Thoughts on Philosophy
My theory about philosophy, or the act of philosophizing itself, is that whatever someone thinks about their existence or how they perceive their life to be, that becomes their own philosophy. Their philosophy is completely valid because it is always going to be subjective and based on the individual’s experience of how things are. There can never be an objective philosophy because no single experience can be validated as objectively true from the perspective of every other being. Philosophy is not about truth; it is about lived experience. In academic settings, we may study noteworthy philosophies that were written by significant figures throughout history, who have become known as classical philosophers; however, just because we study what they have written about their lives doesn’t invalidate what we think about our own.
During the period in which many classical philosophers existed, many of these individuals were of such a class that they had the free time (e.g., often due to class privilege or slavery), the education (e.g., how to read and write), and the resources (e.g., something to write with and upon), which allowed them to immortalize their thoughts beyond their own lifetime. When we study classical philosophy, we are just studying writing that survived, and some of that writing still resonates with people to this day (which is pretty cool), but I would love to hear the perspectives of the less privileged from that same time period and learn about their unique experiences which never had the opportunity to be passed down.
One of my favourite philosophers was a French lord by the name of Michel De Montaigne, who was apparently the creator of the modern essay format and became noteworthy for his philosophizing through his extensive collection of writing which he wrote for himself. He didn’t write with the intent of his writing becoming a work of philosophical renown, but he is now studied as a philosopher because he kept a very detailed collection of his own thoughts. Montaigne stated in his own book that he wanted to describe himself with “utter frankness and honesty”, his motto was “what do I know?”, and he had disdain for the human pursuit of lasting fame. I find this last thought hilarious because I wonder if he would be mortified to know that I am reading and writing about him 500 years later as if he is some sort of hero of mine, but that’s how philosophy works. Montaigne’s writing makes me feel something so that alone validates his perception of human experience as well as my own — we both felt something similar.
This is why I write down my thoughts, as a way to immortalize my own philosophy in the hopes that someday someone might find value in my words. I don’t think that what I am writing is profound by any means, but maybe something I write will help someone think about the world a little differently and that would be more than I could ask for.
