Where Have all the Philosophers Gone?

Published April 1, 2008

By Dave Glace

Where have all the philosophers gone—the thinkers who seek their pleasure in life not from hedonism or consumerism, but from the attainment of higher knowledge? In our generation especially, these types of people, the Socrates, the Descartes, the Nietzsches, the Freuds, are missing.

Why is that? Are we simply too lazy, apathetic towards learning, yet putting thoughtful deliberation into pop culture and trivial matters? Or is there now a mindset that considers those matters of higher truths as too high and unreachable, a “not for me” mentality?

“The Age of Information” is this current era of our civilization. Yet with all the knowledge available, much of it sits in waste, stagnant and without contribution to the world. Its potential is never achieved, only forgotten and replaced by frivolity of unimportant measures. Admittedly, it is a difficult struggle. Without any instant gratification thoughts can infect the mind and ask, “What is the point?”

And what is the point? Are we just the species Homo sapiens, or are we a higher order of beings, with the ability to be truly enlightened and freed from the bondage of Plato’s cave? Well, there is no correct answer, only speculation, but it is speculation that matters, that make those “free thinkers” who they are.

We attend this university, and most of us take out loans or use up our parents’ savings to attend, but what is the true aim of our graduation? Most would answer, “to get a good job,” and how right that is. But a piece of paper cannot make a person any better intellectually. A person in poverty could get a better education at the free library— the only difference is that we, the college-kids, have paid well for a slip of paper that tells that we are, in fact, knowledgeable. But what I see far too often, with myself as no exception, is working to get the grade and the acceptable GPA in place of actually comprehending the subject matter. Not doing homework, winging exams, and putting more effort into losing brain cells than into strengthening them is the nature of college life for many nowadays. I
realize the generalizations and cynical nature of this argument, and don’t take it as a personal attack. It is not meant to blame any one person, but to highlight a cultural phenomenon of loss.

The technology of communications has such potential for wider connections to be made, and they are being made. At the same time they are being exploited for petty matters and we’re losing our individuality. We’re becoming components of a system, mere gears in a machine.

So I implore you to ask those deeper questions and follow them as far as they will guide you.

Do not dismiss a pursuit due to its difficult nature or the lack of instant gratification. Do dismiss the truly worthless pursuits, for those are the ones most easily forgotten.

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