Through the course of history, many outstanding philosophers changed people’s world understanding. Such philosophers as Plato, Socrates, Kant, Freud, and others contributed to social development and explored different philosophical issues of human nature. These distinguished personalities’ works are appreciated and applied even today. People have their unique life philosophies and often discuss superficially philosophical issues during conversations. However, there are only a few people who are keen on philosophy. This number is small because philosophy is a complicated subject to explore. Moreover, there are dangerous consequences that can appear as a result of careful philosophy exploration. The change of character, social rejection, and ultimate despair can be possible negative implications of the philosophy investigation.
Critical continuous thinking and analysis of people’s behavior are the essential criteria of philosophy exploration. The person who desires to investigate this field also should be ready to read and comprehend a vast number of complicatedly written literature. Each outstanding philosopher used uniquely particular aspects of terminology and writing language (Cottingham, 2021). Therefore, it will be challenging to explore even famous philosophical concepts. The massive variety of the different philosophers’ opinions can have a significant impact on the person. This influence can be both positive and negative because it depends on personal understanding of such changes. People are highly influenced by the opinions they read and analyze; thereby, philosophy-devoted people will develop a diverse worldview (Cottingham, 2021). They also will be able to explore other people critically thanks to the gained knowledge. Even though such development can be considered a positive change, the profound knowledge, when misused, may lead to narcissistic behavior.
Moreover, people may even humiliate others due to a deep understanding of the philosophical laws. Even though the philosophy exploration also causes various positive character changes, there is a high possibility that an arrogant attitude towards others appears. These changes provoke the second reason why studying philosophy is dangerous. Most philosophers tend to question and analyze even minor details to find the truth (Cottingham, 2021). As a result, they can understand the thing other people want no one to learn about. Philosophers can be unbeneficial for others to communicate with because of the risk of being exposed. Moreover, there are concepts and life truths that people avoid learning about because they fear losing the meaning of life. People feel insecure communicating with philosophers who have a profound understanding of life’s negative and positive aspects.
People studying philosophy can be left alone in their unlimited exploration of human life. They will be hurt by the unjust attitude of other people who are scared of the truth. This process harms the mental state and can even cause mental breakdowns or even suicidal attempts. Confused by various philosophical interpretations of life, people can eventually lose meaning and feel desperate to communicate with others. The knowledge requires the profound ability to accept any horrifying truth and find the strength to live on – in much wisdom is much grief (Cottingham, 2021). Therefore, the philosophy exploration can lead to the despair caused by a clear understanding of the world’s functioning.
Studying philosophy is a fascinating and, at the time, morally complicated process. Before engaging in this field, people should explore all the possible negative implications and decide whether they are ready to cope with such consequences. Probably they will be prepared to find the solutions to the appearing problems. Thus, there are many reasons why studying philosophy is not as beneficial as it seems at first glance. Mostly, these reasons are connected with the responsibility people have to accept due to gained philosophical knowledge.
Reference
Cottingham, J. (Ed.). (2021). Social media and communication Western philosophy: An anthology (3d ed.). Paperback.