What's the Use of Philosophy?

Not too long ago, I was sent a link to an essay written by Ayn Rand titled “Philosophy: Who Needs It?” Reading over the essay helped me understand why I think philosophy is, for the large part, useless. The key to my reasoning is intellectual honesty and my lack of trust in everyone else to have it. Rand says, more or less, that philosophy exists apart from science to explain what science does not, which I totally disagree with. Classical philosophy is that unnecessary slimy film that settles over the clean surface of the scientifically revealed world, warping its color and texture. If I were to accept Rand's justification for philosophy, I would be lead to believe (as many are) that there is meaning to be found where none actually exists.

Philosophy my be responsible for many idioms and aphorisms that more or less describe what we call "human nature" but they do not describe the universe and objective reality better than science does. Philosophy is aesthetics. Science is structure. Ask "why" something happened is like fucking a duck's vagina - many paths leading to nowhere. Those who influence the world learn that something can happen and how it does. They need not concern themselves with why because they provide the reason when they need to. And any reason will do. This is all to say that philosophy will change with society. The only constants are the physical laws in effect and the human nature that will not change no matter how aware we are of it.

How should people approach the subject of philosophy? By skipping over it completely and going straight to science. An example of this lies in the essential conundrum introduced through ethical dilemmas. There are no easy answers with many of the questions that I wrote about in my last entry. Even if you were a hard-line individualist, you would have found your views challenged if you were intellectually honest enough to consider the effects of rampant individual sovereignty on the lives of others. Philosophy can't answer those questions any better than flipping a coin does. However, when we look at empirical data on the effect of choices, we come up with better ways to calibrate our world. If we know we have a much higher chance of being happy when we submit our decisions to an authority, what is the use of philosophy?

Can we empirically know everything? Another philosophical question. The answer isn't important. The only thing that is important is the fact that the world will never work in such a way where philosophy matters more than a toke from a bong. Meanwhile, class warfare is a reality that nobody will ever outlive. This means that those who get this will find ways to engineer the world to take advantage of "human nature." To sum it up: we should seek knowledge, not interpretation.