By Douglas Anele
Therefore, we interpret the idea of love contained in Russell’s definition as containing the elements highlighted by Fromm. However, making allowances for the turbulent and deep emotional attachment characteristic of romantic love, the kind of love intended by Russell involves tolerance, kindness, and feeling of solidarity for fellow human beings. Now, thinkers have hotly debated the problem of knowledge since the earliest beginnings of philosophy.

In spite Edmund Gettier’s influential critique of the traditional notion of knowledge, there is a broad consensus among philosophers that knowledge is justified true belief. Hence, Russell’s definition boils down to the notion that the good life is one inspired by love and guided by justified true beliefs.

Philosophy contributes positively to the practice of love by enabling those that study it acquire the habit of careful thought, thereby enabling them to have a better understanding of the phenomenon of love as an essential component of human experience. Of course, it is impossible to lead a good life without knowledge, because knowledge is fundamental to self-actualisation and fulfillment.

As human beings, we must have adequate knowledge of the aims conducive to happiness and growth. In addition, we need to know the best means of actualising them.

Therefore, although people talk glibly about the blissfulness of ignorance, it is necessary to recognise that ignorance is definitely a hindrance to the attainment of good life. Philosophy is extremely important in this regard, since it integrates and synthesises fundamental insights from various domains of knowledge into a coherent and comprehensive system for constructing an intelligible weltanschauung.

Nigeria is a religion-intoxicated society, dominated especially by Christian and Muslim fanatics. The capitalist-mercantilist orientation that dominates religious practice in the country has, paradoxically, given rise to deceitful and pernicious pseudo spirituality that parades material possession as an index of divine blessing. Without shame, so-called men and women of God have turned Christianity, and to a lesser extent Islam, into casino spirituality where prosperity preaching has supplanted the gospel of love and human solidarity.

For those Nigerians that earnestly seek an intellectual-spiritual roadmap for the good life, philosophy offers a much better alternative than the illusory and intellectually stultifying superstitions contained in holy books. For instance values, especially moral and aesthetic values, are inseparable from the good life. Both Christian and Islamic scriptures preach moral values purportedly derived from God.

But the two systems of morality are clearly inadequate; they reflect the fears, hopes, dreams and aspirations of ancient superstitious pastoral peoples who lived in Mediterranean world, and cannot cope with the complexities of contemporary life. Moreover, the taboo morality that they promote, not to talk of the absurd doctrines of everlasting punishment in hell fire, cannot withstand the searchlight of philosophical scrutiny. We must frankly admit that the antiquated values prescribed by Christianity and Islam are unsuitable in our scientific age.

This is where philosophy comes in, with its unrelenting insistence that the values we adopt must be such that ministers to enlightened human interests since, as Protagoras of Abdera aptly remarked more than two thousand years ago, man is the measure of all things. Philosophy is the best antidote for the rampant fanaticisms that plague the world today. Those who are eager for quick returns and for precise balance sheet of effort and reward may be impatient with philosophy because of its slow and rationalistic approach to issues of vital concern to the individual and the community.

Still, the subject is the best guide for tackling certain perennial questions of vital concern for which science has yet to provide conclusive answers. Such questions include; do we survive death, and if so do we survive temporarily or forever? Does the universe have an underlying purpose or is it fundamentally a stochastic phenomenon on an unimaginable scale? Given the immensity of the cosmos revealed by contemporary astronomy, what is the status of life in it?

How did life emerge – by creation or by evolution? How did the universe originate in the first instance? In the day-to-day preoccupation with the quotidian details of life in a distressed country like Nigeria, people are apt to either neglect these questions or seek answers in ancient superstitions codified as holy books. This would be a terrible error, for as Russell stated and I agree completely, human life would be impoverished if such questions were

forgotten or if definite answers were accepted without satisfactory

evidence. One of the important functions of philosophy is to keep alive interest in them, and to examine proposed answers. The way I see it, one can have all the material possessions in the world and remain intellectually and spiritually malnourished if the person fails to ponder these topics from time to time. Dogmatism and exaggerated skepticism cannot help anyone in the quest for the good life. A dogmatist is cocksure and certain of what he claims to know, which is why dogmatism of any kind is dangerous. On the other hand, the extreme skeptic is certain that we do not know anything.

Philosophy, appropriately imbibed, dissipates certainty, and teaches a healthy dose of skepticism that enables any person that studies it develop the habit of thinking things through before reaching a conclusion which should be accepted in a tentative spirit. This means that philosophy can inculcate the intellectual virtue of acting based on the best hypothesis available anytime we are confronted with a practical problem.

As we stated earlier, the good life depends partly on knowledge, even if what is known is painful or disturbing. Because what we claim to know comes from various sources with no guarantee of absolute truth, it is necessary for us to be critical of our beliefs, particularly those that we accept wholeheartedly and unquestioningly.

Self-criticism is a virtue that philosophy can nurture in an individual, a virtue that helps people to disagree in a benign spirit devoid of the acerbity that characterises human interactions at every level. Human beings are essentially social. As a result, ethical parochialism is an obstacle to the good life in a globalising world.

What the world needs urgently right now, if humanity is to avoid complete annihilation of civilisation with weapons of mass destructions scattered in different parts of the world, is intellectual and ethical generality. For instance, social or political issues are naturally emotion-laden, which most times prevents people from discussing them rationally. Philosophy helps one to cultivate intellectual and ethical impartiality in such matters. If we make effort to increase our level of intellectual and ethical impartiality, chances are that we will be more objective and reasonable in responding to situations that tend to arouse belligerent feelings.

Thus, philosophy promotes humane and tolerant attitude, which is essential for the realisation of the good life. In conclusion, the quest for the good life is the centre of gravity in what Teilhard de Chardin called “the phenomenon of man.” The existential condition in Nigeria is so distressing that it would be too much to expect young people trying to eke out a living and mesmerised by the soporific miasma of false religiosity to have enough time for philosophy, a subject usually neglected by students in our universities.

From my own experience, however, I hereby affirm that philosophy can give certain things that will increase the value of anyone that engages with it, as a human being and as a citizen. As far as I am concerned, the discipline is the best nourishment for humans – intellectually, emotionally and spiritually. CONCLUDED.