In today's meme, we discuss the possibility of finding philosophy outside of the greats. Does a philosophy of the daily exist? Can those outside of the academy think philosophically?

What Is Philosophy (Baby Don’t Hurt Me)?

In order to think about whether we can get philosophy outside of the university, we must first ask ourselves, as any good philosopher would: what is philosophy, anyway?

The word “philosophy” etymologically comes from the Greek “philo” (love of) and “sophia” (wisdom). Going by the name alone, philosophy is simply love of wisdom. The philosopher is curious about the world around them and has a thirst to learn more about its workings, both within and without.

Philosophy, practiced since ancient times (and frankly probably since the dawn of humanity), is a foundation for so many other studies we take for granted. The precursor to science, for instance, was called “natural philosophy,” the study of the physical world. Psychology and literary criticism also can claim roots in philosophy. Until the 19th century, subjects of study were not sectioned off the way they are now.

But what is philosophy in practice? And is there a difference between the philosophy of the academy and the philosophy of the day to day thinker? Do we engage in philosophy outside of the academy, and if so, how is it different? Is philosophy thought or action? And what is the difference?

As time progressed from the ancient years of the Greeks, philosophy continued its course, with professional philosophers from Machiavelli to Nietzsche taking on the trappings of the intellectual life. Often when we think of professional philosophers, we think of university trained people (usually men), who spend their lives studying and writing on esoteric matters.

But if philosophy is limited to those who have studied it professionally, why do other people outside of the academy ask similar questions to the classic queries of philosophy? Why do we ask about what is right, about why we are the way we are, about human nature as a whole?

If philosophy is restricted to these few, why do we continue to question the world around us?

A Human Instinct

What makes us human? A large part of our humanity is, we are inclined to believe, our desire to know about and question the world around us. We want to know why things happen, not just that they do. We wonder about fairness, about why people do things the way they do, about the meaning of our lives here.

It’s just what we do as humans. Does that make us philosophers? Well, in a sense, yes. Every time you question something instead of going along with it, every time you wonder if there can be something more to life, you are engaging in philosophy.

Philosophy involves the grand questions that people like to talk about: Why are we here? What is just? What is good? But it also involves the daily, nitpicky questions we ask ourselves and others constantly: Should I have done that? That’s weird, why is it that way? What is the point?

Being reflective and questioning are part of the joys of being human. It keeps us on our toes, engages our brains. We stay crisp and sharp, mentally. Engaging in philosophy on a small scale is good for us! A recent study even showed that those who study it are overall better thinkers.

Where Can I Get Philosophy?

We’ve pretty much decided that the act of philosophizing is not limited to professional philosophers. But can we find philosophy answers only in the works of professional philosophers? Do we have to read Being and Nothingness to find more of the answers for which we were seeking? Or can we find it in the weird little corners of our lives?

Famously, the Indigo Girls suggested that the more you search for definitive answers, the less likely you are to find them, and the unhappier you will be. Their song, “Closer to Fine,” resurfacing in recent years from its placement in the “Barbie” movie, tells us that you can go through four years of studying philosophy and still be unhappy with your life.

But haven’t we just committed an act of philosophy in listening to and thinking about this song? Did we just question our lives or think about the song’s protagonist doing so? And did we need to read Camus to do that?

While we laugh at the meme with Lil’ Jon crying, “What?!,” we can see how we might get some philosophy out of something as simple as a song from the 90s. If you start to think and question, you are most likely getting your daily dose of philosophy!

If philosophy comes down to the love of knowledge, you can find this love in some very quotidian acts. You can find it when you look at nature and admire its beauty. You can find it when you wonder why people be that way. You can find it when you wish you hadn’t lied to your partner about drinking the last soda.

Academic versus Daily Philosophy: Is There a Difference?

Is there a difference between slice of life philosophy and the philosophy of your crusty old philosophy professor? Yes and no. (Hey, it’s philosophy. Did you really think you were gonna get an easy answer?)

When you have academics like the Frankfurt School, or the 20th century analytic crowd engaging in philosophy and writing books and in academic journals, they are often asking similar questions to the daily philosopher, but many of them are engaging in an additional conversation that centers around their professional dialogue.

Consider it this way: If you were to attend a convention for lawyers, you would first of all be very bored. But secondly, you would notice how they use their own language to indicate that they are professionals of that order. They would use certain words that you, as a not-lawyer, would not find familiar, but they would discuss with ease.

This is not by any means limited to lawyers. For many professions there is a certain currency of language, or jargon, if you will, that they use to indicate their knowledge and expertise in the field. Academic philosophers are no exception. Words such as epistemology, ontology, and phenomenology are all par for the course. Using language that may be obscure for the layperson is a way of indicating the academic’s easy comfort with the subject matter.

But are these people talking about the same things that the everyday person thinks about? Again, yes and no. Fred Dretske, for instance, wrote on the existence of other people. Do other people exist? The Matrix and other pop culture references have called some of this into question, and maybe sometimes we ask if other people are real, or if we are imagining the world around us.

In his journal article, Dretske convolutes the question, while coming to the answer that it is irrelevant if others exist or not, for a lot of reasons. His twisty way of getting to this point (he is definitely not the only philosopher who has done this) may be frustrating for someone starting to read philosophy, but for his contemporaries, it would have been bread and butter language.

And indeed, part of the common difficulty in understanding thinkers like Hegel and Kant comes with this obfuscation of language. It is not done (at least not entirely) out of some inflated sense of self worth, but rather to show that the philosopher understands the conversation terms. Also, some philosophers are simply bad writers. Let’s be real.

Slice of Life Philosophy

Does this make academic philosophy any better or greater than that of the day to day? I’d like to think that it does not. While I think we could chuckle over Aristotle and Marx all day, at the end of the day, we will still be asking ourselves why our lives matter, and how we can make them more meaningful.

As someone who has studied philosophy in the academy, I think I would have to agree with the singer from the Indigo Girls. I spent four years learning about the greats from the history of philosophy, but some of the biggest insights I gained, I gained from people who entered my life in humbler ways. I learned that there is meaning to life from a conversation in a parked car with a coworker. I learned about doing the right thing from a series of elementary school teachers. I learned about why we are here by seeing those around me enrich the lives of others.

I am not saying the philosophy of the daily is any better than that of the academy (especially as a person still in the market for a Ph.D. in philosophy), but if we limit ourselves to the canon of the academy, we may be missing out on the sweet sips of philosophy that we get from simply living our lives.