As of this moment, I have NOT been able to give this answer to this question at Quora. For some reason, my interface with the site for this purpose has been unsuccessful. I will post here then, to lessen the sense of frustration. Both question and answer.
Hello: To the people who read philosophy, can you explain to me its benefits and why I should read a book by a philosopher and then read a book by another philosopher who responded to him 200 years later, for example?
Those are two very different requests, but since you have used only one question mark I suspect you think you have asked only one question. First you asked whether I, someone who reads philosophy, can explain its benefits. Presumably this means its benefits to me, whatever keeps me reading such books and articles. You could probably have put a question mark after the word “benefit”. Thereafter you ask a very different question: whether I can tell you why you should read at least two books by philosophers, one critical of the other.
I think you presume that whatever are its benefits for me would be benefits for you as well. I do not presume that.
At any rate, one of its benefits for me is that it has helped develop the ability that I in a very small measure just displayed — the art of reading CRITICALLY, such as the ability to dissect a badly worded question into its constituent parts heading off possible confusion. If you do not prize that ability, by all means, read something else or swear off the troublesome act of reading altogether.
At any rate, this ability of reading critically is something that arises precisely out of the sort of philosophy that you seem to find especially problematic — one book answering another. John Rawls explaining why the utilitarians were misguided, for example. He offered a master class in (a) taking the earlier view seriously on its own terms, (b) addressing that view in a strong form (if not necessarily the strongest), AVOIDING the temptation to tackle a “straw man,” and (c) highlighting why it warrants rejection and how one’s own view differs for the better.
If you think you could benefit from that master class, look to philosophers for it. If not … cool.
I would also question the meaning of the word "benefits." If you enjoy reading philosophy, is not spending your time in an enjoyable way a benefit? But, if you insist on concrete benefits, then educating oneself is a benefit, not only for its own sake, but because it will increase your understanding and appreciation of other things. For example, a novel, or an article about current affairs, may make allusions to philosophical ideas you've encountered, or, even if it doesn't, you might draw connections with such ideas yourself.
ReplyDeleteEverything I've said here applies not only to philosophy, but to every intellectual subject -- economics, science, psychology, and so forth. Which of those subjects you choose to pursue will depend upon which gives you pleasure, and, to come full circle, pleasure is a benefit.