Studying philosophy is hard. Philosophy is not difficult because I do not understand what people are saying, or that it is a challenge to stay conscious while reading it, or that much of it is anti-religion. Philosophy is difficult because it challenges you personally Everyone has a philosophy. Whether this philosophy is explicitly known is irrelevant. People have beliefs. People justify those beliefs with rational thought.
Every philosopher worth studying says something that cannot be ignored. Philosophers are revolutionary because they challenge ordinary belief. In studying these philosophers, one’s own beliefs are challenged. Studying philosophy is difficult because it challenges your worldview. Some people here can simply ignore the objections that philosophers raise. Personally, I cannot simply ignore the logical contradictions in my beliefs. I do not hold myself to a high standard when justifying these beliefs, but these things do bother me.
Every philosophy teacher worth their salt will destroy your philosophy and make you rebuild it. Not having a system of beliefs is a terrible thing to have to cope with. There is a notorious professor here that has been accused of destroying multiple people’s faith by teaching philosophy. Yeah, it’s that big of a deal.
Recently, I was driving home, and had a 3 hour conversation about the definition of holiness with one of my seminarian brothers. Every definition we came up with failed to work in some way or other. This may not seem like much of a problem, but when your objective in life is to become holy, there is a need to define the word. I was surprised at how easily my friend was willing to settle on a definition that didn’t fully work. In a way, I was envious because this problem distressed me quite a bit.
It makes me glad that I won’t be studying philosophy much longer, but I wonder if these problems ever really go away.
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