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The Counterproductive Love of Wisdom
Why bother philosophizing?
What’s the point of thinking deeply, or “philosophizing,” to use the label that’s become pretentious?
Why bother disciplining yourself to think critically and skeptically, to question all assumptions, including the conventions that hold society together? Isn’t it possible to have too much knowledge for your good, to overanalyze life and spoil the innocence and faith that enable you to be happy in a compromised civilization?
Happiness and the history of Western philosophy
In the Western tradition that goes back to ancient Greece, philosophy is the love of wisdom, and wisdom was typically deemed the instrumental knowledge of how to be happy. Socrates argued that knowledge is needed for happiness, and that the ignorant ones who don’t know themselves are bound to be afflicted by their vices. Philosophy disciplines the character, as the wise know how to moderate their conduct and avoid foolish extremes.
This was contrary to common sense since the gurus who questioned everything, such as the Cynics or Indian ascetics, were typically pariahs. They ostracized themselves by abandoning their social duties and seeking liberation from the so-called illusions everyone else took for granted. Ascetics might live as…
