Philosophical Musings

Parmeshwar Devkota

Commuting by public buses may take more time to reach one's destination, but it may have other benefits - you come across with the people of different walks of life. Probably, one may meet old friends and make the new ones. As yours truly experiences, travel in a bus sometime become a moment of brain storming that can be both positive and negative. 

In the technologically advanced age, it is obvious that almost all people in the bus not only carry cellphone but also scroll them to watch the videos of their choices. We, inquisitive onlookers, are bound to look on them intentionally or unintentionally because in most of the cases, our eyes naturally fall on the gadgets. Boys or girls mostly engross themselves in them. It shows that the youths of today are hyper-active and cannot keep quiet as they use cellphones for various objectives. They are not concerned with serious things such as reading books and listening to the lectures of the experts. 

It is the expectation of the parents that their offspring would be studious and knowledgeable persons and become scientists and philosophers. Our nation is in dire need of philosopher, who can come up with new thoughts and ideas and change the society.  We have noted politicians, doctors, engineers and even poets, but we do not have a world-class philosopher after Siddhartha Gautam. Though there are many types of philosophies, a pure philosophy can be defined as- “The study of the nature and meaning of the universe and human life”.  And, a philosopher is the person who thinks deeply to bring about the positive changes in human life and nature as Siddhartha Gautam had transformed the war-ravaged world into peace. 

In the Western world, there are scores of famous philosophers from Thales to Merleau-Ponty. Thales is considered the first philosopher in the West. Among the philosophers, some have played prominent role to shape the human civilization. They have given the present shape of the modern society. Socrates, Copernicus, Marx and Nietzsche are among leading philosophers. The stance of Socrates established the power of an individual against state. The scientific finding of Copernicus proved that the earth circles the sun, which challenged the religious perception and concept of god. 

Marx says, “Philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it.” This statement has great impact on the society and inspired the people to fight for their rights across the world. His ideology spurred the movements for establishing a just society, leading to the abolition of slave system. Similarly, Nietzsche played an important role in the development of analytical criticism on the philosophical theories of past philosophers. He advanced a new philosophy called existentialism and became a towering figure in the field of philosophy.  

On the 124th death anniversary of Nietzsche, we wish that new generation should follow the path shown by him and help upgrade the status of the nation instead of indulging in shallow literature and gadgets.