Lately we tend to believe that healthy minds are the most efficient. Those that think faster, those that regulate themselves better, those that know how to detect problems and plan strategies to solve them, those that are able to adapt well to complicated situations without succumbing to the moods related to unhappiness.

These are functions that seem more like useful features for finding work or adapting well to the productive gear and that, although they are positive, offer a somewhat limited conception of what the human brain can do. We could almost say that they are capacities that could be measured on a scale of 0 to 10 according to our ability in each of these areas, and that they give us a very flat picture of what we understand as “cognitive abilities”.

But there is a discipline that reminds us that the ability to break down patterns and mental frameworks is always there. And no, it’s not about advertising or marketing: it’s philosophy.

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Philosophy to transgress

Both philosophy and art have made powerful enemies because of the relative difficulty with which they can be “domesticated”, tied up in bundles and sold in packages. It is natural, considering that both are based on the possibility of subverting laws and going beyond pre-established thought patterns .

However, while art can be appreciated for its more or less striking aesthetic side, philosophy does not seem to have that capacity to materialize with such a spectacular result. It seems that it does not have the favourable treatment of the society of the spectacle and of viral videos on the Internet, and it is even more frequent to be found in institutes and universities.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that philosophy doesn’t matter. Here are seven reasons why philosophy enriches our way of thinking not only in our moments of reflection, but also in our daily lives.

Philosophy serves…

1. To ask ourselves what is important in life

Many people often relate the word “philosophy” to old books and abstract theories that may interest only a few. It has also been said many times that philosophy, like art, is useless. This criticism is, at the same time, evidence of why we need both: to question the criteria of what is useful and what is not. A concept of usefulness that, if it is not questioned, will be held by those who only live to produce in series.

2. To know what is known

One of the first philosophers, Socrates, made famous the phrase “I only know that I know nothing”. This is not just a paradox: one of the immediate effects of philosophy is that it makes it easier for us to recognize where the limit is between what we know and what we ignore, and at the same time allows us to combine areas of knowledge with others of ignorance . In this way we can recognize in advance aspects of reality that we do not understand and we do not “overreach” our assumptions.

3. For consistent thinking

Philosophy helps to get to the root of problems and concepts. Therefore, allows us to detect the strengths and weaknesses of a philosophical position , to be coherent in our lines of thought and to avoid theoretical contradictions. This has very palpable implications both in our way of communicating and in our way of acting, whether we are individuals or organizations.

4. To be “indies” of thought

Much of our mentality and our typical way of imagining things comes “standard” to us through the cultural context in which we are immersed. It is comfortable to let ourselves be carried away by these currents of ideology that are predominant in our country, but it is also something that makes us more manipulable. Through philosophy (and, possibly, combining it with the habit of travelling) we will be able to see to what extent many of those things that we considered to be a dogma are relative , and we gain autonomy to build our own vision of the world. An example of this is Schopenhauer, who in the middle of 19th century Europe developed a philosophical system with influences from Buddhism.

5. To better understand the story

One cannot understand history without also having understood the predominant philosophical foundations of each moment. Each period is strongly marked by the superstructure, that is, by the ideas and values prevailing at that time . From the perspective of those of us who live in the twenty-first century, many historical stages and events may be inconceivable to us. One of the causes of this estrangement from the past may be ignorance of the cultural and thought patterns of a certain historical context.

6. To better understand other societies

Similarly, if we do not know the philosophical assumptions on which other cultures are based, we will be judging them, wrongly, from the one that is ours. The result would be like imagining a caricature unflattering to what we are trying to understand .

7. To get a clearer picture of how we think

The fact that we reflect on our way of understanding life makes us have a clearer self-image to , we know ourselves better and we can easily recognize which people are more in tune with our way of thinking.