Maybe it was Ryan Holiday who said: “Philosophy is not just about talking or lecturing, or even reading long, dense books. In fact, it is something men and women of action use — and have used throughout history — to solve their problems and achieve their greatest triumphs. Not in the classroom, but on the battlefield, in the Forum, and at court.” It is not just the individual now that must struggle to find a way to survive the challenges of today. It is humanity that is at risk on the battlefield, in the economy, in the environment against the madmen. We must use philosophy to solve our problems and achieve our triumphs. We must use it to survive.

Why philosophy is needed now more than ever… I mean from an ecological perspective we have been trying to make the biggest change any species has ever tried. Everything changed when created the farms and cities of civilization. We left the ecology we developed in and are still most adapted to. We need to adapt genetically, but more than that we need to adapt strategically … or morally if you want to call it that. Oh yeah, philosophically. The problems we have to solve are not going to be answered by science alone. Obviously philosophers will have to answer many of them. People speak of singularities and super-intelligence, but it is humans that must find a new way for humans to survive.

What happened to philosophy? What had happened to this great knowledge? I know that the Founding Fathers that wrote the Constitution and Declaration of Independence considered the classical philosophers to be their guides and inspiration. I have seen mention of this knowledge in letters written during the Civil War. It was still known and respected then. I even vaguely remembered mention of practical philosophy as being part of basic education in grammar school early in the 1900’s. My guess was that during the disruption of WWII and the explosion of science that the war resulted in, that science crowded out philosophy. I know how people currently try to answer questions with science when reason or other methods would be better tools, but it is what they have been taught to use. Discussion with a friend pointed out though that it wasn’t just the ascendancy of science that led to this. In the early 20th century a war raged between science and religion such as the Scopes Trial about evolution. It seems that philosophy was a casualty of that conflict. It wasn’t completely forgotten. I quickly found out that there are many people, often leaders, who are quite familiar with Classical Philosophy, especially Stoic Philosophy. What happened to this knowledge and how could we bring it back to common usage as it needs to be?

I will say, I believe there is a path. I’m a biologist by instinct. I see that we need to adapt strategically and genetically to create a new ecology that does not exist in nature. It is civilization. We must create it, maintain it and protect it. I think I have solved the first part, the genetic problem of how we can ethically and economically husband our genes to preserve our genetic wealth and adapt genetically to the changes: Genetics For A New Human Ecology I’ve spent over 40 years on this and am now working on completing Strategy For A New Human Ecology which is the philosophical part of how humans can adapt to the next ecology we inhabit. The most important element might be the oldest philosophy of all, what Ma’at said about balance. The Greeks told us how to discern truth with the logic and reason of Critical Thinking. They also told us the standard we will have to hold ourselves to in order to reach the future: Beauty. We have much of what we need. It was intelligence that got humanity this far, but that intelligence needs tools and philosophy is the primary tool of our intellect. We’ve done well, but disasters are coming. to overcome them we will need to remember the philosophies that got us this far and develop them more based on what science has shown us. There are important but subtle lessons from Darwin’s work that are not yet incorporated into philosophy. Philosophy has explored reason and logic, but now must explore neural nets so as to know better how to use our minds. Philosophy will need to describe the place of machines. The Greek philosophy we rely on so much was good but is still highly adapted to their tribal world. We need more than they gave us…. I’m writing about that now. I see great dangers, but I also see humanity achieving its greatest aspirations. To do so will require great philosophy.