Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness

Intro: Why Philosophy?

A subject that absolutely fascinates me is philosophy. The connection between the mind and brain results in the most extraordinary phenomenon you could never begin to comprehend. Conscious thought. It is crazy to think of life and the world around us. And I guess that is the simplest definition of philosophy. It is the process of questioning life and the world and other complex, abstract questions that take great time, effort and ingenuity to answer. But more important than the answer is the process. The very act of taking time out of your day to ponder is philosophy. Because productive thought that you take time out of your day to do results in you changing your mind. It gives you an opinion on topics and helps you create a philosophy to live and guide your life around. It is the epitome of sagacity and mental capability.

Practising philosophy, that act of being a philosopher, is all good and well but why should you do it? Why should you spend time in idle thought, instead of taking action to achieve tangible goals? The great philosopher Immanuel Kant said "Theory without practice is foolish, and practice without theory is for the foolhardy. Pick your poison." However, choosing to practise philosophy is a decision people make in the pursuit of wisdom. Thinking exhausts the mind and similarly to working out, it is the process that makes you worthy of the final destination. What does it achieve to curl a dumbbell? No matter how many times you move it, no matter how much force you exert on it, it always ends up in the same place, leaving you with nothing but pain and tiredness. It does nothing, in the short term that it. Over some time, you will see changes to the appearance and strength of your biceps. Change you can not believe came from a dumbbell. In the same way, philosophy seems to be of little use to you until you practise it for a long time. It is then that you will achieve great spirit and mental fortitude.