“What’s the use of philosophy?”
by Jacqueline Winter Thomas
When someone asks ‘what’s the use of philosophy?’ the reply must be aggressive, since the question tries to be ironic and caustic. Philosophy does not serve the State or the Church, who have other concerns. It serves no established power. The use of philosophy is to sadden. A philosophy that saddens no one, that annoys no one, is not philosophy. It is useful for harming stupidity, for turning stupidity into something shameful. Is there any discipline apart from philosophy that sets out to criticise all mystification, whatever their source and aim, to expose all the fictions without which reactive forces would not prevail?…Finally, turning thought into something aggressive, active and affirmative. Creating free men, that is to say men who do not confuse the aims of culture with the benefit of the State, morality or religion….Who has an interest in all this but philosophy? Philosophy is at its most positive as a critique, as an enterprise of demystification.
Reblogged this on The Floating Library.
[...] as an enterprise of demystification. — Gilles Deleuze, Nietzsche and Philosophy, 106. via toadustyshelfweaspire Rate this:Share this:EmailFacebookTwitterStumbleUponDiggRedditPrintLike this:LikeBe the first to [...]
Wow!
This was also one of my favorite passages from this book, although I recall being a bit struck by the incongruity of Deleuze and Guattari saying “affirm everything!” and then reading that Nietzsche was supposed to sadden.