Studying Philosophy In 2021: How & Why This Field Has Shaped Me

Learning about ethics, metaphysics, logic and the history of philosophy has provided me with an academic experience that I know will inform and transfer into all aspects of my future life, career, relationships and outlook on the world. While I know everyone’s studies in college vary, I have always been drawn to the study of philosophy. As rare as it may be, I am happy to say that I chose a major that truly does excite me, motivate me and deepen my interest in the subject with every new discussion. Studying philosophy never fails to give me that excitement in my chest when we learn about a new philosopher and I wonder what it was like at the time they were developing their theory and how it has been or is currently applied today to social circumstances, political situations or day to day life. Political philosophy, in particular, has truly impassioned me to look at government, politics, civil liberties and human rights in a different way. 

Reading political philosophy particularly intrigues me, as so much of what we do in our day-to-day life hinges on how we interact with one another; whether we feel like it all the time or not, we are social animals. Studying philosophers like Tocqueville, Mill and Hobbes my freshman year, and even now, I feel like I am able to have a better understanding of the perspectives and dynamics in government and politics, whether it be on the scale of global, federal, state or local. It all comes down to one common denominator: relationships and interactions between people. While it may seem like a mixed-up way of viewing politics, people, their nations and their way of governing, all coalesce in some form or another to represent authors, actors and the scenes that play out amongst them. Although some of this may be more technical jargon in the words of Hobbes, the big takeaway from much of the writing in political philosophy has to do with autonomy, democracy, power and how all of these are attained, maintained and destroyed. Once one really dives into some of these texts, such as The Leviathan, Democracy In America or The Social Contract, it truly is translatable into the lives of most people living in modern society. What types of promises we make with one another, how we live in community, why we go to war or have arguments, the ways in which we solve problems and communicate with one another – this all can stem back to what philosophers were arguing and emphasizing years before most people imagine.

Not only can you learn a great deal about the world and other people from studying philosophical texts, but you can actually learn about yourself. The study of philosophy of the mind having to do with development, sensation, perception and growth can be vital in further understanding yourself, your views and why you may possess certain perspectives or viewpoints. Many philosophers who study the mind and the self, like Aristotle, Descartes and Hume to name a few, allow you to reflect on the way you think, perceive and form opinions based on informants from your environment, your development, or, possibly, to question if anything from the external world does shape your thoughts. Studying texts at my university that expand on these notions such as The Meditations or Perception: Where the Mind Begins, have given me a new perspective of how I view the world. In particular, I’ve gotten to learn about how a person’s world view shapes their thoughts, desires, goals and overall outlooks are tailored from their experiences. It sounds simple as a concept, but delving deeper into why we think the way we think and how our thoughts are shaped really opens the door to many questions about the development of the self. 

Studying philosophy, even for the seemingly short time I have, has made me see the world through a different lens. This lens has provided me with a deeper understanding of how relationships work, whether it be friends, family or partners, and how people approach these relationships. Strangely enough, I learned the most about relationships and the way we interact with one another in my philosophy of law class where we focused on contracts and promises. This lens has provided me with both questions I don’t know how to begin answering and answers that I continuously question when it comes to the self, the mind and the world. But, for me, that’s the point. It has made me realize that we don’t set out in life to have all of our questions answered or be able to have an eloquent response to every queery presented to us. Rather, life is meant to be a continuous pursuit of growth.