Many regard philosophy as a waste of time because it appears to produce no immediate practical benefits, tangible products, or technological innovations. Philosophical inquiry is often dismissed as abstract speculation detached from the realities of everyday life. Even among scientists this is a widespread belief. Stephen Hawking famously declared that "philosophy is dead" because he believed philosophy had failed to keep pace with modern physics.
What practical use is there in philosophers debating fundamental questions such as the meaning of existence, consciousness, truth, God, or the afterlife, other than filling libraries with books that few people will ever read? Humanity has grappled with these issues for thousands of years without reaching definitive answers. Philosophy often seems to generate more questions than solutions, making it appear intellectually stimulating but ultimately unproductive. Consequently, many people believe it is better to pursue disciplines that offer concrete results, arguing that science, engineering, medicine, or business provide more reliable paths to knowledge and human progress than what is often dismissed as inconclusive philosophical navel-gazing—precisely the kind of material you will find in this Substack.
Unfortunately, this mindset has also permeated educational systems. Although philosophy receives greater attention in some countries than in others, it has generally become a more marginal discipline within modern education. Based on conversations with teachers from diverse educational backgrounds and nationalities, my prevailing perception is that philosophy is often regarded worldwide as secondary and less valuable, particularly when compared with STEM subjects.
After all, who would argue that a third-grader should spend time becoming acquainted with the intricacies of Aristotle, Plato, or Kant rather than learning to code in Python, use ChatGPT, and master the latest AI tools? Why should a student spend time debating Plato’s theory of forms when that same time could be devoted to learning financial literacy, or digital marketing—skills that appear to offer a more direct path to employment and economic success? Who would choose to spend a school lesson analyzing whether reality is an illusion or whether free will exists when students could instead learn how to build an app, program a robot, manage investments, or use artificial intelligence to increase their productivity? In an increasingly utilitarian and materialistic society, philosophy is often perceived as intellectual hair-splitting and pointless theorizing that leads only to empty debates and abstract speculation disconnected from practical realities.
I would even contend that many philosophers themselves have been influenced by this bias. In particular, the analytic philosophy that developed during the last century, reaching its peak in the positivist tradition and leaving a significant legacy that continues to influence philosophy today, often developed an almost visceral aversion to anything vaguely metaphysical. Fortunately, times are changing, and a more open-minded attitude toward existential and spiritual questions is gradually reemerging. However, these developments remain largely on the margins and have not substantially altered the broader picture: a kind of autoimmune disorder within philosophy itself, in which the discipline celebrates one part of its own intellectual heritage while attempting to conceal or dismiss another part almost with a sense of embarrassment.
But what I would like to defend here is not some esoteric school of thought or a particular philosophical tradition. Rather, it is the idea that philosophy still has a meaningful role to play in a modern, pragmatic, and finance-driven world. The deeper question is: what do we really mean by “useful” and “pragmatic”? In a society where usefulness is often measured exclusively by economic value or by the ability to produce tangible objects in the short term, such as cars, skyscrapers, computers, or rockets, anything that does not immediately generate profit or material output is easily dismissed as “useless.”
Paradoxically, we then blame people for lacking critical thinking and moral and ethical foundations, and we blame society and political movements for a dwindling sense of equality, democracy, freedom, human rights, and justice. We wonder why people are experiencing a lack of meaning and direction in their lives, while many struggle to distinguish science from pseudoscience, fall into the most extreme conspiracy theories, deny climate change, or even believe that the Earth is flat. We lament their inability to formulate clear concepts and their reluctance to engage with difficult or uncomfortable questions.
But who were the first figures to seriously engage with these questions? Financiers, politicians, engineers, or CEOs? No. Quite the opposite: especially in the modern era, the financial and industrial complex, together with many of the institutions and forces that shape public life, has often resisted these ideals rather than championed them.
Was it the people who eventually took to the streets to demand their rights? Yes, in many cases, but those movements were often preceded by generations of philosophical reflection that first articulated these very principles.
What about Plato’s The Republic or Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, with their profound reflections on justice, ethics, virtue, and the ideal state? What about Voltaire, who championed freedom of thought and religious tolerance? Or Jean-Jacques Rousseau and John Stuart Mill, whose contributions shaped ideas of equality, popular sovereignty, democracy, education, individual freedom, and women’s rights? Even much more controversial figures, such as Karl Marx and Friedrich Nietzsche, have profoundly influenced—and continue to shape—our understanding and critique of economic inequality, social justice, morality, and values. More recently, we have been rediscovering figures like Hannah Arendt, whose critique of totalitarianism now sounds remarkably prophetic.
So, it was the supposedly “useless” philosophers who, throughout history, were often the first to articulate and defend these values—not heads of state driven by immediate utility or scientists focused on technological achievement. Why? Because philosophical reflection, and perhaps the deeper insights it can inspire, allows us to view the world from a different perspective and to envision alternative possibilities. A different, and potentially better, way of organizing human life.
Herein lies the “utility” of philosophy. Yet we continue to overlook and belittle the role that education itself plays in cultivating precisely these capacities. Modern pedagogy often emphasizes STEM subjects, rationality, and analytical thinking in the hope that they will shape young minds capable of better judgment and critical thinking. And, to a large extent, this approach does succeed. However, it primarily exercises what, using modern terminology, we might call “left-brain thinking.” It reflects the same underlying tendency that has contributed to the marginalization of continental philosophy, which explores fundamental questions about human existence, consciousness, meaning, and values, while placing analytic philosophy—with its emphasis on logical analysis, language, and the foundations of knowledge—on a higher pedestal. That is why I consider philosophers themselves historically responsible for their own marginalization within an educational system that struggles to make room for more holistic, intuitive, and integrative forms of “right-brain thinking.” Yet, the idea of teaching philosophy from an early age is not new; it has already been shown to be both feasible and beneficial. We ask the younger generation to develop critical thinking and conceptual clarity while, at the same time, sending them the subliminal message that the very discipline that helps cultivate these abilities is nothing more than an almost worthless remnant of the past.
Philosophy still matters more than ever, especially in a pragmatic age. The discipline that helped shape civilization has been pushed to the margins, even though it is precisely what a world obsessed with utility needs most: the capacity to think deeply, question assumptions, and imagine alternative possibilities—the very capacities that have always driven human progress and changed the world.
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