The Gadfly | City Journal
Truth, justice, ethics, the nature of thought or existence: these are all considered worthy of philosophical analysis. But what about the stuff of our daily lives? Can Internet memes, birthday parties, shopping malls, sitcoms, gasoline, or microwavable dinners be relevant to philosophy? In his 2016 book The Philosopher: A History in Six Types, Justin E. H. Smith offers a typology of the thinkers whom we may (or may not) consider philosophers, observing that the job description of philosopher has long proved contentious. Among Smith s types, the gadfly someone, like Socrates, who questions prevailing social pressures would be the most open to incorporating the mundane day-to-day experiences of life into philosophy. Done poorly, this kind of philosophy can become the half-formed gibberish of contemporary gender and race studies. But done well, it can help us understand the forces that shape our lives.
If anyone should be considered the preeminent gadfly of our age, it s the German-Korean philosopher Byung-Chul Han: a contemporary thinker acutely aware of the cultural forces that degrade our humanity and hinder our flourishing.