Neo sees through the constructed world in movie Matrix
Neo sees through the constructed world in movie Matrix

Philosophers see through appearances of the world, directly arriving at the essence, or so they aspire.

Unlike empirical scientists who use observation and experiments to probe the exact shape and pattern of the world on its different layers, philosophers are not equipped with this type of investigational probe. On the other hand, they do have their own unique devices, that is, conceptual analysis. With this tool in hand, philosophers can distill the very structure of how we understand, perceive, value, and act upon the world and ourselves. In other words, philosophers are equipped with a distinctive type of lens, helping them see through the appearances of the world and ourselves, which often obscure and distract people from the real and the true.

This “seeing through” should be the core skill of any philosophical training and teaching; failing this, philosophy graduates cannot really survive in this overly competitive and highly specialized era. At the meantime, once this “seeing through” is basically completed, the philosophy graduate can expand her core skills to cover not only conceptual analysis, but also conceptual design, to help positively change the world for the better.