Comment on practicality of philosophy
This is my original commentary to an article at Medium.com about practicality of philosophy (December 14, 2019).
The author called his article "Taoism; Follow the Path of Least Resistance to Overcome Any Obstacle". However, the Americans are very busy to understand what is going on with them and with their country. They live to work and not vice versa.
This is a useless article like almost everything in modern philosophy and the amount of applause and comments (mine is the first one) just confirms that. The Americans are very busy with working and it is very difficult to explain to them how to "follow the path of least resistance" or what is even more difficult - "be a little bit more like water". The whole philosophy of today is impractical. Even quotations from Lao Tzu do not help.
I suggest to think about a very practical aspect of philosophy.
The Americans think that "to live to work" is a norm, but actually the opposite is true - "to work to live".
Yes, you have to eat, drink, live somewhere, dress up... All that requires money, but money is not everything.
It is bad that money is the main goal and meaning of life for almost every American. And for those who make decisions for the whole nation, too. Therefore, in the United States the top 1% of wealthiest residents in 2016 owned about 40% of the national wealth, and bottom 90% of the residents owned about 23%. And the gap between the rich and the poor is widening over time. It could tear the country apart in a foreseeable future.
What does philosophy have to do with all that?
The only way to see the future of any country is to look at it as a whole. For example, at the very uneven distribution of national wealth in the US (see above). Or to apply to yourself the fact that the national debt of the USA is more than 22 trillion dollars now. Join these two together and you may see your own future in the context of a future of the US.
![Comment on practicality of philosophy]()
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Americans have no time to look at all that, but the debts do not bring you anything good whether you pay attention to that or no. This is one of very important mundane principles. The knowledge of such principles and seeing them working in your personal life is called philosophy or "love of wisdom".
P.S. Dear Reader! I am very much interested in your opinion on the subject of this article. Please, write a comment or ask a question if you want to clarify something.
Yours,
Igor Chykalov
..........
The author called his article "Taoism; Follow the Path of Least Resistance to Overcome Any Obstacle". However, the Americans are very busy to understand what is going on with them and with their country. They live to work and not vice versa.
This is a useless article like almost everything in modern philosophy and the amount of applause and comments (mine is the first one) just confirms that. The Americans are very busy with working and it is very difficult to explain to them how to "follow the path of least resistance" or what is even more difficult - "be a little bit more like water". The whole philosophy of today is impractical. Even quotations from Lao Tzu do not help.
..........
I suggest to think about a very practical aspect of philosophy.
The Americans think that "to live to work" is a norm, but actually the opposite is true - "to work to live".
Yes, you have to eat, drink, live somewhere, dress up... All that requires money, but money is not everything.
It is bad that money is the main goal and meaning of life for almost every American. And for those who make decisions for the whole nation, too. Therefore, in the United States the top 1% of wealthiest residents in 2016 owned about 40% of the national wealth, and bottom 90% of the residents owned about 23%. And the gap between the rich and the poor is widening over time. It could tear the country apart in a foreseeable future.
..........
What does philosophy have to do with all that?
The only way to see the future of any country is to look at it as a whole. For example, at the very uneven distribution of national wealth in the US (see above). Or to apply to yourself the fact that the national debt of the USA is more than 22 trillion dollars now. Join these two together and you may see your own future in the context of a future of the US.
Image from Pixabay.com
Americans have no time to look at all that, but the debts do not bring you anything good whether you pay attention to that or no. This is one of very important mundane principles. The knowledge of such principles and seeing them working in your personal life is called philosophy or "love of wisdom".
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P.S. Dear Reader! I am very much interested in your opinion on the subject of this article. Please, write a comment or ask a question if you want to clarify something.
Yours,
Igor Chykalov
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