Philosophy: Studying the hows and the whys of life

Philosophy appeared to my life as a major of study I did not understand initially but interests me eventually. When the words ‘philosophy’ came up in the list of university majors, I could not help but to look up for it in the dictionary. Then, the definition amazes me of how there is a major for something like this. What exactly is philosophy? I see philosophy as the study of the hows and the whys in life.

Philosophy is the study that looks into the basics of the life and other fundamental matters linked with it. It tries to decode on how an idea or a matter like new invention changes the life we live or the thoughts we think. In a talk for TEDx about philosophy, Amy Leask compares the idea of philosophy with plumbing. It compares how both philosophy and plumbing are always existence in our life but sometimes they are not taken into account due to its perfect blend with the routines and its ‘normality’. By normality, it means the constant existence and the stability of it. People pay no attention to their plumbing as long as the toilet flushes when it is flushed or the water in the sink goes into the sewage and not turning the sink into a mini tub.

Some people, at least in the circle I currently live in, would probably think it’s foolish to study philosophy. Why spend four years to study something that works already? The life has no problem, it goes just as usual. Perhaps it is a better idea to study biology of medical to find a cure of the world’s nightmare now, Ebola. There is a point to the study, which is it can troubleshoot a problem in life. The thing is, philosophy is not about troubleshooting. It is making sense of what’s in the world, assembly of ideas to live and study of fundamental matters and beliefs in the world. Merriam-Webster dictionary wrote a very interesting definition of philosophy which is ‘a pursuit of wisdom’. Wisdom itself is defined as a natural ability to understand things. Philosophy is there in order to look through life and understand it, make sense of it from the sphere of life or other things.

In this sense, I see Amy Leask definition of philosophy for young thinkers relatable. The example she gave proves the definition I speculate philosophy to be. She told the audience what she gave to her philosophy students, a microwave example. The question was how it changes the life they live and the thoughts they think as the microwave invented.

On the other hand, people do use the world philosophy multiple times. A junior in high school named Sam who has a biological cell illness called Progeria gave a talk about his philosophy of life. After 15 minutes watching him and comprehending what he is trying to say in his talk, I could conclude that philosophy is the fundamental of a matter. In Sam’s case, it is the fundamentals of happiness. How he must act in order to be happy and it is a set of understanding of where happiness comes from.

All in all, I can agree to the term philosophy is a pursuit of wisdom. From that big definition, it runs to a more narrow definition which is a study to gain general understanding of life and the ideas or changes in it. It can relate back to our life as in it looks how something can change us. Philosophy can also means to make sense of fundamentals of something after experiencing it like how Sam experiences Progeria and learn how to actually not think of it as an entity then establish his own philosophy to be happy.