Philosophy as a Tool to Analyze the World - Essay Example

The paper "Philosophy as a Tool to Analyze the World" is an excellent example of an essay on philosophy. I take the popularity of existentialism as a sign that many people were casting off or at least questioning the dominant values of culture and society. I disagree that we must conclude that there are no objective values although I do agree with Sartre that the responsibility for deciding or decoding those values lies with the individual and must be discovered through a subjective process.
If Sartre is right the burden of “creating our own essence” falls upon us whether we like it or not and requires taking responsibility for all our decisions. The implications of each person taking responsibility and defining themselves could be both positive and negative. On positive people could not avail themselves to an outside ideology in order to justify their actions. Whether the result of an action is pleasant or unpleasant it falls to the individual to at least take moral possession of their own actions. On the negative, some people may choose actions that are unpleasant or harmful to others. I think it is a mistake to say that existentialism would free people in a moral sense any more than people who simply choose to do harm under other philosophies. People are still morally responsible for themselves, and it would not prevent society from providing disincentives to harmful actions.
I don’t know whether there are objective standards, but I do think there are some basic tenants that when followed make society better. Things like one should not cause harm for no reason. My intuition is that moral statements like these are eternal, but to some extent, these must rely on ideas like reciprocity.
Beliefs and knowledge are the tools, boundaries and set goals for us as we navigate the world. In the end, I think philosophy should be viewed as a tool to analyze the world. Regardless of what philosophy says, the method behind the conclusions can be useful even I disagree with the conclusion.