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Why Philosophy Matters

  • graysonpitcock
  • Jan 6
  • 3 min read

Updated: Jan 26

To kick off this blog, I want to talk about why philosophy matters in our everyday lives. 


Many discussions of philosophy are fairly dry, which keeps people from getting started. So I will try to make its concepts more accessible and relevant to our lives. For example, is technology such as AI a good thing? Should it be controlled- if so, how? These questions cannot be answered without asking questions such as, "why are we here?" and "what is the point to our lives?"


I want to start with one of my favorite movies. One of the truly great philosophical movies of our time - The Matrix.


Do you remember that scene where Neo is in the car with Switch and Trinity?  They are taking him to Morpheus and have to take a tracker- a bug-like machine - out of his body. Switch says, "You do what we tell you, or your out. My way or the highway."  Neo is about to get out of the car, because he doesn't like ultimatums, but Trinity says to him: "You have been down that road before Neo and you know exactly where that leads.  Get back in the car." 


You have the same choice Neo had. Philosophy will open your mind to a different way of looking at reality, because it asks fundamental questions about our existence, meaning and value.


People seem to believe that philosophy is this abstract, pointless form of thinking that is detached from practical life and everyday concerns. However, the deeper you explore into this form of meaningful knowledge, you start to realize that philosophy is intertwined into everything. It may not be essential for you to understand it for your day to day life, but it underlies every system of knowledge, and every belief.


Embracing philosophy as a way of thinking is something that could truly benefit the world. Philosophical conversations can bring out invaluable dialogue and extremely important ideas and concepts. If we can approach the world from a philosophical lens, a framework that searches for understanding, we can actually begin to navigate this confusing and polarizing world together. 


Ultimately, the true value of philosophy lies not only with the intellectual challenge it brings but also in its ability to inspire people to look at any type of issue in a more thoughtful way that will benefit the interconnected society we all live in.


So- Are You Going to Take The Red Pill or the Blue Pill?


If you take the Red Pill you go back to the way your life used to be. Going through your daily routines, wondering whether you are missing something. 


Or you can take the Blue Pill and see how far down the rabbit hole leads, with me as your guide.


The Matrix is a great way to get into some of these fundamental questions and what it all means for us in our daily lives.


To start- I want to suggest that the overarching philosophical question in the Matrix is:  What constitutes the real world?  Can you ever know if the world around you perceived by your mind is real or not?  This concept known as Solipsism in philosophy is exactly that idea. You cannot know anything other than what your own mind tells you about the world.

One way in which the Matrix series deals with this question has been debated by fans everywhere: Does Neo ever leave the Matrix (an artificial world constructed by the machines to keep humanity in captivity) - or not?  


 
 
 

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About Me

My name is Grayson Pitcock. I founded Philosophy Check, a philosophy blog and student discussion club.

I am a Bergen Catholic High School student and have spent most of my life living in Tenafly, which occupies five square miles in the northern end of New Jersey. With a 41.7% minority population, my hometown is diverse. Neighbors on my street speak Korean, Hebrew, Spanish, Hindi, and Russian. 

My family is multicultural. One side of my family, from the Midwest, has deep American roots dating back to the Revolutionary War, and the other side, from the East Coast, is a second-generation immigrant family of Korean ancestry. Although many aspects of my family upbringing may sound familiar, my multicultural background has enabled me to experience contrasting ideas, beliefs, and perspectives representing the diverse opinions of this vast country. Building relationships across differences happens nearly daily, both within and outside my family. 

I am interested in understanding how people can disagree profoundly yet still share space, community, and even friendship. Living in this environment has made me deeply curious about how people arrive at their beliefs, how truth is constructed and contested, and what it means to live ethically in a pluralistic society. I found myself drawn to philosophy because I was fascinated by the frameworks we use to ask questions about justice, morality, freedom, and self.

In my free time, my background also leads me to look for ways to bring people together in community advocacy, to support youth mental health and environmental justice. This means showing up fully, learning as I go, and getting others with me. Whether between different groups at school or in conversations where people don’t agree, I enjoy challenging myself and those around me to question their assumptions and see all sides of our choices while bridging gaps across divides. 

I am a part of a Youth Advisory Board for NJ4S, a state-led initiative that advocates for youth mental wellness in New Jersey. The Youth Advisory Board is a group of health care professionals, community organizers, and students who meet in person or virtually every month. Of the many communities that I am involved in, this one is significant to me in that I can see in others sharing the same belief I hold in community advocacy, of gathering experiences and building networks between communities and policymakers that can address the health needs of local communities in northern New Jersey. 

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