Ian Goh, Author at Malaysian Philosophy Society

Bio of the Philosopher

Ian Goh graduated with BA Philosophy from the University of London. Ian is currently one of the co-founders of enlg, a lifestyle brand dedicated to exploring meaningful and sustainable living with multifunctional, clinically-effective skincare. In this interview, Ian talks about the value of philosophy, taking the unconventional path and daring to be different.

Getting into Philosophy as a Combination of Accident and Choice

There was a point in my life where things got really dark. You could call it an existential crisis but at that time I didn’t know there was such a thing. I was actually studying biomedical science in Melbourne back then. After a series of family incidents, I decided to withdraw from the course and fly back immediately. Credit transfer wasn’t an option at that time and I didn’t want to repeat those Chemistry 101 modules again. So I wondered, what if I could start everything anew?

After searching stuff on Google and months of reading, I came across several overarching ideas like existence, virtues, utilitarianism and many others. All of them seem to link to this field called philosophy. This made me realise that there is more to life than just medicine, engineering and law. All my life I thought I was destined to become a doctor and specialise in something. I thought that it would allow me to live a life with meaning and purpose.

But philosophy has shown me that there are in fact many ways to do that. Since then, I’ve never stopped asking.

Philosophy’s Values in Daily Lives

I wouldn’t say that philosophy helped me in the sense that it’s some kind of solution to every single problem in life. It doesn’t work that way. Rather, it’s the process of inquiry that happens when studying philosophy that is somewhat helpful. The process of asking questions, leading to more questions and not answers.

And that can sometimes make life worse for some, especially if you like quick answers and don’t like being perplexed. But it enables you to grasp the complexity of life and the world as we know it. It can help you develop an open mind towards things and at the same time question them deeply.

For me, it feels like being on the red pill. You’ll feel worse in the beginning, like everything’s wrong with the world. But gradually, you become more aware, conscious and curious. And that has helped me a lot.

Studying philosophy doesn’t automatically make you a rational or ethical person. You can still do the rationally or ethically inappropriate thing even when you entirely know it is so. That’s why you have philosophers who are embroiled in scandals or support Trump’s policies.

And that’s normal. After all, we’re just human; emotional beings who can make mistakes.

The Underwhelming Support of Philosophy in Malaysia

Because it doesn’t teach you how to make money (laughs).

There are so many reasons for this question.

But I guess with regards to why very few Malaysians study philosophy as their major, it’s fair to say that a significant number of people have never come across this “subject” in the first place. Not to mention the misconceptions that could arise when with such an unfamiliar subject.

In Malaysia, there’s no full-fledged degree in philosophy available at local universities. Thus, it is often the case that Malaysians come across philosophy whilst studying abroad as electives/courses are most likely encountered in foreign universities.

Also, the way philosophy is taught at universities is also very unappealing. I mean, who wants to listen to dull professors droning on dry theoretical stuff? Or even read long, sometimes messy and complex arguments written by dead people? Not everyone can handle that for three, four years.

However, I’m sure there are ways to make philosophy engaging. It’s just that there aren’t many people who are exploring ways to make philosophy interactive and accessible to the general public.

Although we have great popularisers like Mark Manson, Alain de Botton, Ryan Holiday and others, we definitely need more marketers to promote philosophy. Like how course advisors promote accounting degrees perhaps. Seems to work well with parents.

But our society placing more importance on business and marketing degrees and having less appreciation for the humanities— that says a lot about our current state of the world.

Philosophy and Employment – Can They Go Together?

See, that’s the problem with employment and the world of work nowadays.

On the one hand, you have job-seekers who are aiming to study specific majors and universities that employers like in hopes of getting a “good career”.

On the other hand, you have employers who only assess applicants based on degree certificates and assume that Harvard grads would automatically solve their problems, instead of investing more into their talent selection process to understand more about their potential employees.

Now, I’m not blaming the job-seekers for acting this way. They are just doing based on the advice given by the Gen-Xers, usually suggestions relevant to their time when they were working. In fact, I used to be like them too, believing in the fairy-tales told by some family members that “you should take this course”, “you’ll have a bright future ahead of you”. Even the prerequisites of the job description says so:

“Minimum Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration or equivalent”.

Although they mean well, you still end up at your desk with your boss wondering why you can’t do the job and you wondering what on earth went wrong. There is just a huge mismatch between what you study and what is expected from the job.

Because of technological developments, what you learn at university simply becomes outdated by the time you graduate.

Therefore, you’re asking the wrong question. If you’re looking to gain value so that employers are willing to hire you quickly, then you should invest in acquiring the “hard” technical skills that would enable you to solve the problems employers face. There are many ways to do this like taking an internship, enrolling in a coding bootcamp or a Google certification. Otherwise, why would they want to hire you?

I’ve read sources saying how philosophy can help with “soft” skills such as critical thinking, analysis and problem solving.

Since they can be transferable in any career setting, such skills are useful in a world where industries are constantly disrupted and changing.

And so by having such skills, it enables them to be adaptable to the changes that occur within their career.

I appreciate the reasoning from these sources but I would also further add that other majors like Math, Psychology or even History can be as equally as valuable. Therefore, I’d recommend others to study based on the topics that you are interested in or passionate about. Rather than overthinking too much on what skill set degree X can offer you. Because skills, whether they’re “hard” or “soft”, often need a lot of practice for one to gain mastery. In most cases, they don’t stop at graduation and often continue into working life.

In the case of philosophy, you should study it because you love wisdom. You want to understand yourself, the things around you and what all of this means.

If you’re thinking whether to study philosophy in terms of return-on-investment (ROI), then don’t bother because you simply can’t attach it with a price tag.

Resources to Get Started with Philosophy

After studying philosophy as an undergraduate, one thing I realised is that you don’t actually need a degree in order to be a philosopher or do philosophy. There’s a bonus for going through the academic route though as it gives you the discipline to study in the form of schedules and curated readings. But it’s not like you cannot build one yourself.

Unless you are considering to pursue academia (which I previously wanted to but not now), then getting a philosophy degree is not necessary.

For starters, I’d highly recommend to begin understanding the process of philosophy, i.e. how it’s done e.g. logic, learning how to learn, critical thinking and reasoning. Regardless whether you’re interested in Chinese, Continental or any other school of thought, the process of coming up with these concepts and ideas remains pretty much the same.

If you do not have the means to get a degree but still want to pursue the academic path as close as possible, you can even stalk for reading lists in university course handbooks online. Cold-email professors, course coordinators or existing students if you need to. Don’t be afraid to ask.

Also, there are many active communities in Malaysia who are passionate about philosophy today like the Malaysian Philosophy Society, PPFPM and Socrates Cafe. It’s always good to reach out to these groups and exchange ideas. These are great opportunities to not only learn new stuff but also develop an open mind to examine life itself.

However, if you’re shy, you can start by writing your thoughts on paper. As you write, ask yourself philosophical questions such as what is your meaning of life, do humans have free will, what makes an action good, etc. Don’t be afraid to question our beliefs, even if it means thinking differently from people you know. You may not realise it but you are already doing philosophy.

Global FOMO

The pandemic has been a whirlwind for all of us. Some have thrived by building beautiful things in the midst of lockdown. Some lost their jobs, opportunities and even their loved ones.

But there’s one thing all of us that we can agree on — the sense of loss and isolation that we’re going through, or what millennials could describe as “Global FOMO”.

For some parts of the world that are going through lockdown, it’s the loss of being able to connect with friends and relatives. Not being able to go out and wander around without a mask. Personally, I was uncomfortable with the lack of progress, both at a personal and societal level.

As a global community, we are more divided than ever, culturally, politically and socially. We see beautiful movements clash with not so beautiful ones and people avoiding people due to their ethnicity or colour being associated with the disease. It’s a global mess.

How can we make sense of this meaningless and complicated situation that we’re in? Here are three steps to overcome FOMO in such trying times.

#1 Overcome FOMO by understanding that there are some things that we can’t control.

Let’s face it. There’ll always be things that are beyond our control in life.

The pandemic is just one of the very few examples of this and embracing it in this period of time is more relevant than ever.

Stoicism Dichotomy of Control — *The Stoic Sage*

Having said that, this does not mean that we should simply just accept and give up. Rather, we should let this realisation make us aware that there are things that are within our control, at least to a limited extent.

For instance, we can change how we react towards events that happen to us by revisiting our interpretations towards them. This is exactly how some business owners manage to overcome the adversity that befell on them as a result of the pandemic.

They focused on things within their control, looking for ways to turn their business around and at the same time knowing when to give up and let go.

Therefore, in the case of overcoming global FOMO, it’s not just accepting that missed opportunities is part of life, but also being able to figure out the things that you could make out of your current situation and act upon them. As Otto Scharmer beautifully frames some questions for us to contemplate:

“What if we used this disruption as an opportunity to let go of everything that isn’t essential in our life, in our work, and in our institutional routines? How might we reimagine how we live and work together?”
Otto Scharmer

#2 Overcome FOMO by embracing the certain-uncertainty.

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Many would be quick to think how COVID-19 has made everything unstable and uncertain in a span of a few weeks. But is it justified to blame a single event for everything that has happened?

Consider Kiekergaard’s contemplation on death being an uncertain-certainty. In Three Discourses on Imagined Occasions, he explains that everybody knows that we will die someday, we just don’t know when.

Since death is an uncertain-certainty, it also applies to our existence as well, that life is also a kind of certain-uncertainty.

As Professor Stokes puts it, it’s not that COVID-19 has suddenly made the world uncertain. Rather, it shows how uncertain our lives are all along; how human existence and the social structures in which it is depended upon are so fragile and can easily turn upside-down.

Not to mention our lack of progress on global existential risks. It’s no surprise, but does it mean that we should simply give up? Certainly not.

#3 Overcome FOMO by not giving in to nihilism by remembering that you are not alone.

“What we learn in time of pestilence: that there are more things to admire in men than to despise.”
Albert Camus, The Plague

Not to mention our lack of progress on global existential risks. It’s no surprise, but does it mean that we should simply give up? Certainly not.

In the midst of the widespread suffering right now, we may start to question whether human existence as we know it has any value or meaning. Is this all worth it?

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If we agree with nihilism which is the idea that human existence has no value, then consider this. How is it possible that there are countless healthcare professionals in the frontlines working tirelessly to fight the pandemic? What are they thinking and feeling in these moments?

Perhaps it’s the sense of community working to fight the disease together; understanding that they’re not alone in their suffering or having a sense of duty and responsibility towards those who are suffering.

We can’t imagine what is going through their minds, but we can safely assume that they aren’t giving in to nihilism. At least not completely.

The same applies to caregivers, social injustice advocates and other professions who often witness lots of seemingly pointless suffering.

Their efforts show that although there may be times where there is pointless suffering, it doesn’t necessarily mean that we should give in to nihilism.

Furthermore, if we expand our worldview by not putting ourselves at the centre of everything but rather putting ourselves as part of a larger, interconnected system, then we may realise that we are definitely not alone in this seemingly meaningless suffering.

Perhaps we will never understand the meaning of life and human existence or even perhaps the world we live in is meaningless. Either way, we shouldn’t give in to nihilism. Because after all we’re human and as human beings we always seek for meaning in our lives, regardless whether there is meaning in human existence. Feeling FOMO might just be an instinctual response to what’s happening all around us but it doesn’t mean we should give up.