I received a birthday e-card from one of my best friends today. In the place of words mentioning anything about birthdays, turning a quarter of a century old -- even mentioning that it's my golden birthday (25 on the 25th) were an image and a quip. The image was the classic image of Nietzsche, a droll countenance frozen in time with bad hair and the background were the flames of Hell. The word bubble above Nietzsche read, "Question: How do you get a philosopher off your porch? --- Pay for your pizza." I laughed. Then I remembered how un-fun being unemployed is...then I remembered how determined I was in undergrad to make philosophy work for me...then I remembered that I like the arts and writing...then I got punched in the face by the current economy and world sentiment about the arts and (dare I say it) people who enjoy philosophical thought and conversations.
It reminded me of a recent conversation I've had with a student of pyschology. This person argued to me that philosophy is meaningless -- even stated that he didn't need to know the connections among technology (science) and philosophy or politcs and philosophy -- even medicine and philosophy were unrelated he argued. This individual went so far as to say that he didn't want to read the philosophers or essays I suggested, that he wanted to remain ignorant to my point. I was accussed of name dropping (in my defence for the sake of a point I was continually cut off from making) and studying something irrelevant. However, I wonder why it is irrelevant. I wonder if most people realize that the decisions of politicians are influenced by a history of philosophy, that the problems we face with technology have been predicted by many philosophers, that even an argument for the arts to be kept in schools in a period of financial hardship is rooted in philosophy. The point is, that I was disappointed that an educated individual argued that there is no place in this world for philosophy and further, that science has taken over and filled that space.
But doesn't science take root in philosophy? How, then, is it possible for it to have completely replaced its relevancy? Do they still not work to inform the other? Is science going to fix the problems and catches of technology that it creates or will there again be a call to the students of philosophy -- to those who are interested in the place where subjects and concepts interesect?
Perhaps "philosophy" and the terminology carried within the study of it are outdated and pretentious to a society so taken with brevity. I wonder if that was this gentleman's point. Perhaps time (referring to the limitations in days broken into 24 hours) passes without a thought to the struggles of philosophy -- passes without a notion to those seeking something deeper than the cures of medicine for instance. Perhaps philosophy looks at what happens next, the ramifications, the larger connections of these limits, these creations of science and technology.
Perhaps we live in a time in which people are too lazy to think. It's easier to move through the day without thinking about the impact of our thoughts and interactions with the world. That is the problem we live in. It has, in my experience, become combative. I am criticized for "thinking too much", or am often told by others that they just "aren't that deep." I think the truth hides behind these short words people say to move onto the next thing in the schedule of time. Perhaps we're are too afraid to face ourselves.
I miss studying philosophy in a classroom. It was easy to scrutinize the world and the history of thought patterns through texts and through case-studies of some real world event. It is harsher and more relevant when this absence strikes closer to the self. I am constantly learning. I will never know enough -- never even know enough to make sense of my current circumstance...
...Today is my birthday. I am unemployed. I am poverty. I am without a car or a cell phone or a working laptop. I have become the other. I find myself too depressed to even read, to sit outside and enjoy summer's sunlight. I am left with these thoughts. With this ever-growing melencholia. I am a small sample of a larger issue. And I am left analyzing what more I can do to rectify these circumstances, this current state of affairs armed with a degree many people unfortunatly find laughable. Four years ago, today, I was filled with hope as my final year of college began . Four years later, today, I am left sifting through pieces, posting thoughts. Something in this puzzle is missing. Somewhere is the piece that fits.
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