From: Platt Holden (pholden@sc.rr.com)
Date: Tue Feb 03 2004 - 21:05:38 GMT
Hi All:
In an speech to the graduating class of the U.S. Military Academy at West
Point on March 6, 1974, Ayn Rand addressed the question "Philosophy: Who
Needs It." You can find the text at:
http://www.tracyfineart.com/usmc/philosophy_who_needs_it.htm
The part of her address that particularly struck me when I first read it
was the following:
"You might claim-as most people do-that you have never been influenced by
philosophy. I will ask you to check that claim. Have you ever thought or
said the following? "Don't be so sure-nobody can be certain of anything.'
You got that notion from David Hume (and many, many others), even though
you might never have heard of him. Or: 'This may be good in theory, but it
doesn't work in practice.' You got that from Plato. Or: 'That was a rotten
thing to do, but it's only human, nobody is perfect in this world.' You
got it from Augustine. Or: 'It may be true for you, but it's not true for
me.' You got it from William James. Or: 'I couldn't help it. Nobody can
help anything he does.' You got it from Hegel. Or: 'I can't prove it but I
feel that it's true.' You got it from Kant. Or: 'It's evil, because it is
selfish.' You got it from Kant. Have you heard the modern activists say:
'Act first, think afterward'? They got it from John Dewey."
As for why we need philosophy, Rand says:
"You have no choice about the necessity to integrate your observations,
your experiences, your knowledge into abstract ideas, i.e., into
principles. Your only choice is whether these principles are true or
false, whether they represent your conscious, rational convictions-or a
grab bag of notions snatched at random, whose sources, validity, context
and consequences you do not know, notions which, more often than not, you
would drop like a hot potato if you knew.
"But the principles you accept (consciously or subconsciously) may clash
with or contradict one another;. they, too, have to be integrated. What
integrates them? Philosophy. A philosophic system is an integrated view of
existence. As a human being, you have no choice about the fact that you
need a philosophy. Your only choice is whether you define your philosophy
by a conscious, rational, disciplined process of thought and scrupulously
logical deliberation-or let your subconscious accumulate a junk heap of
unwarranted conclusions, false generalizations, undefined contradictions,
undigested slogans, unidentified wishes, doubts and fears, thrown together
by chance, but integrated by your subconscious into a kind of mongrel
philosophy and fused into a single solid weight: self-doubt, like a ball
and chain in the place where your mind's wings should have grown."
Not only did Pirsig give us a philosophic system--an integrated view of
existence, but by example, he gave our minds wings. Almost everyone who
posts on this site strives for greater understanding.
As Rand suggests, you can go through life like so much flotsam, shifting
with every change in fashion, depending on others to keep you afloat,
wondering why the arrow-shaped neon sign outside your window keeps
flashing "Paradise, Paradise, Paradise.". Or you can take charge of your
life and mold your own destiny by having answers to three basic questions:
Where am I? How do I know it? What should I do?
Only philosophy can answer. The MOQ answers better than most.
Platt
MOQ.ORG - http://www.moq.org
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