First day of my Coursera Philosophy course triggered an avalanche of questions.
Why should I study philosophy? Does it serve any practical purpose? Is it ultimately a frivolous and self-indulgent goal insofar as I am able to pursue?
There is a more utilitarian voice that demands I commit to more productive tasks, study subjects and master skills that set me on the course of ‘creating’.
Is the act of ‘creating value’ the most important human endeavour? In this fictional social hierarchy, should engineers and scientists and innovators eclipse all others? What about the rest of us? Should we live subservient to the ‘creators’, devoting our lesser intellect to the manufacture and distribution of their works? Those that can’t make, sell. Those that can’t sell, administrate. Where does that leave the thinkers? Those that can’t administrate, philosophize?
When I first started working, I believed that there were, in essence, only two core types of workers – people who tinker, code and design, and people who hustle. Everyone else is secondary, producing value through service to their more useful superiors.
This was (and still is, to some extent) how my histrionic mind reconciled hardship. We actual live in a sterile dystopia, our social standing clearly delineated by our capacity to produce utility. If one cannot be useful, then one’s destitution is well-deserved.
But how do you value the utility of the comforting hug of a mother or the encouraging touch of a friend?
And back to the question – how do you measure the worth of ‘thoughts’ – thoughts about thoughts, thoughts that inspire, thoughts that console?
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