Why Philosophy? Nicholas Diaz

A Guide to the Examined Life

What is philosophy to you? 

The idea of philosophy evokes in my mind the literary trope of “a man in a room.” This trope forms the basis for some of the greatest fictional characters and usually goes something like this: a character (who need not be a man) is alone in a room with nothing but their thoughts, which induce discomfort in that character. Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Underground Man and Paul Schrader’s Travis Bickle are some of my favorite examples. When asked what a philosopher does, or what philosophy is (common questions when I tell someone my major) I find these characters to be good starting points of explanation.

Philosophers in my view are just ordinary people alone in their rooms with their thoughts and maybe some writing instruments. They are analytical people who try to view the world from an outside perspective and use their reason to work out some of its biggest mysteries. For Travis Bickle, these mysteries concerned the deteriorating state of his city, and for the Underground Man they surrounded the contradictory essence of human nature. For the ultimate philosophical “man in a room,” Rene Descartes’s The Meditator, they regarded forming a foundational basis for knowledge.

In Meditations on First Philosophy, the narrator experiments with radical skepticism as he idles by a fire. He questions his beliefs and then reconstructs his entire system of knowledge based on his conclusions. Philosophy for me is what characters like him accomplish. It is the complex, analytical, and often uncomfortable thoughts that arise from these conditions of alienation and inspection. When a person philosophizes, they remove themselves from the external world and their preconceptions to then scrutinize and reveal something more about them.

This two-step process is the core of philosophy - it's even rooted in the discipline’s origins in Ancient Greece. The Greeks stressed the importance of being separated from your beliefs in dialogue and higher intellectual states, and they praised the interrogation of one’s own life. Socrates is even thought to have said that “the unexamined life is not worth living.” Philosophy, then, might be thought of as the path to examination and a life worth living.

Nicholas Diaz

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How were you first introduced to philosophy? 

I was first introduced to philosophy in my freshman year of high school during the COVID-19 pandemic. I was already interested in politics and active in online political discourses where I met some interesting people. Many had views that intrigued me and made me want to learn more about politics and political philosophy. My dad, a political science major in college and now an attorney involved in government affairs, was supportive of my interests, so he agreed to buy me books from two completely different perspectives in political philosophy: The Wealth of Nations and The Communist Manifesto. Although his goal was to balance my philosophical education, I became invested in Marx’s thoughts and began to read Engels, Heinrich, Althusser, and others.

Eventually, I realized the unpopularity and problems of Marxism and became bored with the outdated thoughts and difficult language of much political philosophy (I really disliked reading Locke). It was around this time that I was introduced to Mark Fisher’s Capitalist Realism, a short book that transformed my view of philosophy and its applications. Fisher applied concepts from thinkers as diverse as Marx, Smith, Spinoza, Lacan, Stirner, and Žižek to present-day social and cultural issues I could relate to. He presented his thoughts in reference to bits of culture like The Trial, Office Space, or Kurt Cobain's aesthetics, which engaged me like no philosophy book had done before. I gained a renewed appreciation for philosophy and began to read other contemporary works of critical philosophy that have held my interest since then.

How do you practice philosophy today? 

I’ve practiced philosophy in a few ways over the years and plan on continuing to engage with the discipline in the future. Throughout my high school years, I published philosophy articles on the blog site Medium, and I would talk about various philosophical topics with others on there. I published around sixty articles in the two or three years I was actively writing and enjoyed doing so in my spare time. I was also involved in a philosophy club in high school where I would discuss a range of philosophical branches with other students.

In college I am involved in a similar club called PhilSoc, or the Undergraduate Philosophy Society, where students majoring or interested in philosophy at the University of Florida host presentations and seminars on philosophical queries. Although I have not continued publishing on Medium in college, I intend to start again this semester or move to another publishing platform for a fresh start. I hope to write about ideas from my philosophy classes that interest me and eventually write more formally for undergraduate journals.

What is a philosophical issue that is important to you? 

I’ve tried not to limit my scope in philosophy and instead be open to reading, writing, and conversing about as much as I can, but I am most captivated by psychoanalytic theory and its interventions in various philosophical discussions. The ones that seem to be most important to me now are uses of psychoanalysis in political philosophy to understand the current political atmosphere of the United States and work towards viable solutions that prevent repetitions of past regimes.

Additionally, I am interested in Latin American philosophy and its emphasis on theorizing around identity and migration. This is a field I’ve only more recently delved into, but so far, the works of Gloria Anzaldúa on mestizaje have most compelled me to explore the discipline further.

What books, podcasts, or other media have stood out to you as a philosopher?

I mentioned before that Fisher’s Capitalist Realism was a book that stood out to me and introduced me to implementations of philosophy in cultural studies. One of the main inspirations behind Fisher’s work was the philosophy of Slavoj Žižek, first published in The Sublime Object of Ideology, another work that I love. In it, Žižek combines Marxism, German Idealism, and Lacanian psychoanalysis into a fascinating theoretical framework.

Other resources that are great for getting into this area of philosophy are Todd McGowan’s books and YouTube channel, Michael Down’s The Dangerous Maybe blog on Medium, and David McKerracher’s Theory Underground project.

On a broader level, Stephen West’s Philosophize This podcast is an amazing resource for getting into philosophy and learning more about philosophers or philosophical concepts that you may be unfamiliar with. It's also just great to listen to while in the car.

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Nicholas Diaz is an undergraduate student at the University of Florida with a double major in Philosophy and Political Science and a minor in Latin American Studies. His main interests are in psychoanalysis, critical theory, and Latin American philosophy. You can follow his Medium at @nicholasadiaz7 (https://medium.com/@nicholasadiaz7).

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