CHAPTERI

:THENATUREOFPHILOSOPHY
CRITI
CALANALYSI
S

I
nstruct
ion:
Ki
ndl
ymakeacr it
icalanal
ysi
soutoft hearti
cleshar
edbelow.Submityouranswert
othe
Googleformlink:ht
tps:
//f
orms.gl
e/K996t
4DKz4kfdHSG6.Deadli
neofsubmissi
onisonJanuary23,
2022,Sunday.

WhyYouShoul dCar
eAboutPhi l
osophy:JonnyThomsonI nt
ervi
ew
Ref
:JackMadenByJackMaden,Mar ch2021,https:
//phi
l
osophybr
eak.
com/
art
icl
es/
why
-you-
shoul
d-
car
e-about
-phi
l
osophy-
jonny
-thomson-i
nter
view/

“Ther
e’sagreatpleasur
eandpoweri
nfi
ndi
ngat
houghtori
deaexpr
essedsoper
fect
lyi
t
coul
dberi
ppedfr
om yourownsoul.
”

JonnyThomsont eachesphil
osophyinOxf
ordi
ntheUK,andrunsthepopul
arInst
agr
am page,
MiniPhil
osophy ,
inwhichheintr
oducesfoll
owerst
oawholerangeofphi
losophi
cali
deasthr
oughfun,
bi
te-
size,thought-
prov
okingposts.

Wecaughtupwit
hJonnyaboutwhyhethi
nksphi
l
osophymatter
stoday
,andpi
ckedhi
sbr
ain
abouthi
stopt
hreebookr
ecommendati
onsfort
hosel
ooki
ngtogeti
ntothesubj
ect
.

What
’st
hedef
ini
ti
onofphi
losophy
,fr
om y
ourper
spect
ive?

Recent l
y ,
I’
vecomet oseebeingphilosophicalmucht hesameasbei ngcurious.Infact,
Ithink
“curi
osit
y”isamuchbet termoderntermf orphi l
osophyt hanthecl assi
c“ lov
eofwi sdom”l i
neweget
from it
set ymol ogy.I
t’
sonl yi
nthel astfew centuri
est hatwe’ vecomet oseephi l
osophyasbei ng
some di scipli
ne ofits own.Science wasonce “ naturalphilosophy ”,and allthe greatestear l
y
phil
osopher swer easwel lknownfort hei
rbiology,psychology,history,poli
ti
cs,andsoon. .
.ast hey
werefort heirphil
osophy.So,t
obecur i
ousseemsagoodwayt oex plai
nt hephi
losophicalmind.

MaryMi dgl
eyhadagr eatstoryaboutt hi
s.Shesay sthat,gr
owi
ngup,therewasonepar ti
cular
manwhoev eryonerefer
redtoasbei ng“philosophical
”.Shewonderedwhatt hewor dmeant,and
l
ear
nedbyanoddexampl e.Thisphilosophicalmani satwor koneday,whenanel mtreeiscaughtby
t
hewi nd,buffet
edt hi
swayandt hat.It’
sclearlygoingtotopple.Whatmakestheman“ phi
l
osophical”
,
i
sthathej ustcan’tgobackt owor k.Hecan’ tdoany thi
ngelse.Hesimpl
yhast ofindoutwhichway
t
hetreewi l
lfall
down.Andsohesi t
s, ent
ranced, wait
ingtofi
ndoutwhatwill
happen.

Thatcuri
osit
y.Thatsenseofwanti
ngtoknow,justfort
hesakeofi
t.That
’swhatIt
hink
phi
l
osophyis.Yes,
it’
spret
tybr
oad,butt
hat
’sphi
l
osophyf
oryou.

Whatf
ir
stspar
kedy
ouri
nter
esti
nphi
losophy
?

Myparent
sandagoodt eacher
.Bothmyparent
sarepsychologist
s,andthey
’rebothhugel
y
wi
sepeople.Mydadtaughtmehowt otr
uly
,pr
oper
ly,
joy
ful
l
ylovereading,whil
stmymum t aughtme
t
hataski
ngquesti
onsisaboutasfunasli
fecanget
.

Butitwasani nspi
rat
ionalt
eacheratschoolwhot
aughtmei nexactl
ytheri
ghtway ,atexactl
y
t
herightti
me,whoshowedhowgr eatphil
osophycanbe.Isuspect
,inhindsi
ght,myf i
rstfor
aysinto
r
eadi
ng“ proper”phi
l
osophy( thepri
marysourcekind)wer
eonl ytoimpressthatteacher.But,once
y
ou’r
ein,you’r
ein.

It
hinkt
eacher
shav
eincr
edi
blepower
.Forgoodandf
orbad.

1
 Whydoy
out
hinkl
ear
ningaboutphi
losophyi
simpor
tantt
oday
?

Forsome peopl e,It hink there areli

fe-
changing,transformati
vetrut
hs to be found in
phil
osophy.Therearecertainissuesandpr oblemsthatcomewi thjustbei
ngahuman, andwheny ou
fi
ndsomeonef rom anent i
relydif
ferentcentur
yorcontinenttr
yingt osolv
ethoseproblems,It
hinkit’
s
bothreassur
ingandtherapeut i
c.It
’snicetoknowsome14thcent urymonkwast er
ri
fiedofdeath,t
oo.

There’
sagr eatpl
easur
eandpoweri
nfi
ndi
ngat
houghtori
deaexpr
essedsoper
fect
lyi
tcoul
d
ber
ippedfrom yourownsoul.

Personal
ly,Ineverfindmy sel
fstayi
nglongenoughwi thoneparti
cularphil
osophert ofi
ndthe
answer,butIknow somepeopl ehav e,andmanypeopl ewill
.There’
sagr eatpleasureandpoweri n
fi
ndingat houghtori deaexpr essedsoper fect
lyitcouldberippedfrom yourownsoul .Andyet,I
’
m
muchmor eofaphi losophicalmagpi e.I
’l
lagreewithMont ai
gneaboutthisandNi etzscheaboutthat.
It
’sDescartesinthemor ning,andLaoTz uatnight.I
’l
lrecommendAr i
stot
letosomef ri
ends,andthen
Kier
kegaardtoother s.Butthet r
uthisthatthey’
realli
mpor t
ant.

So,havi
ngnotanswer edthequest i
onatal
l,Icangivethemostf rust
rati
nglysl
ipper
yanswer
ther
eis—y ou’
vegottotrydoi
ngphi l
osophytoseewhatitcangi v
ey ou.I
t’
sapr ocess,
anadv ent
ure,a
ther
apy,anex plor
ati
on,andaj ourney.You’l
lfi
ndsomegr eatthingsalongtheway ,andsomeut t
er
bil
ge,butthegoldthaty
ouf i
ndwillmakey ouwanttodivestr
aightbackin.

It
hinkt
hat
’squi
teenoughmi
xedmet
aphor
s.

Whatwoul
dbey
ourr
esponset
osomeonewhodi
smi
ssesphi
losophyasbor
ing,out
dat
ed,
oruni
mport
ant?

Tobehonest
,I’
dhavet
osay,
“fairenough”
.Somet
imes,
phi
l
osophycanbebor
ing,
out
dat
edor
uni
mpor
tant
.I’
ver
eadstuf
fwhi
chi
sallthree.

But—t
her
e’sabi
gcav
eatt
othat
.

Eachofthosewordsismassivelycont
extsensiti
ve.Whatisbori
ngtoyounowmi ghtnotbei
n
teny
ears’ t
ime.Whatseemsout dated,hasdepthsoftruthwheny oucomebackt oi
tlat
er.Andmost
ofal
l,whatseemsi nconsequent
ialtoyoui nanearl
ierpartofli
fe,wil
lsuddenl
yseem magnifi
cent
ly
i
mpor t
antlateron.

Icamet oproperlyreadSimonedeBeauv oir

,fori
nstance,onl
yinthel astfewy ears.Ireadher
oncewhenIwasi nschool ,andcoul dn’
tgetonboardwithit.Now,she’smyav ouri
tephilosopherto
read.Ithi
nkit’
sacombi nationofmyknowi ngmoreaboutphilosophy,butalsoseeingmor eofl i
fe,t
o
appreci
atewhatshe’ stalkingabout.Ithi
nkthesamei strueforauthorslikeDost oyevkyorTol stoy.
They’r
ediffer
entexperiencesasy ougetolder
.I’
vecomet oappr eci
atetheGr eeksmuchmor e,too.
Theyreall
ydidsayitallfir
st, andt
heydidsobett
erthanalotofimitat
orsthatcameaf ter
.

So,
myresponseisbasical
lytosay“y
ep,sometimesphil
osophy,asanythi
ng,canfeel
li
kethat
.
Butcomebacktoi
tinamont h,year,
tenyear
s,whatev
er,andgiv
eitanothergo”.Igener
all
yhavefai
th
thatmostofwhat’
sconsideredtobea“ cl
assi
c”or“ geni
us”issof orar eason,butIdon’tt
hink
every
onedi
scov
ersthatatt
hesamet i
me.

Whatar
ethe t
op 3 booksy
ou r
ecommend f
orpeopl
ebegi
nni
ng t
o geti
nter
est
ed i
n
phi
losophy
?

I
’
dt r
yt orecommendt hreetypesofbook.Fi r
stl
y,onebookt oeasey ouin(forme,t hatwas
NigelWar bur
ton’sALi t
tl
eHi storyofPhi l
osophy,whichIbi
ngedinadayort wo) .Next
,onebookt oget
youex cit
ed(forme, thi
sisNi etzsche.ReadBey ondGoodandEv ilorGenealogyofMor alsfi
rst,It
hink)
.
Final
ly
, oneclassi
ct hatdef
inedt hesubj ect(t
hishastobePlato’
sRepublic.It
’sdense,it
’shard,but,by
heck,i
t ’
sprett
ymuchcov ertocov ergol
d) .

2
 And,
ofcour
se,
youhav
eanewbookcomi
ngsoon…t
ell
usaboutt
hat
.

Yes,t
heshamel esspl ugbit
!Well,t
hei deabehi
ndtheMi niPhilosophyI
nst agram pagehas
alwaysbeent otrytointroducephi l
osophi
calideasinanunt hr
eateni
ngandaccessi bleway .AsI
mentionedabove,Ibel
ievethej oyandimportanceofphil
osophycomesi nunear
thingthoseideasor
thi
nkerswhospeakdi rectlytoy ou.Asi ft
hey’reinyourhead,explor
ingandex plai
ningideasyou
alwayshadbutnevercouldex pressyour
self
.

So,MiniPhi
losophythebooki
sabi tl
ikeaninvi
tati
ontolookatthehugebr
eadt
hoft
hese
i
deasandthentodiv
emor ei
ntot
hem i
fyouchoose.Aphi
losophi
calt
ast
ingmenu..
.

Imakesuretogiveever
yphi l
osopheranideaasfairahear
ingaspossibl
e.Ihat
etheideaof
misrepresent
ingormakingastr
awmanofany thi
ng.So,t
hebookis,asmuchascanber easonabl
y
expected,an explor
ati
on ofthinkers’ideas as t
hey actual
l
y were,and notas they’
re oft
en
di
singenuouslycr
it
ici
zedormi
sunder stood.

Final
l
y ,i
t’
sjustreall
yf un.I
t’
spackedwithevery
dayex ampl
es,pret
tyawf ulj
okes,andmor e
t
hanafew fl
ippantsidecomment s.It
’smeantt
obeeasi l
yread.It
’smeantt omakey ousmi l
e.It
’s
meantt
ohavey ousay ,
“oh,that’
sprett
ycool
”asmuchas“ that’
ssotrue!
”.I
fitdoeswhatIwanti tt
o,
i
t’
ll
beagentl
eandr eadableguideintosomepret
tyf
ullonphil
osophy.

THANKYOU!