Philosophy and Life: And Other Essays

Excerpt from Philosophy and Life: And Other Essays

When it was proposed to found a School of Ethics and Social Philosophy in London, the most common objection that the promoters had to meet was this - that a School of Philosophy had no definite relation to life. Ethical Societies, it was said, meet a practical demand. The School of Economics, the analogy of which suggested a School of Ethical Philosophy, also appealed to certain definite classes - to bank clerks, Government officials, and to the great business world generally; above all, it appeals to social and political reformers. But it did not seem so obvious that the subjects we proposed to deal with here had any similar clientele to draw upon.

This objection seems to reflect the common view of the relation of philosophy to life. It is pretty generally admitted that life is a good thing for the philosopher. It broadens him, and soon convinces him that "there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in his philosophy." But people are not at all so clear that philosophy is a good thing for life.

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