Many people approach philosophy like a hermit crab collecting shells or a bowerbird decorating its nest, accumulating ideas that either reinforce their existing worldview or serve to construct a coherent one they can proudly display. These individuals often seem more focused on building an intellectual structure to defend or showcase their beliefs than on genuinely exploring ideas for their own sake. This tendency reduces philosophy to a kind of intellectual posturing, where ideas are either trophies to display or weapons to wield in arguments. In my view, this misses the heart of what philosophy: the love of wisdom, is meant to be.

Philosophy, in my opinion, involves engaging with ideas from the perspective in which they were intended. It’s not about collecting concepts to bolster a worldview or refute opposing ones, but about understanding the diversity of thought that has emerged across cultures and eras. The real joy lies in exploring how different philosophies ripple outward, influencing conceptions of reality, human nature, and the structure of the world. By taking this broader view, you move beyond the need to defend a singular perspective and instead appreciate the endless variety of frameworks humans have developed to interpret existence. This exploratory process is itself the reward, offering a chance to immerse yourself in ideas that are often wildly incommensurable yet deeply enriching.

The problem is that many people get personally invested in their philosophical systems, and academia only reinforces this tendency. Academic success often depends on either dismantling the prevailing paradigm or constructing an ironclad argument that resists critique. This creates a combative environment where every idea becomes a battlefield. While this dynamic is necessary for the system to function (both in philosophy and in science), it fosters a narrow mindset. People mistake their role within the system for a comprehensive understanding of philosophy itself. The result is a focus on winning arguments rather than embracing the vast, unresolved nature of the questions philosophy seeks to address.

At this point in human history, and possibly forever, we simply don’t have all the answers. Exploring philosophy means engaging with this uncertainty, recognizing that no single system has figured it all out. Science, too, often falls into the trap of hubris, treating knowledge as cumulative and dismissing critiques like those offered in Kuhn’s Structure of Scientific Revolutions or by Paul Feyerabend. These critiques highlight the limitations of empiricism and science as methodologies, reminding us to remain open-minded. While there’s value in people playing their roles as cogs in the systems of philosophy and science, building and defending specific paradigms, the broader love of wisdom requires stepping back and seeing the whole picture. To confuse participation in the system with philosophy itself is to miss the point and risk closing yourself off from the joy of exploration that philosophy uniquely provides. And I don’t mean for this to sound condescending or dismissive, although it might well be, when I choose not to engage with arguments that I see as being within this internal structure and not conversations on the structure of the whole you may see me choose not to engage. I simply don’t find it that interesting. 

Of course, I have my own pet theories and ideas that appeal to me more than others. There are perspectives I find particularly compelling, but I’m not so hubristic as to dismiss all other views or take mine as ultimate truth. This doesn’t mean there is no truth or that we’ll never know it, and it certainly doesn’t mean we should adopt a relativist stance, very far from it. Rather, it means we should continue to evaluate the diverse array of available ideas, but always with these critiques in mind, never losing sight of the bigger picture. Philosophy isn’t about staking a claim to certainty; it’s about the process of grappling with the unknown, understanding the nuances of competing perspectives, and recognizing that truth, if it’s ever found, will only emerge through this ongoing exploration.