Philosophy—A Waste of Time?
A lot of smart people claim that philosophy is a waste of time. Stephen Hawking claims that philosophy is dead. And no doubt there are obscure highly abstract corners of the world of philosophy that are arguably mental masturbation with little in the way of valuable application.
This misses the point.
Philosophy is not in the class of things to which we can appraise the value of time and mental effort expended in their pursuit, concluding that they are valuable or a “waste”. Philosophy is inextricably intertwined in every valuation we make. Ironically, you have to do philosophy to appraise it. Calling philosophy a waste is like saying, “Words are meaningless.” The very assertion undermines itself.
We can’t not do philosophy.
You do philosophy a little bit in almost every decision you make and every conclusion you draw. Every time you determine that something is “good”, “bad”, “right”, “wrong”, “valuable”, “worthless”, “virtuous”, “evil”, “true”, or “untrue” you are doing philosophy. You do philosophy virtually continuously in every waking moment.
Every assertion of value begs the question “why?” If your philosophy is sound, you will be prepared to answer that question. But if you are not prepared to answer then you cling to a philosophy that you cannot defend.
Typically those who dismiss “philosophy” as a “waste of time” are those who are are happy with their particular philosophy and do not wish to expend the mental energy contending with scrutiny.
It’s not a question of the value of philosophy. It’s a question of the value of your philosophy.
My philosophy is this: Stephen Hawking was not referring to philosophy in the way you are referring to it. You are talking about philosophy in the broadest way there is. You are saying that everything is philosophy, which, technically, it is. But Stephen Hawking is saying that focused philosophy is dead, the type of philosophy that was carried out in earlier times. There are currently very few “Philosophers” whom actually are philosophers (that’s their job). I think thats what Stephen Hawking was trying to say. Thats my philosophy
this philosophy is a waste of time writing this.
A waste of time, eh? Well let’s not waste time philosophizing, but I have to ask: what makes a thing a waste of time? Perhaps theoretical physics will tell us?
Stephen Hawking is idolized by a class of people who see the scientist as the sage of the modern age. These types pat each other on the back for being too smart, too skeptical, and too “scientific” to fall for religion, mysticism, and superstition. Yet they embrace passionate ethical and aesthetic persuasions and principles that they present to the world as real, true, and objective. They have absolutely no skepticism whatsoever with regard to the validity of these components that are core to their person.
This absence of skepticism demonstrates—not a lack of philosophy—but very bad philosophy.
I get that science has progressed to the point that some fields of inquiry that were once relegated to philosophical deliberation have graduated to the level of real observable phenomena. But the most science can do is discover and describe causality. That discovery can never validate an assertion of universal principle such as “that behavior is wrong” or “that behavior is just”. Yet these worshippers of science and skepticism never bother to question themselves on these matters.
Either Hawking is incredibly narrow-minded in actually believing that “philosophy is dead”, or his meaning is unclear and irresponsible; many of his admirers are already inclined to dismiss philosophy as a “waste of time” because science is so much more interesting, and frankly much less threatening. Hawking’s assertion will be sufficient to persuade many “scientific, atheist, and skeptical” types to cling to their unsubstantiated philosophical positions uncritically, while they hypocritically ridicule the religious and the superstitious for their unsubstantiated positions.
Hawking’s statement only serves to discourage critical inquiry.