At this point, it happens out of habit. I’m walking to the train station with friends, at a bar trying to keep up with a conversation, or stuck in small talk with a stranger—then it hits me. Am I doing this right? Is my reaction to their words appropriate? Am I justified in feeling proud over x, y, or z? Et cetera, et cetera. I phase out of conversations to question if my actions are correct or if my interlocutor’s choice of words is right. My brain stops me from being in my body, and I float away to some philosophical fantasy land.
This isn’t a unique feeling to philosophy students; at least, I wouldn’t assume so. Then again, none of my non-philosophy-studying friends have questioned whether or not what they just said was a good perlocutionary act or not. I could just call this a ‘work injury’ and move on. However, I’m a philosophy student, so I won’t. The question then is: Could the sudden interruptions of abstract thoughts, or overthinking, be making my, and other philosophy students’, lives harder?
When I say ‘overthinking’, I am not merely referring to worry or indecision, but the act of analyzing ordinary experiences as puzzles. This could show itself in different ways. There is critical reflection on one hand and obsessive abstraction on the other. By critical reflection, I am referring to, e.g., the act of clarifying concepts, testing assumptions, or drawing distinctions. Questions such as ‘Is this belief justified?’ or ‘What follows from this claim?’ could fit in here. Critical reflection is deliberate, goal-oriented, and, for the most part, context-sensitive. Say that you’re about to claim that someone acted freely. Here, you could stop yourself to question ‘what do I mean by freely?’ before moving on to continue your conversation—maybe now with the clarification of what you mean by freely. Critical reflection would be an instance of practical reasoning, helping you reach some goal. However, if this reasoning starts to spiral and doesn’t help you act, you may collapse into obsessive abstraction.
Obsessive abstraction is what I consider as analyzing something even when there is no practical need, losing sight of the ordinary context. Instead of getting you to act, it prevents you from acting. This tends to be be unproductive, paralyzing, or isolating. Say that someone complimentsyou, and you begin analyzing whether this is some sort of strategic speech act or if they presuppose hierarchies of taste and not simply enjoying the compliment. This would be an instance of what I will call theoretical reflection—concerned with figuring out some truth and not helping you get to a goal.
I don’t believe that theoretical reflection is necessarily bad. However, say that you’re in a conversation with someone who claims that they know that their partner loves them. Instead of accepting the sentiment of responding supportively, your brain focuses on the word know. Suddenly, you’re in an obsessive spiral of thoughts that aren’t helpful to your friend or your conversation. What I am trying to say is that the habit of philosophical interrogation could be making your life harder. There may be an epistemic gain in this mode of reflection: sharper distinctions and fewer unexamined assumptions. But it comes with its costs: disconnection, inhibition, alienation, et cetera.
You may question: Isn’t this just good thinking? Isn’t this kind of overthinking simply the price of clearer thought? Even further, is this a failure of the philosophical method—an overapplication of tools meant for different domains? This may very well be the case. Philosophy encourages clarity, but if life resists it the task is to know when to stop clarifying.
Both kinds of reflection—practical and theoretical—have their place. But their misuse or misplacement can shift us from clarity to alienation. This entire article may have been an instance of obsessive abstraction, but I have a hard time stopping myself from doing it. I don’t want to think less. But sometimes I wonder whether there’s a way of thinking that could bring us closer to others and not further apart.
Writer: Siri Thiwång, administratör & medieansvarig