I love philosophy. It’s incredibly important to me to think carefully about what I believe, why I believe it, and how my beliefs should influence my actions. And it’s hard not to think that these are incredibly important tasks for every human on the planet! Tasks that all too often we don’t make adequate time for, which can leave us pulled along by the prevailing philosophies of the day, rather than shaping our own ideas about how we’d like the world to look.
Hence this project: to write essays related to current events that clarify my own personal philosophies, influence the philosophy of readers, and promote behavior consistent with those philosophies. I want to make philosophy feel as applicable to everyday life as possible.
Now, I’m a musician, and I have no philosophy credential, which almost crushed this project before it began, but thankfully my room mate and cousin-in-law Emily came to the rescue. With a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and a strong desire to write similarly focused essays, Emily came on board to edit and offer feedback on my pieces, and to publish her own writing on my website.
We won’t be focused on explaining a history of philosophy or specific philosophies as much as we will be focused on applying our own personal philosophies to the world around us. We will look at the decisions of political leaders and write about how their choices align with or break from the philosophy we’d like to see our leaders practice. We will look at how stories about actors, athletes, and musicians are portrayed in the media and write about how consistent this portrayal is with what we believe.
We also recognize that we’re not doing something incredibly unique, we simply want to add our voices to the growing number of writers and thinkers who are trying to elevate the importance of philosophy in every day life. If you’re interested in what other people are doing, check out this very accessible Crash Course video or this excellent piece from The Medium that provides a nuanced way of thinking about artists and their misdeeds: So Your Heroes Have Turned Out to be Monsters.
Enjoy the reading, and please offer your thoughts by leaving comments.