Philosophy has been described and praised by academics for being an ‘armchair discipline’— something which you can do from the comfort of your armchair because it involves logic and theorizing. But despite its accessible nature, young people often see it as being unapproachable. Nothing, however, can be further from the truth. Philosophy can benefit us infinitely and may be exactly what my generation needs.
A Brief History of Thought
To understand the current state of philosophy and its relevance in 2025, we need to first familiarise ourselves with the past and a few main principles from that period, stretching from 1600 to 1945. Crucially, there was a shift in focus on the individual; how one thinks and feels and lives under state control or within the social system. From this came the idea of Liberalism. Liberalism is best known as a political ideology, but its roots can be found in the philosophy of John Locke and the idea that every human being is born with natural rights, such as the right to life, liberty, and property.
Under the governments of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, the 1980s saw a revival of these ideas in the form of Neoliberalism (an imaginative term that simply means ‘new liberalism’). With the introduction of deregulation and tax cuts, it was argued that the individual, rather than the state, was responsible for creating the life they wanted to live, and that one had an abundance of freedom to do so. In the eyes of a neoliberal, the quality of life you experienced was a direct reflection of your skill in outcompeting rivals in the labour market.
But there’s surely more to us than outcompeting each other? We’ve arguably moved on in the last 40 years towards a more comprehensive understanding of the individual and their place in society.
Gen-Z’s Individualism
It is not our fault that we (Gen Zers) are an immensely individualistic generation, unknowingly subscribing to older ideals. We hope anxiously for a future in which current politicians haven’t rejected our climate demands and where the possibility of getting on the property ladder isn’t slim to none. Deep down, however, we dream not only of financial stability, but financial freedom, and the ability to amass collections of beautifully useless yet expensive objects.
The hyper-consumerism that social media endorses, with its rapidly shifting trends, forces us to attach value to objects, pushing us increasingly towards a materialistic outlook. In philosophy, this is the view that nothing in the universe exists but physical matter. In our forever-shifting social environment, young people understandably focus on day-to-day material changes rather than trying to detach themselves from their physical reality. As a result, identity becomes closely attached to the material present, rather than the idealism of some past or future state of being. We seem to lose ourselves to the present, and more interestingly, we appear to lose our sense of time as something that reflects our progression from the past to the future.
An Infatuation with the Past
Time is central to the human experience. After all, our lives are just periods of time. Time also encapsulates our ideas of cause and effect with the aid of words like ‘past’ and ‘future,’ thereby signifying the presence or absence of certain actions and processes. Indeed, we must understand the concept of Time in all its dimensions so that this period that we call life can be as fulfilling as possible. But we don’t understand it. Rather, we appear to have dispensed with Time when it comes to certain things, so that the idea of change no longer feels relevant.
One way to demonstrate this is to analyse the artistic landscape of the 21st Century. First, let’s look at Film.
In 2024, the 5 highest-grossing movies were:
- Inside Out 2
- Deadpool & Wolverine
- Moana 2
- Despicable Me 4
- Wicked
Notice how all 5 films and animations are reboots or recreations of preexisting material. None of the above are original movies. The focus seems to be on bringing back familiar characters that audiences already love and cherish, rather than creating original new content.
Now let’s have a look at the highest-grossing music tours of 2024:
- Taylor Swift — The Eras Tour
- Coldplay — Music of the Spheres Tour
- P!nk — Summer Carnival Tour
- Luis Miguel Tour
- Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Tour
A similar pattern emerges.
The 2020s seem infatuated with the past, repainting it as vintage and retro and reusing old trends, as seen with the resurgence of the Y2K fashion style in late 2023. We sell the feeling of nostalgia, and businesses vastly profit from our sentimentality. The best example of this is possibly the Eras tour, grossing $2 billion, whose whole essence consisted of reminiscing about the time long gone. This is by no means a critique of the skills and creativity of 21st-century artists. Rather, it’s an observation; considering that art has historically reflected the views of its time, this is exactly what is happening now.
Embracing Our True Selves
It’s reasonable to assume that Gen-Z hasn’t quite found its footing yet. As a collective, we are not sure of who we are in a sense that would help us to reject material possessions and the physical environment easily. Yet we continue to put so much emphasis on ourselves as individuals — an idea that has remained relatively stagnant since the ’80s.
So, what are we supposed to do?
Some argue that the best way forward is to take a collectivist approach. We start seeing the group as more important than the individual, and we begin to view ourselves in relation to that group, rather than as solitary entities. Though this is plausible, I believe there is a superior alternative.
I believe that thinking philosophically can save Gen-Z. The emphasis here is on thinking rather than speaking. And by thinking, I mean rationally, critically and logically from the comfort of the armchair about who we are as people, what are values consist of, what we believe in, and how we’ve come to be in the situation we find ourselves.
Revel in knowing yourself. Demonstrate your uniqueness boldly and unapologetically. Live in the present, but be aware of the past and think of the future. And live your life freely.
Philosophy can save Gen-Z, if we let it.
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