On the Benefits of Philosophy

Throughout our lives we've all been exposed to various philosophers and the philosophies they’ve constructed.

You've seen or heard these figures quoted by some best-selling author or in a podcast you like to listen to. You've debated the questions they pose with yourself or with others, whether you've realized it or not. Maybe you've even had to write essays showing you understood their concepts in school.

It's easy to get the idea that philosophy is largely an abstract and conceptual endeavor in which we study theories that try to explain the way the universe, morality, or language works then argue about it until we either prove those we disagree with wrong, or, at the very least, reach a smug sense of self-clarity.

But is that all there is to philosophy, or does it have anything more to offer us? And if it does, then how so?

For this first meeting, I'd like us to have the opportunity to introduce ourselves as well as to reflect on our own experiences of philosophy in order to gain some insight on the questions above.

Each person who wants to share their thoughts on the topic will get a few minutes, and when everyone has had their chance, we'll discuss it together.

In order to get our brains primed, I've included some resources, that though not absolutely required, could be helpful for each of us to organize our thoughts surrounding the topic:

A list of 20 questions about how philosophy impacts your life personally and how it might impact human life in general.

An article about the origin & history of the terms “philosophy” and “philosopher” (specifically, Section 4).

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After we're done with the discussion, feel free to hang out to get to know each other a little better, and please remember that while the meeting is free to attend, we'd really encourage you to spend some money to make it worthwhile for our host to allow us to come back.