The Future of Philosophy

The future of philosophy not only involves the future of the ways we think, but what we think about ourselves as humans and what we think about the nature of the universe, theology, and spirituality. The future of philosophy involves how we go about running global and national societies, fostering creativity, developing new means of invention, shaping the future of civilization, and whether or not we preserve life on our planet.

Unlike Heidegger, I don't think metaphysics is dead, and I don't believe that the future of philosophy is only a study of linguistics and cognitive science! Unfortunately the very resource that we as individuals need to empower ourselves to make sense of the world has fallen into disuse – in favor of mass consumption, escapism, the replacement of thinking and reading with entertainment, mindless conformity, and the blind acceptance of authority and whatever media sources are available. At the same time, the scope of the field of philosophy has been severely restricted in regards to its role as a professional discipline. It is pretty hard to find philosophers’ shingles hanging in front of their offices downtown or even listed in the telephone directory.

I think that much has been lost in the domain of philosophy as it has become mainly the academic study of the intellectual history of dead thinkers, logic, linguistics, cognitive science, and / or sophistry. This is quite a fall from the expansive universe of ideas of our truly great thinkers throughout world history. Beyond merely serving as a tool for argumentation, deconstruction, or the intellectual vivisection of existence, nature, life, and consciousness, philosophy may also be an art of life. Philosophy involves a love of wisdom (good judgment), but it also includes the wisdom of love. To me, philosophy is also a source of imagination and inspiration, a spiritual technology for innovation and enlightenment. I feel that these are the directions the field of philosophy must take as avenues for development if it is to be a meaningful field at all or relevant to anyone in the 21st century.

Perhaps we are still at the dawn of philosophy - after all, we hardly grasp what a human being may be, what the universe is, or what potentials there may be with life and consciousness. Perhaps philosophy is a field that has languished too long and needs its own Renaissance of Ceativity - and maybe this is exactly what humanity needs to successfully address the mounting challenges facing the future survival of our species. It just may be that we need a Philosophical Revolution in thought to take us beyond the agricultural, industrial, and digital revolutions and thereby shape a better future for our children and their descendants - for many of our old ways of doing and thinking are now obsolete and don't work so well in successfully dealing with an increasingly complex world.

There is an emerging realization by people all over the world that human beings are unique geniuses with invaluable artistic possibilities of limitless potential. We must share our genius with each other if we are to develop sustainable methods for the continuity of human civilization on Earth. For the first time in history all of the peoples on the planet are connected through some type of communication. We are now in a position to develop interdisciplinary, cross-cultural, and interfaith dialogues to re-evaluate all of the old myths, world views, and primary assumptions upon which we still base our individual and collective realities. We are in a position to develop syntheses of scientific knowledge and synergies of spiritual wisdom that were never possible before. For this sort of activity, philosophy is an ideal resource.

Now there are more specialists, scientists, and thinkers at this time in history than ever before - and yet people seem less and less satisfied about their solutions for living life. Humanity has a great need for advances in the ways that the fields of philosophy and spirituality can evolve our consciousnesses, expand our creative horizons, deepen our wisdom and understanding, and increase our enlightenment.

Finally we have enough new historical evidence and discovered scientific knowledge available to us to say entirely novel things about humanity and the world in which we live. What is missing is a coming together of all of our new information and knowledge about ourselves and the universe. Novel ways of thinking must be developed for us as individuals to translate all of our new knowledge generated by modern society into personal action in our daily lives. Globally, each of us are individually undergoing paradigm shifts in our world views and understandings of what we are as human beings. This is a necessary process for humanity in order to embrace a shared future and to prepare ourselves for incorporating all our new understandings in science, art, and spirituality.

Encouraging round table dialogues with those of differing beliefs is a way to develop new understandings between people and generate new ways of shared learning and interaction. I call these Philosophy Jams – discussions where people respect each other as equals, acknowledge one another’s beliefs, and work together to combine their knowledge, experience, and understanding to generate new knowledge, invent new ways of thinking, and develop new ideas. Philosophy Jams can play a useful role in helping to invent future philosophies. They are a lot of fun - surprise, surprise. Philosophy can be fun and entertaining too!

Together, the people of the world, (by combining our diverse artistic, scientific, spiritual, and cultural wisdoms and traditions) must invent new approaches to philosophy to replace outdated metaphysical paradigms and inspire individuals to establish their own unique wisdom systems. Otherwise we risk falling into a chaos of ideological conflict as old ways of thinking and acting slam headlong into the problems facing our continued existence. The challenges facing the sustainability of global civilization will not be successfully addressed using obsolete ways of thinking and acting. The world is far too interconnected and complex for old fashioned simplistic solutions to work in solving today’s problems. The future of humanity hangs in the balance of whether the world moves towards philosophical collaboration and creative dialogue, cultivating a Renaissance of Creativity - or devolves into conflicts between people unable to rise to the occasion of the challenges facing us, basing their decisions and actions upon outmoded world views. The future of philosophy is that of the development of our shared imagination, creativity, and vision working together towards the co-creation of positive futures for all the citizens of our planet. Our continued existence depends upon it!

Copyright 2010, B.E. Foley