Philosophy and National Development: The issue of National Development is one which much attention is being geared towards, and as such, every subject of material implication and correlation to it is to be carefully analyzed to draw conclusions to aspects which her usefulness will be to National Development. Philosophy as a subject is one whose potentials to contributing to National Development are infinite. As a result, a study such like this which is aimed at bringing to light the positive posits which the subject Philosophy can bring to National Development is important.

Philosophy by definition is a very complex and rather ambiguous subject. This complexity and ambiguity do not arise from the fact that Philosophy is a vague and an incomprehensible subject, but from the fact that they are many philosophical viewpoints, with different philosophers, defining Philosophy from their own viewpoints. This difference of definitions is also a function of the purpose to which Philosophy is to be applied in a particular situation.

Etymologically, Philosophy is defined from its two root Greek words Philos (meaning Love) and Sophia (meaning Wisdom) as “the Love of Wisdom. As an academic discipline though, Philosophy is centered on three basic principles, which are

Critical searchlight on the justification of certain basic human beliefs, values, views, thinking patterns, traditions and cultures.
Find the kind or type of assumptions, thoughts, beliefs, mindsets and others that give birth to a particular practice, culture, tradition and others.
Get justification for these practices, beliefs, theories and so on.
Development, is seeing as a positive improvement, progress or advancement toward the perfect wellbeing, peace and happiness of the people in a society. Though wrongly conceived in a narrow and shallow light, development goes beyond her association to just only physical advancement in terms of structures built in the society. Development is a totality of growth that an individual, group of individuals, and in the case the whole nation witnesses that is brought about by factors that the subject matter of Philosophy is so much interested in bringing to fore.

National development can only be brought about when an enlightened individual, group of people come together to analyze concepts that are hindering development, finding and implementing the results from such analysis to better the society. This, is the basis of Philosophy

PHILOSOPHY AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
The relationship between Philosophy and National Development is so intertwined and intricate, and as such one cannot clearly separate them. There is no National Development whatsoever without Philosophy. Every factor that can bring about National Development is that which Philosophy and philosophical approaches has to the best of present day knowledge tried to and successfully analyzed and explained. This is a fact because Philosophy, though not conclusively defined etymologically is the balance point that gives rise to all positive developmental ideas and concepts.

Philosophy is the mother of all knowledge; it does not just seek to analyze and criticize every thought, believe, value, assumptions and axioms, but does so to the end of finding solution to human problems. As defined by Omwuama, Philosophy is a critical, reflective and unbiased investigation on development aimed at providing principles, theories for development. Philosophical issues for development refer to those areas and problems of development that are reserved exclusively for philosophical clarifications and hermeneutics (Onwuama, 2012).

The three methods of drawing conclusions and or arrive at the truth of a situation, value or theory as posited by Philosophy which are Analysis, Objectivity and Activity are all tailored towards Human and National Development. Philosophy goes beyond just formulation of thoughts, criticism and arguments on the origin of existence to coming up with ideas and conclusions from suitable logical premises which are to give rise to solutions to problems faced in the society.

With Philosophy being the search for the Ultimate Truth, it is evident that this search for the Ultimate Truth is the quest for the ultimate problems confronting mankind. Every nation is a collection of people that make up the entirety of mankind, and so seeks to solve their ultimate problem. National Development can also be brought by the activities of the people that are consciously working for her good, as a nation, and all her prosperity or poverty is a product of her human populace.

No matter the abundance of every other resource within the boundaries of any nation, her growth and development can never be made possible without her human resources. Philosophy, as a discipline considered from any angle is in essence, a subject that is geared towards developing the MAN, who in turn is responsible for developing his nation.

Philosophy as an Analysis is aimed at clarifying concepts, beliefs and the rest in order to help in better formulation of theories, laws and rules, practicing and or solving problems. Here, all of the ideas, laws, rules and regulations that are put into place to govern the nation that can bring about positive development and or create a negative impact on the nation’s affairs are trashed. When philosophically approached, the laws, rules, beliefs governing the society will be better formulated, therefore leaving the nation on the partway to development.

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