In Defense of Philosophy

Julianna Gassler '25 doing philosophy homework. Souce: Lily Jandrisevits '25.

I, among many others, have heard the complaints surrounding Marist’s required Philosophical Perspectives class as part of its liberal arts curriculum: it’s “boring” or “makes no sense.” There are often collective sighs throughout a room as a Kant reading is assigned, or unengaged students are convinced to volunteer. The class seems to operate at its best when students find the course at least a little interesting though, because more informed examinations of different texts and discussions of ideas can occur. 

As someone who added philosophy as a double major, I clearly found something of interest within the subject. However, I am in the minority. Most students seem to find the introduction to philosophy as tangentially interesting at best. Not the absolute worst thing to endure, but definitely not a class to take again. 

Marianne Lombardo ‘25, a major in math education, is currently taking Philosophical Perspectives. She finds that the class doesn’t really align with the material within her major. Still, “it’s a good discussion class to get students' minds thinking,” Lombardo said. 

This ambivalence seems to be the general sentiment of many students, placing an emphasis on  the value of skills the class teaches rather than any value within the topic itself. Even as a major or minor, philosophy is often added as an after-thought to complement other disciplines and strengthen other career prospects. But, I see value in the class and major itself. 

A common appeal philosophy professors use to engage students is that learning the subject will help improve their writing, reading or critical thinking skills. While I have first-hand experience proving that those statements are all true, philosophy is a unique study that goes beyond that and should be treated as such. 

On the page for the philosophy major of Marist’s website, it mentions the fact that the word philosophy is derived “from the Greek words philos (love) and sophia (theoretical wisdom).” This definition depicts philosophy as exploratory in its nature, seeking to ask the big, unanswerable questions. Due to the vast amount of information, students may find the reading and writing that accompany it off-putting. In addition, they may struggle with the notion that there are often not clear answers and sometimes the exploration of questions themselves are enough. By seeking to even ask questions that would be otherwise unconsidered, new possibilities emerge that lead to a living an examined life. This is the importance of philosophy. 

The thinking process involved with philosophy also allows for an advocacy of failure. In philosophy, there are often absolute statements made that are later disproved by other philosophers, or even by the same philosopher as their work expands. It is a constantly developing subject that does not necessarily lead to one answer but the exploration of many. This ever-changing information prompts students to have a malleable mindset through which they can analyze some of life’s existential problems. Without this required class at Marist, many students wouldn’t dare to take a philosophy class, despite the benefits it poses for your personal and educational growth.

There is something incredibly satisfying about the ability to give an informed philosophical opinion that you can then completely refute given another text. This growing love of wisdom and the confrontation of new perspectives is a strength in itself. I know that I cannot convince someone that hates philosophy to suddenly like it, but I think that there are often preconceived notions of it as only dealing with impossible abstracts. Putting this aside to instead look at the aspirational aspects of the field reveal it as something beyond a boring required class, as something extremely valuable to one’s education and development of thought. So as registration begins, if you find yourself dreading philosophy class or even considering taking another, I not only advocate for the subject but that you should wholeheartedly take part in the experience – mistakes and all.