Why People don’t like philosophy?

I have been wandering on this question for a long time. The reason? I have met different kinds of people and have had conversations with them. When I try to talk some philosophical stuff, they seem to get quite averse of it, as if I have done something wrong. It has been my general observation that not many people are into philosophical inquiries of the things around them. It feels like I am talking about something they don’t want to be discussed. Maybe I have been talking about wrong things. Maybe I have been talking to wrong people. Applying a scientific framework to my curiosity, I came up with following list of reasons, why people in general don’t like talking about philosophy.

1. People do not comprehend the ideas.

This was the first thing that came to my mind, and got rejected. Reason: I have talked to people who might be 10 smarter than me. So, this idea is the most implausible one. Maybe these philosophical ideas are something quite trivial and do not interest people in general.

2. Its not their taste.

This point seems to be convincing. Its true that people come from diverse backgrounds, and have different experiences, so it is very likely that each individual has a different taste. May be talking about random philosophies of life, is not their cup of tea. But Why? Isn’t being philosophical a kind of an escape? Diving into the realms of ideas, playing with them, reasoning with arguments, applying the little human mind to think, how things are, or how they can be; isn’t this a momentary pleasure one can seek from the harsh realities of life? I can be wrong. Not everyone likes donuts after all. Also, people are too busy with their lives to think about such stuff. Why in the world would anyone care about how or why things are happening? They have jobs to do. Who would waste their precious weekend time on silly ideas that have no meaning at all. They might be meaningful to me, helping me to understand how things work. But again, don’t people have different understandings?

3. Somehow, deep inside them, they are afraid that the new ideas to be discussed could be harmful to their own set of principles, could be disruptive to their set of laws/ideas that they have created and strongly maintained for a long time, or in other terms, fear of cognitive dissonance.

This idea is my personal favourite. Imagine, I have created a large fort of the Lego blocks and my friend comes to me and tells me this is not how a fort is made. He/she points out a fundamental mistake at the foundation of the fort, and if I try to change it, I will have to destroy the whole fort. I will have to start everything from scratch, and all my hours of hard work will be wasted. So, I prefer not to listen to him/her, and maintain my big fort and be happy with it. After all, happiness is what we all seek. Similarly, I believe it is very difficult for us, to open ourselves to new ideas, that challenge our very existence, our very present standing in the system. This is a threat to our identity, of who we are, our set of ideas, our image of ourselves. Everything is in danger. And so, we shut ourselves, prefer not to listen to our friend, and be happy with ourselves. It’s a clever way to live after all, being happy and content with what we are.

4. They have thought all about it, but do not want to discuss it.

This could be another convincing reason. Maybe some people have already figured it out, and thus, such talks make no sense to them. Maybe they understand that such things are not to be talked about in public and can only be understood by an individual on their personal will.

Whatever maybe the reasons behind the people’s aversion to the philosophical ideas, I have come to an understanding that one should respect other’s opinion and their ideas. As an individual living in the 21st century world, everyone of us has the fundamental right to perceive things in a way we want, no matter what beliefs we hold. So, I would end my pondering with this understanding and let all my ideas be as they are, mere speculations of a human mind.

Thinking about the people’s opinion and their ideas, I recall a famous quote I read somewhere on the internet:

“Everyone you meet, is fighting their own battles, you know nothing about. Be kind.”

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