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Back to the Forum Archives Perhaps a philosopher is just someone who says he is a philosopher. After all, a philosophy is really nothing more that a belief system. In that sense, everyone has a philosophy whether they express it or not. We all live by some kind of belief system. It may be a philosophy of disinterest, timidity, or chaos, but it is a chosen direction. So I conclude that everyone is a philosopher. It is just that some are recognized as such. Of those recognized, I have read philosophers and read about philosophers for most of my life. For sure, I have not read the works of everyone who is called or calls himself a philosopher. I only have one lifetime to invest. I have read some of Socrates and some of John Dewey. I have also read large parts of many of those between. It would be impossible for any person to read all of these guys. Philosophers are nothing if not verbose. That is one thing they all have in common. From my reading I get that the first task of a philosopher is to debunk everyone who came before him and then build an entirely new edifice of words. They label each other and they label ideas with words that only other philosophers understand. To what end? These people sit in their garrets or rooms and they babble on about obscure concepts that have no value or meaning to me or you. That is, of course, unless we call ourselves philosophers too. They invent or select abstract and obscure terms then nitpick over them. Convoluted digression is their favorite game. In that, they give us nothing of value. Perhaps not all, but too many of these philosophers are simply tedious. They create pages and pages and books and books arguing obscure points that have no relevance to the realities of life. They waste their lives creating philosophical edifices which are irrelevant to the rest of us. They sometimes offer us insights, but no coherent direction or plan of action. I contend that philosophy without action is irrelevant. William James creates tons of words for his thoughts on Pragmatism, Radical Empiricism, and God knows what else. To what end? If there is a point to this stream of verbiage it escaped me. I lost it somewhere in the thicket of words. For me, it is sufficient to know that I am capable of thought and planning. After that, I think it's time to think and plan. God said, "I am that I am." As to getting on with it, I think the psychological theorists make the better contribution to humankind. I speak of people like Carl Jung, Carl Rogers, and Abraham Maslow. Most of these folks are not called philosophers. However, I believe they are the best of the lot. I see only one significant difference between a theoretical psychologist and a person who calls himself a philosopher. I think the main thing is a philosopher is self centered and a psychologist philosopher is people centered. As we have said, the only relevant philosophy is one which leads to action. In this sense, pretty much all of the psychological philosophers are relevant. They offer us useful insights and directions. Conversely, most of the others are irrelevant. I except certain of the political philosophers from this criticism, like Jefferson, Adams, Madison, and Franklin. Their philosophy or belief systems did lead to meaningful action of a very productive and dangerous sort. They literally laid it on the line. The world belongs to the strong. To have value to himself or anyone else a philosopher must be strong. A philosopher who sits in a garret and runs his mouth and does not act is a fraud. He does not belong to the world and the world does not belong to him. As far as I can see, he is a failure. If you cannot serve mankind in some way, there is nothing you have to say. It may be that I am a failure. Even so, I can lay out what needs to be done. I can hope, if the time comes, I will have the courage to act. Philosophy without action is valueless. It is just twaddle on a men's room wall. It will not help me teach people how to vote for their own long term best interest. It does not help John Smith the farmer grow corn. It does not educate our children. It does not protect anyone from a madman in the White House. It will not make my motorcycle run and neither will Zen. Philosophy by itself is bull, it does not have the value of a bag of manure. All of the philosophers in the world from Socrates to John Dewey, unless they have done something, have not done as much good in the world as a 50 lb. bag of fertilizer. On the other hand, action without philosophy is lunacy. We
need both, a sound philosophy and coherent action coming out
of that philosophy. My goal is to contribute to that.
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