In The Value of Philosophy, Bertrand Russell (1) maintains that philosophyÆs real value is not open to those individuals who focus only on goods for the body or materials goods, ôIt is exclusively among the goods of the mind that the value of philosophy is to be found.ö Yet Russell (1) maintains that philosophy is not practical in the sense that the practical individual ôrecognizes only material needsö which philosophy does not provide. Even so, the study of philosophy leads one to become a lover of wisdom, primarily because its study and practice expands the mind to greatness that unites it with the universe.
The study of philosophy is often viewed by those who preoccupy themselves with science or prabtical matters as something that is concerned with ôinnocent but useless trifling, hair-splitting distinctions, and controversies on matters concerning which knowledge is impossible,ö (Russell, 1). Russell argues that such a perspective is short-sighted, primarily because such individuals have a misguided idea about the ôends of life
ö (Russell, 1). Also, these individuals often fail to recognize the ôkind of goodsö which philosophy concerns itself with (Russell, 1).
Such views as those described above often stem from the fact that philosophy is not a practice whose final outcome arrives at absolute answers to the questions that most intrigue us. These questions include ones such as: What is the meaning of life? How do we know what we know? And are there any universal truths that can be proven absolutely? But what such individuals fail to recognize is that the aim of philosophy is not so much concerned with deliberation about the answers to questions but with the questions themselves. As Russell (4) notes, ôPhilosophy is to be studied, not for the sake of any definite answers to its questions since no definite answers can, as a rule, be known to be true, but rather for the sa
...