When I was younger, I learned how to read. It wasn’t until college that I learned how to philosophize. Proper philosophizing takes more than just basic language literacy, it takes years of training, passion, and effort. However, as a philosophy major, and in spite of this difficulty, I feel that I am well on my way to becoming literate in this field. The following narrative goes back to the very beginning to discuss the event that started it all: a seemingly random Sociology and Criminology Club meeting run by a balding investigator from the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.
But first, how is literacy in philosophy different than just literacy in English? Well to begin, and this should be obvious to anyone who has ever picked up Aristotle, philosophical texts are incredibly dense, oftentimes frustratingly so. All philosophical works needs to be read carefully, slowly, and multiple times. Mainly this is due to the fact that some (if not all) philosophical ideas are so complicated, nuanced, and difficult that nobody has the capacity to fully understand them the first time around. Or the tenth, for that matter. Part of gaining literacy includes going over the various problems enough times until recognition of the various argumentative “moves” and different potential solution are internalized. Adding to the difficulty, philosophy, like all academic fields, leans on certain technical terminology that needs to be understood: terms like validity, cogency, begging the question, entailment, etc. In spite of all of this, philosophic literacy can be gained, as I feel I am currently proving to be the case.
Coming into college I was a criminology major who aspired to work in law enforcement, so joining the “Sociology & Criminology Club” seemed like the perfect fit. Unfortunately, it was not that serious or successful of a club. However, one of the few meetings I attended would forever stay with me. The club leaders brought in an agent from the Ohio Attorney General’s Office so that he could try and recruit potential interns among the dozen or so people that had actually shown up. I don’t remember his name, but I do remember what he looked like: a white, middle-aged, slightly over-weight (but used to be in good shape), male with a gun on the side of his hip. In short, he perfectly fit the stereotype most have of those that work in law enforcement. Among pitching to us how “awesome” working for the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit for the Attorney General surely was, he also talked about his college experience more generally. Even though he worked in insurance investigations, his majors in college were seemingly random for his current work: finance and economics. He talked about how our college majors don’t matter after we get our first entry-level job; most people forget what they learned in college within five years anyway. So, then what was the point of studying and working so hard if we’re just going to lose it all in under a decade? What should we be doing with our time here then? As a response, the agent said something that will forever stick with me: we should be using our time in college to each become a “Renaissance Man”.
By “Renaissance Man”, the agent was alluding to the idea that the purpose of an education shouldn’t just be to memorize facts, but rather to learn how to think. We, as students, should be learning how to critically think, analyze arguments, write, effectively use logic, and argue. This directly spoke to an idea that had been brewing in the back of my mind, an idea that I should use my time in college to develop skills that would last me a lifetime rather than study soon-forgotten tidbits of knowledge. So, with this in mind where should I turn? The answer was the subject whose entire purpose is to impart its students with all of these aforementioned skills, a subject that I had personally always found fascinating: philosophy. By constantly thinkingly about the most abstract and difficult problems we have as humans, by learning about logical fallacies, by constantly analyzing every argument for potential flaws, by studying the greatest thinkers of all time, I could become a “Renaissance Man”.
After the meeting ended, the idea of picking up a double major in philosophy had been firmly implanted into my head. Obviously, I decided to sleep on it and wait a little bit before making such a big decision. But my mind didn’t change. Looking back on this meeting, it just goes to show how a seemingly small and insignificant moment can have such a huge impact on the trajectory of life. If I didn’t attend this meeting, would I have ever stumbled into philosophy? Sure, the idea had been brewing in the back of my head, but without someone so clearly giving voice to the “Renaissance Man” idea I had subconsciously been coming to, who knows what would’ve happened? I can’t conceive of my life without starting my journey to literacy in a subject that not only is one of my majors, but that I also consider one of my greatest passions.