Parkhurst

Hmm. This is an interesting view although I am not sure that it is as worthless (bad philosophy not the view) as first appears. I am not even sure that bad philosophy exists any more than good philosophy. If beginning philosophy invariably involves working through awful reasoning and bad approaches to reach a better understanding, then perhaps it has served a greater purpose than you first give it credit.

I think that terms like good and bad are more suited to the attitudes to philosophy, than the actual philosophising. It is interesting that you seem to believe that you are probably bad at philosophy, because I am not sure that anyone whom you may consider to be good with philosophy would recognise themselves as such. The need to improve thinking, and understanding such a need, may be a great tool in philosophy. Your acknowledgement that you are probably bad at philosophy, infers that you could be head and shoulders above many people who think that they know what philosophy is all about. You display a willingness to accept that you may be wrong when entering into a discussion, and in my experience this has proved to be a useful attitude.

I would argue that it is not ‘the’ worth of philosophy, but rather it is ‘a’ worth of philosophy. For instance, does philosophy not also help us question important human issues as well as form answers?

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The unexamined life is not worth living.