When someone says philosophy, what do you think of? Most likely you take yourself back in time to ancient Greece or Rome, and you probably imagine philosophy to be an outdated way of thinking, with the only people still practicing it to be old, long-bearded men, sitting amongst nature, silently thinking away. From philosophy, ideology was born, and from ideology, came communism, fascism, socialism, monarchism, and many many other political social structures. Philosophy has been at the forefront of human rational thinking for thousands of years, and, with the rise of mass engagement of people in the ideological battle that has been going on for the past century or so, it may be more relevant now, than it has ever been before.

What is Philosophy?

Philosophy, as defined by the dictionary, is the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence, especially when considered as an academic discipline. Philosophy is basically a word used to describe "deeper thinking" and the quest for answers about our universe. The Greek word philosophia translates into 'the love of wisdom' and was also described by the Greeks as "thinking about thinking" or "the study of knowledge". Philosophy can only operate upon the existence of freedom of speech and freedom of thought, as ideas and philosophies can only become better if they are openly criticized. This kind of system was heavily present in ancient Greece.

What is Ideology?

Ideology, as described by the dictionary, is a system of ideas and ideals, especially one which forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy. This definition is true, as ideology is almost entirely about politics and social structure. It is also described as being 'a system of ideas and ideals, especially one which forms the basis of economic or political theory or policy...' Ideology, depending on the ideology, can exist with or without freedom of speech. Criticism of ideologies is fine, however, the ideology will not evolve itself through criticism.

How Are They Related?

Ideology is a set of ideals and ideas, that will not be changed and are created on the assumption that we know all of the answers. Ideology rests on top of philosophical ideas, but will not change the ideas and believes them to be concrete. An example of this is Marxism, where the philosophy is a set of principals and ideals, yet the ideology believes these to be concrete and therefore imposes them on society in the form of communism, even if the system does not work. Christianity also creates a similar example, with the basic principles and philosophy behind Christianity being forgiveness, generosity, kindness/love and so on, however, the ideology that rests on top of this philosophy, is imposed on the world in the form of a religion, and has been the cause of wars and violence, but has also led to the prospering of communities, as they live by the Christian values(philosophy). Summarizing, philosophy is open to criticism and change, and does not strive to impose itself on populations, but rather voluntarily upon individuals, and ideology is based on a philosophy and is not open to criticism and change, and strives to impose itself on a population.

Why Philosophy Is Important

Philosophy is not an 'ism' like socialism, fascism, and capitalism, but is rather about consistency, much like mathematics and science. In mathematics and science, an inconsistency in the answer is not a good thing, as it means that the study is false, and the same goes for philosophy. Ideology disobeys this law, and tends to create inconsistencies, without solving them, and can therefore be considered false. Modern ideologies are full of inconsistencies, which is why many of them fail, economically and socially.

CONSISTENT = GOOD, INCONSISTENT= BAD

Rather than debating about capitalism vs communism for the rest of our lives, I believe it is very important that we go back to the "old" ways of ancient Greece, and re-embrace the philosophical thinking of the time. The free exchange of ideas will enable us to live our lives via philosophical principles, not by ideological laws enforced upon us.

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