World Philosophy Day, observed every year on the third Thursday of November, highlights the importance of the subject. Among many top-rated academic disciplines, philosophy is the best bet for those who are gifted with critical thinking abilities. The study of philosophy, now a mainstream subject that almost every university offers a degree for, is fundamentally dependant on logic and touches upon diverse aspects of the workings of the world, making sense of them to common human intellect.

The initiator of the day was the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), with an aim to propagate the value of the subject for the collective development of human thought, regardless of culture and background. The agency typically pledges to spread awareness about the fact that the study of philosophy plays a key role in understanding our past, present, and future.

This year, World Philosophy Day is being celebrated on Nov. 17 with the theme "The Human of the Future." On this day, UNESCO is set to organize a symposium and exhibition in collaboration with Le Fresnoy- the National Studio of Contemporary Arts based out of France.

UNESCO first proposed the day in 2005 at its 33rd General Conference held in Paris, underlining, "Philosophy is a discipline that encourages critical and independent thought and is capable of working towards a better understanding of the world and promoting tolerance and peace." On its website, UNESCO describes philosophy as "an inspiring discipline as well as an everyday practice that can transform societies."

"By enabling to discover the diversity of the intellectual currents in the world, philosophy stimulates intercultural dialogue. By awakening minds to the exercise of thinking and the reasoned confrontation of opinions, philosophy helps to build a more tolerant, more respectful society. It thus helps to understand and respond to major contemporary challenges by creating the intellectual conditions for change," it adds.

On World Philosophy Day, here are some quotes that depict how enormously enjoyable the study of philosophy is: (Courtesy: Wisdom quotes)

  • "Philosophy is the science of truth."- Aristotle
  • "Science is what you know. Philosophy is what you don't know."- Bertrand Russell
  • "Don't explain your philosophy. Embody it."- Epictetus
  • "The philosopher's product is his life."- Friedrich Nietzsche
  • "Philosophy teaches us to act, not to speak."- Seneca
Philosophers
Philosophers