School of Philosophy | Melbourne

Philosophy: what’s in it for me?

This might sound like a strange title for a talk on philosophy. It’s probably an even stranger title for a talk on anything else, but the key idea here is that if something doesn’t benefit you, personally, then what’s the point of doing it? This applies to wisdom as much as it does to barracking for Collingwood or going to the pub (or both). Why do anything if you don’t get anything out of it? The basic take home message of this talk is that philosophy is about wisdom, and that wisdom is good for you. Wisdom will help you. Wisdom is better than Prozac—it makes us happier, healthier, wholer; and it has good rather than bad side effects.

Actually, there’s a subtle plot twist here. It’s a principle of practical philosophical physics that you get what you give. You could also describe this principle as karma. A common example of karma is the hangover. For those of you who’ve never had one, or never not had one, this karmic phenomenon consists of doing something that’s inherently bad for you, although it often seems pleasurable. Eventually you wake up to its true nature—pain! This could also be described as a law of physics, as well as of ethics: for every action there’s an equal and opposite reaction, or even if you do stupid things, you get stupid results.

One of the keys of philosophy as we present it here at the School of Philosophy is that deep down you already know what you need to know. You might therefore then ask ‘So why am I here?’—and it’s a good question. As it happens, this is probably the question that started philosophy, and was probably first asked late one night a hundred thousand or so years ago in a cave, probably when there was nothing good on television.

Philosophy really isn’t just something that’s taught in philosophy classes in universities. Philosophy is really just the love of wisdom, and the reason why we love wisdom, or should, is that it’s good for us—even better than asparagus. Unlike asparagus, philosophy allows us to answer even our greatest questions—such as ‘what am I doing here?’ and ‘What am I?’

These questions might sound theoretical, especially if they’re asked in a formal philosophy setting, and especially if they’re compared with apparently more practical questions, such as— ‘should I have tea or coffee with my scone’, or ‘or what team should I barrack for?’. Practical as those questions may seem, it’s even more practical to ask who you really are, because it’s possible that the answer will make you happier, more productive, more popular at parties, more healthy, and above all, more philosophical!

—Steve McKenzie