Welcome to Philosophy Academy. I’m The Mad Philosopher—a name I wear proudly to remind us that asking hard questions often looks foolish to the majority and obvious to the curious. Here, we don’t settle for easy answers or academic jargon. We explore ideas that matter—from ancient debates to modern dilemmas, from the classroom to the real world. Whether you’re here to sharpen your thinking, challenge your beliefs, or just enjoy the ride, you’re in the right place.
What is philosophy?
The etymological definition of philosophy is the love of knowledge. However in reality, it's a thick concept.
The cosmos is complicated, but it has rules, laws, and patterns we can understand. Philosophy is how we discover these in a disciplined way.
Philosophy is generally broken down into the following categories:
- Metaphysics - Why does anything exist? Where did everything come from? What is existence?
- Epistemology - How is knowledge attained?
- Logic - What makes a line of reasoning valid or invalid?
- Ethics - What should I do? How should I treat others?
- Politics - What is the role of the state? What is justice?
- Aesthetics - What makes art beautiful and meaningful? What makes comedy funny?
Ultimately, everything is philosophy. I'll prove it. Go on Wikipedia, find a random article, and click the first link the article. Keep doing that. You should arrive at the philosophy page in around 19 or 20 clicks, maybe up to 50 if you're unlucky. These categories are just areas that are either foundational or never got answers capable of forming an overwhelming consensus.
Why do we need philosophy?
The answer is in the question. If you say we don't, or that we do and here's why, you must have a rationale, good or bad for your position.
You were asked a question, you used logic to find an answer to that question. That is philosophy.
This is a life skill, not just a way to waste time on questions that might not be answered in our lifetimes.
Does philosophy work?
Absolutely.
Science evolved out of enlightenment philosophy. The scientific method is rooted in epistemology—how we gain knowledge about the world.
Mathematics is a highly advanced system of formal logic. It builds entire 'possible worlds' based on chosen axioms and explores the logical consequences that follow. Like all logical systems, mathematics doesn't tell us what reality is by itself—but it does give us powerful tools to reason about any reality we can imagine or describe.
Every law, policy, and technological breakthrough is downstream of someone asking a philosophical question about how the world ought or does work.
This isn't to say some questions asked in philosophy aren't kind of ridiculous at first glance--like the Trolley Problem.
But imagine this. It's World War V (It's not WWIII, because WWV is intense it skips over the other two).
A nuke is hurdling toward New York City. It's too late to stop it from detonating, but you have the option to deflect it away from the city—likely into a smaller town. You could save millions in the city, but in doing so, you’d knowingly sacrifice fewer people somewhere else. Do you do it? Or do you let the dice fall where they will? Maybe my understanding of ICBM's is wanting, but regardless, I think this imperfect example shows us the real shape of the trolley problem. It's an abstract training ground for the sometimes impossible choices that world leaders, soldiers, and policymakers actually face.
Now there is an unexpected twist: I bet some of you who said "leave the trolley alone" are now saying "deflect the nuke." But think about it--if you're that farmer or that small-town resident, are you really okay with the military bouncing a nuke into your front yard to save someone else?
The hardest thing about philosophy is learning some moral problems have no good solutions--adults face this all the time (with issues that often become controversial politically), and fail to grasp that no matter how much you think about the problem, you will never find a solution that doesn't hurt somebody. This is why ethics hasn't gone on to become a science. No ethical philosophy can tell you want to do in every possible situation without becoming rigid, dogmatic, and/or tyrannical.
There are also times when philosophers come up with terrible ideas. The worst ideas are both seductive and deadly. In that regard, communism is the gift that keeps on giving, and no matter how many times it fails, there will always be peopled seduced by the promise of perfect fairness, justice, and equality. Orwell said the problem with communism is that "some are more equal than others." I say the real problem is that when communism is finally achieved, everybody will be equally dead. If the intellectual core of society becomes captured by communism, then it will spread like a mind virus if no credible opposition is formed. The only way to fight philosophy this bad is to intellectualize opposition with better ideas before it takes over. Put simply: philosophy is a weapon, and like any other weapon, the only thing that can stop a bad guy with a philosophy, is a good guy with a better one.
Philosophy is about systems, models, and strategic thinking. It’s how we make sense of complexity, map out possibilities, and make choices that change the world in ways that are big or small and good or bad.
Resources
I encourage everyone to purchase of a copy of Squashed Philosophers from Amazon, as I have done, to support the author of much of the content on this site (Note: I am not an Amazon affiliate and I do not profit from posting this URL).
Academic Sources: Modern Philosophy Reviews, Notre Dame University | The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy | The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy | Free Texts from Gutenberg
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