Philosophy as a Way of Life Essay

Most of us have values and principles that we depend upon to have a better life and become better individuals. We do everything that we can to be able to hold on to our values and principles, which make us to live a very busy lifestyle. We do so many things in a single day to extent that the day ends without our knowledge.

However, have we ever questioned the real values and principles that we hold? Are we living our life to the fullest? Are we dreaming in most cases in our lives? What do we know about life? Many people are not aware of the real meaning of life. We could breath and do all of our daily activities in every second of our life but it does not mean that we are alive.

Then, how can we live a meaningful life? One of the answers to this question is to live a philosophical life where we live a life that embodies truth, justice and simplicity. It is not easy to live a philosophical life as we are used to our previous ways of living, which turns out to be a habit. Thus, it requires a strong will and commitment. It is very important to know and to apply a philosophical life in our lives in order to have a divine (god-like) life and the better understanding of what life really is.

Not all of us should have the same ways of life to achieve a philosophical life, as it depends on our understandings of living a meaningful life. For instance, two philosophers (Plato and Thoreau) have different ways that they applied to achieve a philosophical life but had the same goal, which was to live a god-like life.

For Plato, living in truth and justice helped him to achieve a philosophical life. He said in the dialogue of Apology in The Trial and Death of Socrates that, “From me you will hear the whole truth, though not, by Zeus, gentlemen, expressed in embroidered and stylized phrases like theirs, for I put my trust in the justice of what I say, and let none of you expect nothing else” (P, 21; 17c).

He still said that the truth was paramount to philosophical life and believed in his philosophical life even though he knew his life was at stake. As an individual, we should know what is right or wrong and act according to what we think is the right thing to do.

Thus, living a philosophical life trough truth and justice could help us examine our life in order to gain knowledge and reflect on our mistakes as he said later in his dialogue. He argued that “On the other hand, if I say that it is the greatest good of man to discuss virtue every day and those other things about which you hear me conversing and testing myself and others, for the unexamined life is not worth living for men (P, 39; 38a).

Through knowledge, we can understand many things that we did not understand previously and correct our mistakes hence it will improve both our mentality and spirituality.

Meanwhile Thoreau, in Walden, his philosophical life is achieved through simplicity and connection to the nature. He observed that people use a very complicated method “to solve the problem of a livelihood by a formula more complicated than the problem itself” (T, 21). We are too bedazzled by the outward appearances of things that bring about values in our life.

We no longer work to live but we live to work. We also tend to change the environment rather than changing our ways and trying to adapt. By living a philosophical life, we can know that “public opinion is a weak tyrant compared with our own private opinion. What a man thinks of himself is what determines or rather indicates his fate” (T, 4).

Thoreau is trying to explain that we will realize why we have to work to fulfill things that we need and not to work to fulfill what we want. Thoreau also noted “there are nowadays professors of philosophy, but not philosophers. To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts, not even to establish a school, but so to love wisdom as to live according to it dictates a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity, and trust” (T, 9).

These elements are needed in our lives to solve problems that we face in life. Thus, real life practice is equally important as philosophical theory in order to understand better what life really is. “Every man is tasked to make his life, even in its details, worthy of contemplation of his most elevated and critical hour” (T, 59), which means we have to be awake and conscious in every aspect of our lives in order to acquire guidance on how we should live our lives in a good way.

There are always obstacles that we have to face when we try to implement philosophical life in our lives. There are always distractions that keep following us whenever we want to give ourselves a chance to live a better life. Greediness is one example that Thoreau used as an example. He agrees that we “shall not buy greedily, but go round and round it as long as [we] live, and be buried in it first, that it may please [us] the more at last” (T, 55).

It is also important not to be distracted by the satisfaction that the body brings, which could lead to addiction. Thoreau said, “Every man is the builder of a temple, called a body, to the god he worships, after a style purely his neither own, nor can he get off by hammering marble instead” (T, 144).

Once we focus on the soul (worships to god), we can achieve wisdom without being distracted by others or even by the satisfaction of ourselves due to the body demands. Another obstacle that we face is the lack of motivation to improve our lives. When living a philosophical life, it is advisable never to forget that “it is never too late to give up our prejudices” (T, 5).

It is never too late for us to change our bad habits and we should not be afraid to make a change in our lives in order to become better human beings. Just like what Kurt Hoelting did to his life when he realized how dependent he was to his cars, he decided to “go car-free” (K, 4) and go walking, bicycling, and use public transport for the whole year.

At first, he really wanted to give up but with his strong dedication to the commitment he had made, he even planned to “cover 130 miles in ten days, hiking north through the deltas …. circle back onto the north end of Whidbey Island to walk … creating a continuous estuary of enormous ecological richness” (K, 5). He showed an example of a real philosophical life where many of his actions could give us encouragement to be more motivated to change our lives and to care more about our surroundings.

We should not depend on luxury materials but try to live full of simplicity by doing similar philosophical experiments as Hoelting did. For example, using the bus to go to school instead of using a car, reducing the technology usage such as smart phones, internet, TV, cooking our own food from scratch would be a good example of living a philosophical life. From all of these philosophical experiments, we could get a very meaningful lesson of what life is all about.

Knowing the fact of living a philosophical life is not an easy thing to do. With some of the obstacles mentioned above, there are some ways to help us continue living a philosophical life. First, we would live a philosophical life by acknowledging the fact that we do not know everything, as we are not knowledgeable enough to know all things in the world.

This is similar to what Socrates did since he did not fear death because he did not know what kind of life would follow death or even what death was. On Socrates’ view about death, he said, “to fear death, gentlemen, is no other than to think oneself wise when one is not, to think one knows what one does not know.

No one knows whether death may not be the greatest of all blessings for a man, yet men fear it as if they knew that it is the greatest of evils” (P, 32; 29a). Socrates succeeded in living a philosophical life, by choosing death rather than to live without the purpose of life. Just like what Thoreau said, “I would say to my fellows, once for all, as long as possible live free and uncommitted.

It makes but little difference whether you are committed to a farm or the county jail” (T, 55). Socrates was doing what Thoreau suggested, as he did not want to live without the purpose of life, which was similar to being committed to a county jail.

The second thing that can help us to live a philosophical life is to know the purpose of our life. The most valuable thing that an individual should think about is benefit of living a philosophical life. This would be achieved by asking oneself the importance of living according to one’s principles and values.

Are things that you do likely to help in achieving your goal of life? Two examples that best illustrate these elements are when Thoreau said ‘in proportion as an individual simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude, nor poverty would be poverty, nor weakness would be a weakness” (T, 209). This would also be proved when Hoelting said, “To be human is to swim in a sea of intertwined beauty and loss.

Yet the losses we now contemplate are of a different order of magnitude, beyond the imagining of any former generation of human beings” (K, 248). Both philosophers here are trying to convince us that through living a philosophical life associated with strong dedication, motivation, rationality, and simplicity can help us to achieve our goals.

Implementing philosophical life in our lives is very crucial for us in case we are to live a significant life. Life is a complex concept that cannot be understood through simple explanations. It calls for deeper explanation for which Plato, Thoreau, and Hoelting gave examples on how they implemented philosophical life, as one way to become a better individual.

They used different methods in leading their philosophical lives, but they had the same goal, which was to have a heavenly life. There are always complications in life that could make us desperate to continue living a philosophical life. However, these complications could make individuals to be stronger and acknowledgeable to the significance that life has to offer both spiritually and mentality.

Nevertheless, philosophical life is not an action that is impossible to accomplish because through having strong devotion, purpose, wisdom, and being awake will help an individual to become a better person and achieve the best.

Bibliography

Henry David Thoreau, Walden, or Life in the Woods (Dover, 1995). Cited in text as T, 4, 5, 9, 21, 55, 59, 144, and 209.

Kurt Hoelting, The Circumference of Home: One Man’s Yearlong Quest for a Radically Local Life, (Da Capo Press, 2010). Cited in text as K, 4, 5, and 248.

Plato, The Trial and Death of Socrates, tr. G.M.A. Grube (Hackett Publishing: 2001). Cited in text as P, 21;17c, 39;38a, and 32;29a.