Warning: This post is a little arcane. tl;dr
Most of us understand why science is important, even if we don’t explicitly study it ourselves.
First of all, there’s the unbelievable track record of scientific research paying off. Health. Productivity of industry and agriculture. Longevity. Well-being.
Well, that’s an argument for somebody studying science, but maybe not us ourselves.
Then there’s the scientific method itself. The basic idea:
- Theorize something true: e.g., “what if vaccines caused autism”
- Devise an experiment that will show if the theory is false: “see whether significantly more vaccinated children are on the autism spectrum”
- Perform the experiment: No Significant Difference
- Adjust the theory based on the result: “Vaccines probably don’t cause autism”
Note the “probably” in #4 and the “false” in #2. You need multiple independent reps of the experiment in order to be pretty damn sure about it. And you can never prove a theory right; you can only prove a theory wrong.
The scientific method is worth implementing in your everyday life. You have a hunch why your toilet doesn’t run? Do the experiment, observe the result, rinse and repeat.
You have a hard time finding stable relationships? Why might that be so? Try an experiment to see. Rinse and repeat.
So science has some legs, both for all of us and for each of us.
What about philosophy? Isn’t that just a bunch of people asking, “how do I know if reality is real”?
Well, yes and no.
Philosophy is a bunch of people sitting around asking dumb, obvious-sounding questions. But it isn’t just a bunch of people asking dumb questions.
It’s cleaning the mind for better scientific theories.
Mark Twain said a ways back:
It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble.
It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so
That’s what philosophy is for, cleaning out your mind so that you don’t think you know something for sure when you should have a bit of doubt (ok, a lot of doubt).
It’s what we call a “reality check” when we do it with our feelings. But with philosophy we’re doing it with our thoughts.
Maybe another analogy is strength training for the mind.
How can you start a practice of thinking philosophically?
One easy thing to do is to ask yourself “why” 5 times about your answer to any big question.
“I have trouble with relationships because I care too much.”
“Why?”
“Because I think that love is all about both people caring more for one another than they do for themselves.”
“Why?”
“I need someone else’s validation to approve of myself.”
“Why?”
OMG. Great question.
That was only three “why’s” and it led to a true Moment of Zen.
Try it.