What is the relevance of philosophy to nation building?

Answer 1

As we see in Plato's apology we see that it is a relationship of tension. It is the majority versus the minority. The demagogues being the majority that is the politicians that try to persuade those of what truth is and then there is the minority which in fact is the philosophers. One could argue that based off the apology that the majority oppresses the minority for in the end Socrates is put to death. It is also a matter of knowledge versus opinion. Politicians try to persuade the masses of their political agenda or opinion's. But philosophers only seek to gain Truth/wisdom. Philosophical questions our believes and begs us to reconsider that our opinion are not necessarily given true. We also see that law conflicts with philosophy whereas philosophy tries to help the law. The law resists truth especially about our nature, whereas philoshopy tries to root out what in fact is true to best serve the law. Accordingly Socrates is put to death for his attempt at bringing about philosophical humility and thus make people aware that they really don't know everything. However in all this oppression, Socrates never betrays the law even in the crito where he has the chance to escape he does not, for to disobey the law is to destroy the laws dignity. To destroy their laws dignity therefore brings about a lack of respect for the law and leads to lawlessness. In sum, in the political realm there is a difference in opinion and therefore no clear claim to what is true. IT is philosophy that tries to reveal truth but politics often resists in the interest of achieving its own passions.

Answer 2

The peculiarity of philosophy is how it is not bound to a particular method, including its own, as it is the discourse which reflects on them.

This is why scientists are very interested in it when major changes are shaping their discipline - as was the case about physicists at the beginning of the 20th century, or as is the case with cognitive scientists nowadays. When it isn't, research is simply done following the standard guidelines, but once in a while, they prove insufficient, hence the need to rethink them, and the need for philosophy

In the same way, a nation without philosophers is without tools to assess its original ideas and institutions. Thus, they are forced to choose between those two options: (a) be a copycat, take policies from abroad or: (b) be a guinea pig and apply unassessed or poorly assessed policies.

Answer 3

michelle