Wednesday 15th January 2025

    From the Editor's Desk

    Philosophy has lost its transformative power. Here's how we can revive it.

    In my early twenties, I fell headfirst into what I thought would be a grand love affair with academic philosophy. With starry eyes and a mind parched for meaning, I eagerly dove into a bachelor’s degree, sampling courses on the philosophy of religion, language, and South Asia. I naively envisioned professors as wise sages who would illuminate life’s thorny questions of identity, purpose, and meaning. Instead, my romantic notions smashed against the cold, hard reality of professors droning from papers and skimming the edges of my deepest existential yearnings. They delivered knowledge, yes — but wisdom? That precious spark was nowhere to be found. Disillusioned and aching, I abandoned my studies after just three months.

    Fast forward two decades, and I returned to professional philosophy, older, wiser, and with a sober understanding: transformative teachings would need to be sought elsewhere. This time, I advanced rapidly through doctoral and postdoctoral research, mastering the demands of academia while accepting its limitations. Yet, the core of philosophy within the academy hadn’t changed. Take, for instance, a recent conference on practical philosophy. Despite my tempered expectations, I couldn’t help but hope that philosophy might finally step down from its ivory tower into the vibrant chaos of lived experience. But as the lectures began, I was once again let down. The discussions were brilliant, laden with intricate arguments and esoteric concepts, yet stubbornly tethered to the abstract. The speaker, glued to his prepared notes, never once paused to ask: What do Kant’s musings on aesthetics mean for how we experience beauty in the everyday? Or better yet, how do we live these ideas, moment by moment? It was a reminder that while philosophy is unparalleled in posing questions, it often stumbles when faced with the urgent task of applying them to life itself.

    Continued here


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