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I’ve encountered many people in my life that use philosophy as a bludgeon to strongarm their way through difficult conversations to prove their own righteousness or intellectual worth.

I’ve also encountered many people that seem to think philosophy is an esoteric practice farfetched from either the harsh realities of life, an easy excuse to not take action or to delay action, or an unnecessary burden in our quest to find happiness or peace.

Lest we forget that we need philosophy because it is the only way to discern right from wrong. If we claim to study philosophy, but can never make any conclusions that will cause us to act differently in the world around us, we have failed. Conversely, if we dismiss it as something optional or dispensable, we also have failed.

Indeed, no one is stopping you from abdicating yourself from the responsibility of determining what is right from wrong, but don’t put to shame everyone who came before you that tried to. Do not take for granted all the fruits of good decision-making that came from leaders in the past who took responsibility to seriously contemplate the path they were going to take their people. It’s far too easy to say that philosophy isn’t necessary when you aren’t the one making the brutally difficult decisions—when you aren’t the one primarily responsible for countless human lives, for the fate of a nation, for ensuring good prevails against evil on this earth. And when the inevitable time comes—when those countless lives are lost, when a nation has crumbled into dust, when evil prevails—you should not have put yourself in a position where you have to apologize for your ignorance, for your complacency, and for your self-righteousness because you didn’t want to think about what’s right; at the very least, be grateful that someone beside you did.