Quality of Life
Philosophy, in my opinion, comes in two basic flavors, aesthetic and practical. By aesthetic, I mean philosophy that's enjoyable to read, write, or consider, but that's not really applicable to how we live, or should live, our lives. The vast majority of academic and French existential philosophies fall into this category (unless French existentialism is really just a tortured way of saying, "we're going to be dead a long time").
By practical, I mean exactly that; philosophy that, whether enjoyable or not, is intended to affect how we live our lives in the ordinary world. I am a big fan of the ordinary world, the getting up in the morning, paying bills (on a good day), going to work, to school, or whatever fills our day, and all the things that comprise the regular business of life.
While philosophy that has mainly aesthetic appeal adds something fine and special to the quality of life, it's reserved for those rare moments of pleasure similar to enjoying a concert or ballet. On the other hand, practical philosophy works its magic on all the small and ordinary moments in between.
It was a popular belief a few decades ago that the goal of philosophy was spiritual evolution or enlightenment, some sort of cosmic transformation of self into a higher state of being. Nonsense. If the goal of philosophy relates to the wearing of orange robes or a dirty loincloth, I pass. I'm more in need of a philosophy that helps me overcome the power of late night infomercials.
No matter what fine, profound thoughts I think in the small hours of the morning, it's the ordinary business of life that commands most of my attention. Nirvana is out of my reach. I'll settle for a little equanimity in a crowded K-Mart.
What practical philosophy can do for us is open our eyes to some basic truths (and lies) and help us understand the difference between illusion and reality. It can help us make better choices.
It might seem that I'm talking about ordinary common sense, but what we think is common sense isn't always so sensible. The problem with "common" sense is that it's often the result of custom, habit, or tradition, which tend to write in stone the opinion of a vested interest group. The history of the world, sadly, is full of examples of the misery and suffering caused by "common sense" tainted by prejudice.
How do we construct our own practical philosophy? By first taking a close, impartial look at the things and ideas we value and simply asking "why?" The choices we make in our daily life are connected to what we value. We do what we think has value and avoid what we think does not; and, when two or more alternatives have competing value, we weigh them according to what has more or less and act accordingly.
These are the same questions professional philosophers worry about, though with longer sentences and more syllables. It doesn't have to be that painful.
One way to start is by making a list of the things we do value, then asking what we should value, despite what we may have been told by our parents, teachers or Oprah Winfrey. Another standard technique is to start with a "clean slate", assuming that nothing has value until it demonstrates a quality that makes it worthy of value.
This is a first, small step. If it continues to rain here in my area of Portugal, I'll go into more detail in a day or two about the idea of "value", but here's a preview -- in my opinion, it has something to do with growth and nourishment, or, in a word, health.