How philosophy becomes a weapon in life
Yamaguchi Shu
JAPAN
Publisher: KADOKAWA
Pub Published: 28 MAY, 2018
The most significant benefit of learning philosophy is that it gives you the key to gaining in-depth insight and interpretation of what is happening. The question of “what is happening right now” is the most crucial task faced by many office workers, managers, and ordinary citizens. The thoughts left by philosophers provide insight to answer this question.
Dialectics refers to the process of thinking in which when there is an argument A and an argument B that is contrary or contradictory to it, neither side is denied and evolves into a new argument C. At this time, integration and evolution do not occur in a straight line. It takes place in a spiral.
Innovation includes the aspect that what has been taken for granted so far becomes natural. Innovation only begins with doubting common sense, which is what has been taken for granted so far.
It is to have an eye to distinguish between good common sense and common sense to be suspicious even if left alone. It is to spread knowledge on the space and time axes, that is, to acquire culture and cultivate this perspective.
Instead of unconditionally accepting the world before you, let’s consider it objectively. The lack of universality that comes to mind at that time, and there is common sense that deserves to be questioned. You must see that common sense through the lens of liberal arts.
There are four concepts: ‘People,’ ‘organization,’ ‘society,’ and ‘accident.’
“People”
It gives you a deeper insight into others and their thinking and behavior. Psychologist Alfred Adler once pointed out that “all concerns are concerns caused by human relationships.”
“Organization.”
It helps understand the behavior of humans in the group.
Few people today can live apart from the organization. Whether we want it or not, we live in some form of connection with the organization. Therefore, it is essential to learn what philosophers in the past considered about the behavior and characteristics of the organization that the organization will take.
‘‘Society.’’
It helps to understand more deeply the process of establishing society and its mechanisms.
The study of how society operates is today’s discipline called sociology, and the thinking methods left behind by many philosophers and thinkers are all very effective in providing insight into social behavior and the structure that operates behind it.
Since ancient Greece, numerous philosophers have faced the question, ‘What kind of society is ideal?’ Of course, there is still no definitive answer to that question. No, rather, it turned out that there was a big error in the ‘problem setting’ of this question in the first place. ‘Movements that pursued an ideal society’ such as Nazism, Stalinism, the Cultural Revolution, Pol Pot, and Aum Shinrikyo all met disastrous ends.
Lastly, ‘‘Thinking.’’ provides a breakthrough to consider everything deeply and sharply. The history of philosophy is itself a ‘record of a grand thought process.’
