THE SIGNIFICANCE OF PHILOSOPHY TO WEALTH CREATION, LABOUR MARKET AND THE ECONOMY: THE PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE AND SKILLS. Written by KEMKA S. IBEJI

KEMKA S. IBEJI 

Apart from lecturing, how can philosophy earn you a living in the current economical settings in Nigeria?

It is the above question that tickled my fancy in writing this piece. This question was raised somewhere among graduates of philosophy and it became important for me to help out especially the young ones in this little way. Of course, many of us who graduated from philosophy classrooms, at one point or the other, had to grapple with this challenge. It also defines, to a greater extent, the possibility of success of each young school leaver. Many who could not efficiently answer the question have had more challenges along the way as they will keep stumbling by on frustrations and confusions. The following is my little contribution;

Philosophy is not a professional discipline and so has no specialization on any particular purview. It is at best, a general foray into the world of reality which pervades all human endeavours. What philosophy does in essence is to equip the student with critical mind, analytic skills, deeper knowledge, expansive appreciation of worldviews and understanding, and with all that comes creativity and solution based mindset. It is therefore instructive to note that, in this elaboration, philosophy has two distinctive qualities it bestows on the students viz; appreciation and application or utilization. While the appreciation is taught in the philosophy classrooms, the application is left for the graduates or students to figure out. Except for those who have opportunities of undergoing further trainings to channel their skills to specific problems through taking up other professional courses or those who get into wealth education, the rest may have many more years to come to terms with the need or use of their acquired skills in philosophy. And for those who wish to become entrepreneurs and attend trainings in wealth education, they also realize that they merely are a means of putting their eyes on just a problem to proffer solutions using their philosophical knowhow gotten in the classroom.

It is usually popular to see many philosophy graduates who merely oscillate and remain in the world of ideas and planes of generalizations without bringing their reasoning to practical instantiations. This is one area that is left for the individual graduates of philosophy most times to grapple with. This is to say that it is usually not answered in the philosophy classes. You, as a philosophy graduate, will have a way to answer the question in accordance with your life experiences. However, many of them, for lack of guide and mentors, fail and get confused with the realities out there. It is therefore important to, out of my humble experience, give this token for the benefit of the young thinkers.

Philosophy grants you the general skills to work but things that are general always need some touch to reform and amendments to specifics so as to be worthwhile or useful. In philosophy you study ethics and in ethics alone you have law and the totality of the corpus of the judiciary as a very minute aspect of the gamut of ethics ala Normative Ethics. We have Professional Ethics which is now selling across the world. There are other areas of ethics which are so important and in serious demand out there. We hear and read about the code of conduct and this is merely as aspect of ethics. Other areas concern human resources or capital. This simply takes care of personnel management which is usually at the core of all organizations. But as a philosophy graduate, you need some review of your wide knowledge and a reshape to match a specific demand.

It is so in Aesthetics - the Philosophy of Arts and Beauty. This covers a very wide range of human endeavour that bring in millions and billions of currencies into world economy on daily basis. In aesthetics you talk about the entirety of Arts and beauty. You critique art. From sculpture, to graphics, painting, drama, prose, poetry, music, events (decorations, compere or Master of Ceremony, planning, idealizing, etc), and many other areas of the world of arts and beauty. This is a great world of wealth and riches. Each day we glance through Hollywood, Nollywood and the movie world. What about the music world and the generality of the world of entertainment? They all fall under aesthetics. The scientific and technological worlds, more than ever, are in need of aestheticians. All their innovations from conceptualization to exchange demand aesthetics. You, a philosophy student or graduate, only need to narrow down to what aspect you want to create values for pecuniary exchange for wealth or material riches.

What about logic? Of course, logic permeates all aspects of human life and on daily basis we engage in the needs of logic. To create and critique movies, music, pageantry, architecture, writing, campaigns (political, economic, social, etc), crusades, sports, assessment of business successes and progress, and much more, you necessarily need and must adopt some degree of logic. A philosophy student or graduate only needs to get into some form of reductionism and beating down to the atomics of social problems and applying creative skills to erect appropriate solutions. These solutions then get exchanged as such with financial matter.

One thing that we all as philosophy graduates (I usually count myself as not just a philosophy graduate but a Philosopher) must realize the demarcations of intellectual patterns viz; 1. Area of specialization; 2. Area of competence; 3. Area of interest. In summary, you need to consider specialization, competence and interest. In your study of philosophy and especially as you engage in your Long Essay or Project, you should begin to work on the perspective of human endeavor that you will want to be a professional in; that is area of specialization. In doing so, ensure that it is your area of interest. That is to say, it should be an aspect of life that interests you in such a way that you can live your entire life doing it and gain fulfillment from doing it. Then, you have to grow competence in that area so that you can turn it into a value that can be exchanged for another value. When this is done, you would have created value and wealth. You also will be able to live your life as a fulfilled person and be happy as such. And you also will be an authority, at least, in the area you have developed competence.

However, for every business, every industry, every firm, every government ministry, department, agency or parastatal, for every institution and every existence of value, there must be a philosophy. And if you, as a philosophy graduate, are able to shape your formless and endless epistemic acquisition to the appealing demand of the moment, you will indeed be most valuable for any opportunity within those instantiated cases. This is because, the philosophy of every existence is the crux, heart, heartbeat and bedrock of such experience. And if anyone is imbued with the prowess to control the strong room of anything, any organization or any institution, that person is very important, if not, indispensable to such organisation.

This question has however been an age long question in philosophy. One could recall the case of Thales of Miletus the father of western philosophy. It was then asked if philosophy bakes bread. I also think that the curiosity of the questioner here would have also been tickle by a similar experience of those thinkers then. We gathered that by studying celestial movements, Thales was able to predict bumper harvest. And whereas in the previous year there was serious agricultural failure, many farmers were not eager to get back to farm the next year and were very willing to sell or pledge their farmlands for peanuts. Having, through the skills of philosophy, studied nature and could predict the impact on agricultural productivity Thales set out to apply his knowledge to the acquisition of wealth through agriculture. Knowing the possible outcome of agricultural investment in the coming year, Thales bought up and took on pledge many Hectares of land for farming. In fact, the degree of disenchantment for farming in the land made the cost of investment too cheap for him. Conclusively, during harvest Thales had great harvest, enjoyed wondrous monopoly and became the richest in the land overnight. He then answered, not by words but by action, the question of philosophy and wealth or wealth creation. However, in his position, he argued that the intent of the Philosopher is not merely to make money but if and when his wealth of knowledge is directed to pecuniary pursuit, it exchanges for so much that getting financially wealthy becomes easy.

Nevertheless, the question here is to understand and appreciate the fate of philosophy students and graduates in the new world where they are faced with the challenges of poverty, hunger, economic downturn causing economic recession and depression, and many other wants created by the new world order. The answer, in my opinion, remains the same across ages though with minimal modifications.

But for the philosophy personnel, you only need to choose an area of life that interests you, understand the challenges in such purview, take up a problem within that sphere, gain specialization and competence in the area and create/proffer a solution out of your knowledge. Make the solution a brand, own it as a trademark, exchange it with the values you desire from the masses. Then you are wealthy and super rich. This goes for entrepreneurs and those who wish to work for others as well.

Nevertheless, for those who want to be exclusively entrepreneurs, philosophical ideas will always need a scientific mindset - appreciation and application. This makes it usually important to have need for a partner or partners. It results into leveraging and it will help you pool together and grow bigger. But you must come to the table with a value.

Indeed, philosophy has lots of ways to earn you a living in diverse areas of human world today and especially in the Nigerian economic environment. Think about ethics, aesthetics, logic, social and political philosophy, the philosophy of sciences in their spectra and more. The world of philosophy is a goldmine.

Let me conclude this piece with my experience in the Labour market;

I once had a need to attend an interview for a bank job. It was impromptu and so I never had any time to go through some concepts in banking and perhaps finance with their experiences. I got to the office and met a sea of faces who were also there for same job. Though I can in a good shirt and pair of plain trousers, I was seen as not dressing in a corporate fashion. It seemed like I was reserved for jokes as I was kept as the last person to be interviewed for the day. I was not worried a bit. But having been openly criticized by a staff, I tried to learn what goes for good dressing for the office. I was told that I needed to tuck in my shirt and have a tie on with a jacket.

Now it was already dark, about 8pm. I saw that last interviewee coming out. I knew it was my turn to go face the panel. I turned with luck to see one of their drivers who was about going for the day. I ran to him and pleaded that he assists me with his tie. Knowing why I was there, he did not withhold the help. The front desk officer introduced me to their convenience and I hurriedly wore a new look having tucked in smartly with my tie on. But I had no jacket.

When I came into the interview room, the panelists bust out with laughter. I was amazed. One asked if he (me) was the guy, of course, an answer said yes. I quickly had got a good point as they acknowledged I could learn fast having upped my dressing in such short time. The questions began. They asked me more than ten questions bothering on banking, banking industry and finance. I could not answer those questions but was bold enough to say I did not study those courses. In concluding the interview, they asked me my usefulness in the company since I do not know anything about what they do? I quickly debunk the idea that I do not know what they do but asked if the institution has a philosophy. They fell into my philosophical trap by chorusing, of course!

I told them that by my learning, the philosophy of every institution is her bedrock and heartbeat. Again, to this they hurriedly said YES! Then I asked them that if someone can be useful as to managing and efficiently advancing the philosophy of any organization, won't the person be seen as very important to the organization? Once more, they agreed. And I reminded them that I studied Philosophy and emerged one of the best. I told  them that I was enriched with philosophical skills that I can ensure a turnaround in the philosophy of the entire organization if given the opportunity.

I could see them look at each other with astonishment and again at me with heightened admiration.

I took the floor teaching them philosophy and its necessity in their company and the need of my being employed. I spoke to them for over 30 minutes and they became my students. They could get themselves at the end when they asked my weaknesses and strengths. These are also philosophy and I won't bother you further with my answers that earned me applause in the interview hall. Yes, my interviewers were clapping for me which got the attention of the Managing Director.

The short story is that I got the job, undertook their trainings, worked there, emerged the best performing staff, acquired more knowledge, resigned after 18 months to get further knowledge of philosophy and registered my own company while exiting the bank and today I run a successful real estate company. Also applying philosophy in the real estate market today, I am warming up to set up a world class global market solutions platform for real estate business.

Indeed, philosophy graduates own the stage of world economy, if and only if, they are well enriched in the skills which philosophy grants and are able to apply them to the solution of world endless problems.

I am,
KEMKA S. IBEJI
President/CEO; E-Housing.Biz Limited