Should Everyone Study Philosophy – a guest blog from Birmingham Metropolitan College
30th June 2016
We asked recently for guest bloggers: https://uniofglos.blog/rpe/2016/06/20/religionphilosophy-bloggers-needed/
In the first of these posts – Rimmini-Lea B. from Birmingham Metropolitan College wrote about whether Everyone Should Study Philosophy? We enjoyed reading this – and hope you do too:
Should everyone study Philosophy?
When you first hear about philosophy it seems easy and straight forward; just asking why and not accepting statements about the world right away, at least that’s what I thought. But then when you actually do philosophy you realise how that’s just the very surface level of the subject and that there is a much deeper layer and meaning to it. Philosophy is extremely interesting, from the different ideas of perception to the ethics of killing for the greater good, but it’s also challenging as it requires you to back up your opinions, whether they be fact or not. It’s about creating a good convincing argument that can win people over and 
make them believe your view is the best possible answer and not someone else’s. Therefore this makes philosophy one of the best subjects for people to study if they are inquisitive as there is loads to learn, but also if they’re good at debating or want to improve how they formulate arguments, as philosophy teaches you to argue your point efficiently, precisely and convincingly.
Philosophy can and should spill over into your daily life, the broader way of thinking allows you to gain a better perspective on things and means you can understand it fully, which could then help you resolve an issue, offer advice or know the best thing to do in any given situation. An example of philosophy in daily life is the choice we make when eating, whether to be vegetarian or vegan is more ethical than eating meat and whether or not that then makes you a better person, although philosophy doesn’t give any necessarily correct answer it allows people to examine the arguments with a clear understanding and decide where they stand within the debate. Furthermore, philosophy questions the act of lying and whether or not to lie is necessarily a bad or good act, relating to your daily life as there may be a situation where you could feel the need to lie, but is the lie providing the greatest happiness, or does your lie mean that everyone can lie which could lead to the notion of truth no longer existing.
Moreover, as philosophy allows people to have a better understanding of the world and the issues faced in it, it means you become equipped for ethical, political, medical, and animal rights debates, along with many others such as what it truly means to be a person; philosophical understanding of these areas provides you with the best mind to make a decision, or convince others of your view point. For example, political philosophy would impact you when it comes to voting, you would be able to analyse all campaigns thoroughly and ask questions that require deep meaningful answers, which would then contribute to where you place your vote. Philosophy is a subject that most people should study, and it should eventually become a core subject on education curriculum or at least taught at some point during education to everyone due to the skills and benefits it provides people with; had people studied philosophy before the latest vote in politics (the EU referendum) people would have been able to think much clearer and analyse both options thoroughly, meaning the results may have been significantly different.