………..When Darwin offered a purely natural, materialistic alternative to argument from design, he not only shook the foundation of theology and philosophy, but brought every aspect of study of life into the realm of science………………. the future cannot cause material events in present. Thus the concepts of goals or purposes have no place in biology (or in any natural sciences), except in studies of human behavior………………………………

By keeping in mind that human behavior is an exceptional case in study of natural sciences…. now let move to definition of philosophy by Will Durant (Taken from “The pleasures of philosophy, A Survey of Human Life and Destiny”, page xii),

…………..Philosophy is harmonized knowledge making a harmonious life; it is self discipline which lifts us to serenity and freedom. Knowledge is power, but only wisdom is liberty…………………….

When people claim that they have shaken the foundation of philosophy… they just embarrass themselves by showing their ignorance…. Philosophy in first place is the “love of wisdom”. Wisdom is primarily study of human nature and behavior…. If a philosopher has interests in other disciplines, his other works can’t be called philosophy….. this is the main mistake that is usually done…. People include, theology,  politics, natural sciences under philosophy………….In fact only those parts of religion, language, culture, politics, economics and natural sciences that is related to human nature and human behavior come under philosophy…………..

Philosophy does not produce culture but it says how a culture affects human behavior? Is it numbing our senses or sharpening them to life. Philosophers do not legislate laws or run for election however they analyze the laws and system of governance…. Philosophers do not run lab experiments or do not collect data at field surveys however they analyze the interpretations  and generalizations based on data and observations from filed and lab experiments…….. Philosophers do not run businesses but they analyze how the businesses are run… so I say, Darwin’s theory didn’t shook the foundation of philosophy but it dusted off philosophy… from irrelevant issues that have been made her less visible………………………………..

Proverbial myth No, 9: A fool judges people by the presents they give him.....Chinese Proverb

Presents are more cultural and some cultures (especially those who value ostentations as virtue) are intoxicated by gifts and presents especially on special occasions…  I would rather say that a fool judges people by what he hears from others

Personally, I have great respect for Socrates esp for his famous cross questionings. For me he is symbol of wisdom and instead of dissecting this proverb, I would better to share one of his cross questionings and let you contrast,

…………… One day in one of the street of Athens a man approached Socrates and said, “Do you know what I just heard about your friend?”

“Hold on a minute,” Socrates replied. “Before telling me anything I’d like you to pass a little test by answering by three simple questions”

Socrates continued. “Before you talk to me about my friend,………………………… Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?”

“No,” the man said, “Actually I just heard about it and ...”

“All right,” said Socrates. “So you don’t really know if it’s true or not…. OK, now the second question…………………………… Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something good?”

“No, on the contrary…”

“So,” Socrates continued, “you want to tell me something bad about him, but you’re not certain it’s true….. OK, still it might be worthy of sharing if your answer to my third question is positive…………… Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?”

“No, not really …”

“Well,” concluded Socrates, “if what you want to tell me is neither true nor good nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?”

Proverbial myth No, 8: Deep doubts, deep wisdom; small doubts, little wisdom. Chinese Proverb

Doubts are not thesis questions so it can’t be generalized. Doubt in hand of a scholar is the beginning of a systematic and meaningful investigation while doubt in hands of laymen is weaving rumors and distrusts. As we are scholars at few subject areas and laymen at rest so doubts are useful only when treated as subjective and sources of disappointments when generalized…………

You might like this legendary story of hands on use of thinking process (related to intense doubt) by Buddha,

………….Once Buddha was walking from one town to another with a few of his disciples. While they were travelling, they happened to pass a lake. They stopped there and Buddha told one of his disciples, “I am thirsty. Do get me some water from that lake there.”

The disciple walked up to the lake. When he reached it, he noticed that some people were washing clothes in the water and as a result, the water became very muddy, very turbid. The disciple thought, “How can I give this muddy water to Buddha to drink!” So he came back and told Buddha, “The water in there is very muddy. I don’t think it is fit to drink.”

After about half an hour, again Buddha asked the same disciple to go back to the lake and get him some water to drink. The disciple obediently went back to the lake. This time he found that the lake had absolutely clear water in it. The mud had settled down and the water above it looked fit to be had. So he collected some water in a pot and brought it to Buddha.

Buddha looked at the water, and then he looked up at the disciple and said, “See what you did to make the water clean. You let it be ... and the mud settled down on its own – and you got clear water... Your mind is also like that. When it is disturbed, just let it be. Give it a little time. It will settle down on its own. You don’t have to put in any effort to calm it down. It will happen. It is effortless.”………………………..

When in intense doubt…give it time…. It takes time but you see clearly after your thoughts settled down…. Sometimes, things really don’t make sense immediately….but as time passes you see more clearly what has happened and what is happening……….

Proverbial myth No. 7: “Be not deceived with the first appearance of things, for show is not substance.

First read this story…..

One afternoon, an old lady, laden with shopping, noticed two small boys on the front step of a house. With their bags and uniforms they were obviously going home after school. They were on tip-toe trying to reach the door-bell with a stick.

"Poor little lads, they can't get in," she thought, "Parents these days just don't seem to care."

So she marched up the path, reached over the boys and gave the bell a long firm push.

The surprised boys turned around and screamed "Quick, run!" and promptly disappeared over the garden wall.

From this story, you might be thinking that this proverb is right… but do not judge before reading another story…….

A little girl was watching her mother prepare a fish for dinner. Her mother cut the head and tail off the fish and then placed it into a baking pan. The little girl asked her mother why she cut the head and tail off the fish. Her mother thought for a while and then said, "I've always done it that way - that's how babicka (Czech for grandma) did it."

Not satisfied with the answer, the little girl went to visit her grandma to find out why she cut the head and tail off the fish before baking it.

Grandma thought for a while and replied, "I don't know. My mother always did it that way."

So the little girl and the grandma went to visit great grandma to find ask if she knew the answer.

Great grandma thought for a while and said, “Because my baking pan was too small to fit in the whole fish”.

If you escape the deceptions at first appearance, you might continue to do what your mother and grandma was doing without knowing why……………

Proverbial myth 6: “Evil is sooner believed than good.”………

Even when I was a kid and was reading these childish stories…. My thinking was that when people do not want to understand….. They divide things in good and bad…. As  I grew up… I became more convinced that people do not really understand the “good” and “bad”……..  and these two concepts are just general expressions that they have learnt from society…. Don’t believe…. That is your choice but when I hear…..

“How are you?” ….”Good”…  “How are you?”…. “Not bad”…….

“Good” and “not bad” are both same…. Whatever are the feelings and conditions, you will hear these two expressions from all at all time… What does it mean???

So when we are not really clear about good and devil… how to decide that which one we are believing sooner?.........

Following is a story from my childhood textbook… it is a great story that teaches the cost of dividing things in “good” and “bad” by ignoring the nature of things…….

“Once upon a time a scorpion wanted to cross a brook. On the bank he saw a frog and asked if the frog would give him a ride to the other side.
"Oh no," says the frog, "If I carry you on my back you will sting me."
"But why would I sting you when we would both surely perish," replied the scorpion.
The frog eventually conceded that the scorpion had a point, and agreed to the request.
Half way across, the scorpion stang the frog, and they both began to drown.
"But why did you break your word and sting me, knowing it would be certain death for us both?" cried the frog.
"Because it is in my nature." said the scorpion.”

If you have still appetite for more story that read the following one…..

“A missionary came upon a hungry lion in the middle of the African plain.
The missionary knelt and prayed, "God, please give this lion a Christian soul!"
The lion stopped, knelt, and prayed also: "Lord above, may this meal be blessed.."

Of course, Lord is one, kind and just but He has created grasses, herbivores, carnivores and omnivores… and there is no “good” and “bad” in them…. Every creature follows its nature………..
We believe sooner in “good” and “devil” than in nature of things………..

Proverbial myth 5: ” Moderation is the key”……

I am not good at math so naturally you can’t trust me when I call this proverb as a myth…. However, before making your mind let me share some childish stories about average, less and more….

First trusting people who are expert in math and have faith in average…………….

“Three statisticians went hunting in the woods. Before long, one of them pointed to a plump pigeon in a tree, and the three of them stopped and took aim. The first fired, missing the bird by a couple of inches to the left. Immediately afterwards the second fired, but also missed, a couple of inches to the right. The third put down his gun exclaiming, "Great shooting lads, on average I reckon we got it..."  

Now that you know miracle of average let’s read… the pitiful “less” that few are content to,………..

“A small boy was walking along a beach at low tide, where countless thousands of small sea creatures, having been washed up, were stranded and doomed to perish. A man watched as the boy picked up individual creatures and took them back into the water.
"I can see you're being very kind," said the watching man, "But there must be a million of them; it can't possibly make any difference."
Returning from the water's edge, the boy said, "It will for that one."

Of course, when we do something for others… small is very big to be proud of… but when it comes, doing something for ourselves then it is never enough what we have…….

“A dog held a juicy bone in his jaws as he crossed a bridge over a brook. When he looked down into the water he saw another dog below with what appeared to be a bigger juicier bone. He jumped into the brook to snatch the bigger bone, letting go his own bone, He quickly learned of course that the bigger bone was just a reflection, and so he ended up with nothing.”

After reading all these… what is moderation? Is it some sort of formula, model, ethics (content) or decisions by conditions…. A sportsman’s diet is not a healthy diet for an obsess person…

Proverbial Myth 4: “Soul mates are matches, made in heaven”…

This proverb is believed during engagements and questioned during separations and divorces. Despite of periodic believing and disbelieving almost all make a resolve at the end on it. The main weakness of this concept is that, heavens makes matches but seldom perfect matches. Even if you know one for long time and you think that you know a lot but still you can’t know enough to save yourself of not getting disappointed.

The divorce rates change greatly from one country to another and similarly from a culture and another. It also varies from rural to urban areas. Even it varies based on economical trends… So, these variations are enough to conclude that it is the culture, attitudes and conditions that affect the matches………

(You can have a look on 2010 census of marriages and divorce rate from 1980 to 2008 at following link,

http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2011/tables/11s1335.pdf )

Based on my observations, I think there are some common points that influence relationships (Of course, there are just in the context of personalities…)

a.       Everybody is unique in his/her personality so it is not logical to expect that likes and dislikes match altogether….

b.      We can’t know enough to save ourselves from disappointments so a safe way is keep a large room for disappointments…

c.       Everywhere there are some people who have pockets full of mocking and harmful jokes based on our (supposedly) weaknesses…. They usually become very curious and active at the beginning of relationships and influence the judgments….

d.      Pouring out all your feelings (the most famous phrase… I love you..) Will raise expectations (hence psychological pressures) and also are quick in leading to disappointments… so giving time to know each other well enough that you could recognize and digest differences in a pleasant way make it safe to pour out the feelings….

I should admit that I am not expert on this issue (my purpose is to highlight the myth of the proverb and that is it!!!) so you might disagree or might suggest more in depth suggestions… I welcome any…