Philosophy Is Good and Useful

Abstract Aristotle’s first response to the charge that philosophy is useless is transmitted in Iamblichus’ Protrepticus 6: philosophy is good and useful because philosophizing constitutes our ergon and enables expert judgement about how to live well. The chapter argues that Aristotle grounds this claim in a common conception of the wise as people who do not merely follow what others do but chart their own course—in the best case, based on scientific knowledge of living well. Since philosophy is the pursuit and possession of such knowledge, including knowledge of the human end, it is good and useful. This interpretation of the argument also supports the view that Aristotle held the so-called ‘Grand End View’: the view that full character virtue requires knowledge of the human end. Critics have argued that this interpretation is implausible, maintaining that Aristotle regards such knowledge as useless for well-habituated agents. But the argument here suggests otherwise: that Aristotle sees following one’s own expert reasoning about how to live—and understanding why one’s actions are good—as a valuable feature within the practical realm, without which one cannot possess fully developed character virtue.