O użyteczności filozofii

Abstract

The Usefulness of Philosophy

Philosophy in Poland does not enjoy favorable public opinion. It is mostly seen as unimportant, unpractical, or useless. In the paper, I defend the view that it is not the fault of common, undereducated people but rather the fault of academic philosophers. The Polish academic philosophy is usually bereft of value for the majority of non-philosophers. However, in a liberal democracy anybody who pays taxes can ask why she should support philosophy in public universities with her funds. In order to answer this claim, Polish philosophers should become much more utilitarian. Fortunately, philosophy can be seen as a very useful enterprise. In order to achieve this, philosophers should focus more on important problems that concern scientists and common people. The usefulness of philosophy is manifested mostly in its synthetic abilities in science and culture, in shaping and describing personal, social, moral, and political identities or in trying to give normative reasons in ethics, aesthetics, and politics.

Keywords: meta-philosophy, practical philosophy, normative philosophy.