This was an absolutely wonderful read. Get out there and think, kids!

Why Study Philosophy? ‘To Challenge Your Own Point of View’ – Hope Reese – The Atlantic

There is, among some scientists, a real anti-philosophical bias. The sense that philosophy will eventually disappear. But there’s a lot of philosophical progress, it’s just a progress that’s very hard to see. It’s very hard to see because we see with it. We incorporate philosophical progress into our own way of viewing the world.

via Why Study Philosophy? ‘To Challenge Your Own Point of View’ – Hope Reese – The Atlantic.

I also enjoyed her comment about the power of literature to further philosophical thinking (and vice versa):

There’s a lot of interest in literature and philosophy, and using literature as a philosophical examination. It makes me so happy! Because I was seen as a hard-core analytic philosopher, and when I first began to write novels people thought, Oh, and we thought she was serious! But that’s changed entirely. People take literature seriously, especially in moral philosophy, as thought experiments. A lot of the most developed and effective thought experiments come from novels. Also, novels contribute to making moral progress, changing people’s emotions.