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Phil-os-o-phy

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Good Saturday morning! Chilly but sunny out there. Let’s dive right into my inbox this morning. Color commentary provided by an amateur–me. From Hillsdale College, whose online courses I like and endorse.

Dear Ms. Bernstein,

Too often, we view the study of philosophy as a special privilege for a scholarly few—too complicated, jargon-filled, and impractical for an amateur to understand or appreciate. 

Who is this we? Certainly not I. The internet tells me that there are ~4000 universities in the United States. Let’s do a quick calculation, erring on the low end. If half these universities offer an Intro to Phil course, enrolling say, 25 students each semester, we’re talking about 50,000 students. Just to give you an idea of what the real world is like, the Philosophy Department at State offers 7-8 sections, per semester, and enrolls 40 students per section. That’s 280 students per semester year in and year out. Times 2000 universities is 560,000 students. Times two semesters/year times 10 years is over 11M students.

For fun, let’s just say I am 60 years old. In my lifetime, nearly 700,000,000 people have taken a philosophy class in the United States. “The United States population on January 26, 2023 was: 334,313,344.” 

This common view is wrong, and Aristotle explains why. 

In his Metaphysics,he writes that “it is owing to their wonder that men both now begin and at first began to philosophize”—wonder is something natural to every one of us. 

Think of the last time you observed the stars, marveled at a baby learning to speak, or listened to an orchestra perform a symphony. Wonder calls us to pursue more profound knowledge of ourselves and our world—the word philosophy itself means “love of wisdom.” And knowledge of what is true and what is good frees us to live well and to lead a happy life.

I can get behind this. Wonder is an underrated emotion. Link goes to a post at The Old Books Blog and features a four-minute video by philosopher Jesse Prinz. It is worth four minutes of your time. Trust me.

That is why Hillsdale has produced “Introduction to Western Philosophy.” In this free 14-lecture online course, you will explore the ideas and arguments of the most influential philosophers of the West—including Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Descartes, Nietzsche, and C.S. Lewis—as they wrestle with the common questions that we are all called to answer.

Sigh. My first reaction was this: C.S. Lewis is not a philosopher. I know the folk at Hillsdale love them some C.S. Lewis, but he’s not a philosopher. Doesn’t mean he wasn’t a thinker, but Elizabeth Anscombe, a philosopher, ripped him up good in their famous debate.

Next thought provided by Mr. Big Food: Where’s Kant? Me: Where are Hume and Locke? So I registered for the class. Kant and Hume both have a lecture devoted to their work. So does Bacon. Now, everyone who reads this knows I am a fan of Bacon. And I suppose you could argue that you can’t turn the corner onto Modern Thought Street without recognizing Bacon’s contributions. But I just don’t know about this. A whole lecture?

The new year and this free course provide an excellent opportunity to move beyond these common misconceptions of philosophy and pursue life-changing knowledge about God, human nature, and the world. You can begin this course for FREE today by clicking on the secure link below: 

I think it’s fair to say Philosophy changed my life. It’s highly unlikely that I’d be living on a farm in rural Mississippi were it not for Philosophy.

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