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Date of Graduation
5-2026
Description
This project is an inquiry into the nature of philosophy and the relation it bears to the person who philosophizes. I will argue that philosophy is an inquiry into truth. But the sorts of truths on the table for philosophical inquiry do not necessarily comport with our desires and values. This project will explore them, dividing them into truths about the human condition and truths about external reality. We will see that the various philosophical questions posed with respect to these two domains allow for answers whose acceptance could have radical, upsetting, and perhaps ultimately harmful consequences. Friedrich Nietzsche raised similar concerns, and we will consider them along with his closely related claims that humans require fictions (untruth) in order to live. We will use this discussion to consider whether philosophical inquiry itself may be potentially harmful. I will argue that implicit in much philosophical theorizing (and explicit in the case of philosophers like Sami Pihlström, whom we shall consider) is that harmful truths are “off the table.” Or, if they are not off the table, they are at least “last resorts,” as in the case of pessimistic views such as those of David Benatar and Arthur Schopenhauer. My defense of such theses is intended not so much to convince the reader that they are true, but rather to encourage the recognition that disturbing positions on reality and the human condition are genuinely possible options. I will conclude by explaining what I take to follow from the preceding discussions: that philosophy can be unsettling, risky, and, above all, untherapeutic. One who wishes to philosophize would do well to ask themself what they intend to gain out of such an inquiry, and should further wonder whether they have any reason to expect to be better off by conducting it. If we can accept that philosophical truths need not conform to our desires and values, then we may pursue them without obscuring pretensions; attention will thus be drawn to Nietzsche’s frequent metaphorical comparison of philosophy to “wandering through the mountains.”
Publication Date
2026
Document Type
Book
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy
Degree Level
Undergraduate
Department
Philosophy
Advisor/Mentor
Purdy, Ashley
Disciplines
Arts and Humanities | Philosophy
Keywords
Humanities
Citation
Roy, Z. (2026). On the Untherapeutic Nature of Philosophy. 2026 Research Poster Competition. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/hnrcsturpc26/27
