Editorials

Why Philosophy is Actually Relevant

26 April 2017

By Lauren E. White

Okay, so you’ve heard of Aristotle and Plato but they lived in, like, 323 BC. BC. Before Christ was born in the stable in Bethlehem. How can something so ancient be relevant today?

The answer is to look around you.

Some philosophical ideas are indeed outdated. Aristotle thought women were inferior to men by default and Plato thought we should raise special children to be philosophers and then they should rule the state. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t entertain them. After all, Aristotle himself said that “the mark of an educated mind is to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it”.

Philosophy is relevant to today because, actually, most of the ideas aren’t outdated and are actually still followed by governments and people all around the world. Philosophy is relevant to today because in the age of alternative facts and fake news, it teaches us to be alert, to reason, to debate and, most importantly, to evaluate.

We need philosophy to move forward as a society. Philosophy is how every revolution – from the civil rights movement to the women’s liberation movement – started and how change evolves.

It’s old but gold.

Like this article? Please share!