The application of philosophy in daily life

Philosophical ideas are applied to life, mainly by guiding people’s concepts and ways of thinking. This effect is very indirect for most people, a bit like fashion for ordinary people... As mentioned in the line of "The Devil Wears Prada", we think that those fashion designs have nothing to do with us buying a sweater from a street stall. , but in fact, the influence is pushed down from high to low, and the clothes on the street stalls that have no sense of fashion may be the remnants of the outdated fashion elements that were once popular.

However, this is only one aspect, that is, an influential philosophical thought will gradually affect public thinking for a long time in the future. On the other hand, philosophical thought also comes from the lives of the public, just like fashion. Same. However, philosophers can keenly capture the essence of changes in thoughts, just like designers are good at summarizing key elements from an overall unsatisfactory design and recreating it.

When it comes to the impact of philosophy on life, we might as well start with those around us.

I believe that materialists are definitely opposed to old people asking people to perform magic tricks to treat their children. If you ask them why, they will say that it is because it is unscientific and that it is witchcraft. Then you can ask further what is it? Science What is witchcraft? This involves many thoughts, such as positivism, such as Occam's razor, such as the analysis of witchcraft in "The Golden Bough", such as the discussion of truth standards... No matter what, it comes from the efforts of thinkers, through enlightenment, Through the spread of Western learning to the East and so on, the people's thinking was finally changed. Even a person who believes in materialism cannot give a reasonable defense. For example, although he criticizes feudal superstition, he still believes in experts. Without reflection, he only unconditionally believes in what he learned in school and casually forwards rumors to his circle of friends. Maybe his thoughts have nothing to do with "philosophy" or "science", but it is indeed philosophy and scientific thoughts that have influenced his beliefs. Without these thoughts, he would still believe in witchcraft...

For another example, some concepts that have existed in name only are preserved in social customs, such as etiquette issues such as crying and worshiping the dead, and the deceased being the most important, which can be traced back to the Confucian shamanism thought further back. Before the Shang and Zhou dynasties, people mainly This kind of ancestor worship, the dead ancestors will serve as the guardians of the family and become "ghosts". Each family offers sacrifices to their own ancestors, including the king who regards his own ancestors as "gods". This concept did not exist until the demise of the Shang Dynasty. Replaced by the theory of "virtue worthy of God", sacrificial rituals gradually turned into moral rituals. Confucianism gave this ritual moral connotation and emotional support. However, in fact, the belief in ancestors and the dead has never been discontinued, and some people still think that it is Moving ancestral graves to a feng shui treasured place can bless wealth... These ideas are not considered philosophical ideas, but most of the philosophical ideas of later generations have denied this superstition and supported limiting etiquette education to moral behavior. Through the long history of thought, we have continued to The internalization of etiquette has gradually shifted from witchcraft and sacrificial behaviors that need to be guaranteed by beliefs in ghosts and gods to personal moral pursuits that are restrained by moral motivations arising from the heart. Therefore, the thoughts of thin burial and Ning Qi are considered to be the choices of knowledgeable people. But this example shows that the entanglement between philosophical thoughts and popular beliefs is unclear. Only those generally enlightened people who adhere to philosophical thoughts have some teachings about "discussing the heart but not the traces".

The influence of philosophical ideas on people’s lives is increasing with the development of society. With the development of society and the smooth flow of information exchange, new ideas are becoming more and more popular. The so-called pioneer of enlightenment is printing. Otherwise, in ancient times, even sages could not spread their teachings. Therefore, the ancients sought more support from the political power, or intervened or even participated in politics themselves. Only through political practice can their ideas be popularized to the greatest extent. With the development of the times, they can gradually retreat to teaching as a career, and through book clubs , colleges, popularized among disciples, and then popularized among the people. Because of convenient transportation and book publishing, its influence is not small. Just imagine that Wang Chong of the Han Dynasty had already refuted all the absurdities of prophecies in his treatises. Why did it have no influence in the Han Dynasty? It is because his books were located in the south of the Yangtze River and did not spread at all. If they had not been obtained during the Wei and Jin Dynasties, they might have been lost.

Think about today's discussions on political reform, economic measures, even affirmative action, and cultural conflicts. You can be seen by just posting on Weibo. To be an opinion leader, you don't need to be a politician or a principal... You may ask , what is the relationship between these common knowledge and philosophy? Of course, most of their remarks are taken from a certain philosophical work of the last century or the last century, and belong to a certain well-known school or thinker. Think about the separation of powers, think about democratic populism, think about anarchism... …Any concept, including women’s rights, shouldn’t you have to quote a few lines from Beauvoir?

But even today, economic development has not developed to the extent that most people have the energy and leisure to study advanced academics. Therefore, philosophy still exists in small circles, and its influence still lags behind. sex. Moreover, truly influential changes require long-term preparation. Many generations may only be able to make a negligible contribution, until the idea is completely mature, breaks out in the name of a genius, attracts the attention of the world, and affects subsequent generations. Thoughts...

It is precisely because of this that when we look at the discussions among today’s philosophers, they seem to be noise that has little impact on society. Just like a person like me who has no fashion sensitivity watching the catwalk show, I am satisfied. I only have one thought in my mind: "What the hell is this?" But I never deny that it is these design attempts that may be "ugly" that continue to develop and influence future fashion. For this, we only need to look at the changes in the past. Just know.