The Problem With Philosophy

Actually, the problem isn’t with philosophy – it’s with being a philosophy major. I had the opportunity to do work in Charlotte recently and spotted the bench you see in the picture below:

It was a beautiful day in North Carolina and it would have been lovely to have had a seat on that bench and enjoy the weather. Unfortunately, being a philosophy major, I ended up reading and contemplating the words on the bench and never did enjoy sitting on it.

Since the bench was placed there by the UMAR Arts Center, I’m confident the message on the bench was an endorsement for the wonders of art itself. But if we were to take the message as more than a clever promotion, we would have to say that Albert Camus, the French existentialist, would have corrected the message to read as follows: Earth without art is the Absurd. Or we could take a religious point of view (an easy point of view to take in Charlotte, NC) and suggests that since the Earth is God’s creation, the Earth is superior to anything that mere humans could create (such as art). Or perhaps we could argue that humans are a creation of God and therefore whatever humans do is also natural (of Earth). In effect there is no distinction between Earth and art.

You can see that being a philosophy major has its problems. But it does keep me from being bored. I’m afraid, however, it doesn’t always keep me from being boring, eh?