If You Read Non-Fiction, Make Sure To Read Philosophy
You might be aware of an unpopularly popular opinion that non-fiction is not practical at all and it lacks depth. It has become an intellectual trend now.
Many people just in terms of presenting themselves as smart tend to do it also. It is because it is considered as a shortcut to sound smart by bashing every popular trend and declaring it as bullshit. It is usually a blind fire, yet it can hit the target because it is generally true that trendy things are pointless and lack depth. Which let them achieve their goal; to sound the smartest in the room.
But the truth is that not every trendy thing holds the place of uselessness. In the search for truth, one must act objectively.
So, do non-fiction lacks depth?
When we say non-fiction, we refer to books that are popular and usually hold the premise of getting successful, attractive, desirable, or rich. These have themes of self-development. These are the things that every human would demand or at least desire of achieving. What’s wrong with it, if someone is telling you ways to achieve them?
Here’s a thing, these books are very formulaic in terms of ideas. These books present almost the same ideas in different words. The basic philosophy and essence of all of them are the same. There’s nothing new, normally.
So, is being formulaic a problem in these books? No! or at least not the main problem. The main problem is that these books never present ideas in much depth that you feel like choosing to decide. These books make you feel bad about your current situation or ways of life. It tells you that whatever you’re doing in your life is bad. While it can never be true that one must do everything wrong and nothing right. It presents you with the only way of doing anything right.
The best way of introducing someone to reality, truth, or whatever you want to name it is to provide enough knowledge to let them be aware of it. It is to let them analyze and decide. The best way shouldn’t be to just tell you the truth. Rather, one should place it in front of you to analyze and test it. It must enable you to think and decide whether it holds the truth or not. Whether it is reliable or not. It should go with your individual choices and prove to be beneficent.
The popular non-fiction of today is never able to do it. Because of the conventions, it has set for itself.
This is why I say, “If you read non-fiction, make sure to read philosophy.”
Philosophy never has conventions of preaching, and a good philosophy student never even expects it from philosophy.
Philosophy gives its readers a sight of critical thinking. It never asks any of its students to blindly follow them. It teaches them to be critical of every truth. Philosophy teaches its students to not be dogmatic. This gets proved by the words of the father of philosophy.
“The one thing that I know is, I know nothing.” ~ Socrates