Day 20

When people ask me what I can do with philosophy. I say “nothing”.

Do I actually believe that? No, but I know that the answer I give will not answer their question in a satisfactory way.  They want a job title and I can’t give it to them.

My mom tells me that I should major in something else. Because after college, “what are you going to use philosophy for?” I tell her that I will use philosophy every day of my life. And I will. I already am.

Studying philosophy is like tearing the world apart.  But it is also finding a way to glue it back together.  

It is starting out with a piece of paper written on in black ink, and ripping it to shreds. It is staring at that black and white pile that used to be the world and finding something that will hold it all together. It is recognizing that even though so many people still have a spotless sheet of black and white paper, your mutilated, lopsided, quilt of a piece, is much more preferable.  That’s what I love about it.

When I read the following passage Heidegger wrote about what philosophy can do, it was like my heart sighed and let out all the air I didn't even realize I was holding inside of me. And I thought, “This is beautiful.”  

 “It is absolutely correct and proper to say that “You can’t do anything with philosophy.” It is only wrong to suppose that this is the last word on philosophy. For the rejoinder imposes itself; granted that we cannot do anything with philosophy, might not philosophy, if we concern ourselves with it, do something with us? So much for what philosophy is not.”

I don’t know what I’m going to do after I graduate. Some empathetic individuals tell me, “You still have three years left to figure it out.” And that’s nice, but I recognize the possibility that I may still not know what to do with my life. And I am fully aware of the fact that philosophy is not going to directly get me a job upon graduation. But I’m fine with that. Because I know that whatever I do end up doing, or whatever situation I am thrown into, I will be perfectly capable of handling myself.

So that's how I view that.