Wisdom is that little piece of knowledge that helps you

I confess that I am what you might call a philistine. By this I don't mean that I am a native or inhabitant of ancient Philistia (somebody's been using wiki). Oh no. I mean philistine in the complete ignorant sense. I don't appreciate the finer arts and I undervalue spirituality and beauty and I tend to deride those that do.

So, whilst listening to formerly ginger Chris Evans on a moderately lengthy car journey, I was unimpressed to learn that a philosopher was appearing on his drive time show.

OK, so lets start from the beginning. I am an ignoramous. My only experience of philosophy was when a fellow student in my A Level Physics class announced he was going to study the subject at university and the teacher (who is actually my real life superhero), guffawed. Ergo, in my head, it must be a grand ol' pile o'shite. So, for the last 10 years I've not known what it is or what it means but I do know I don't like it based on an expulsion of air through my former physics teachers nasal canals.

Now, that's ridiculous. I've since done some research and this is the dictionary.com definition:

phi⋅los⋅o⋅phy

  [fi-los-uh-fee]

–noun, plural -phies.

1.	the rational investigation of the truths and principles of being, knowledge, or conduct.

2.	any of the three branches, namely natural philosophy, moral philosophy, and metaphysical philosophy, that are accepted as composing this study.

3.	a system of philosophical doctrine: the philosophy of Spinoza.

4.	the critical study of the basic principles and concepts of a particular branch of knowledge, esp. with a view to improving or reconstituting them: the philosophy of science.

5.	a system of principles for guidance in practical affairs.

6.	a philosophical attitude, as one of composure and calm in the presence of troubles or annoyances.

Clearly there's a lot more to it than the definition above. There's also oodles of history and texts and dudes who are now immortalised in stone.

So, back to the plot. The philosopher on Christophe Lammy Pie's show was a guy called Alain De Botton. Sounds pretentious huh? Well, it did to my tiny mind. He's not, he's just Swiss. I didn't really know what to expect but a reasonable guy who seemed of sound mind and was quite good fun was not on my agenda.

Alain's words regarding philopsophy?

"Learning to be wise about things",

"Responding to situations with a certain amount of calm"

"Philosophy is about a commitment to thinking through problems".

None of this is scary or pretentious. It's just makes good sense. More sense than dictionary.com's version might I add. I could continue to quote him but that's silly and I am supposed to be getting on with other things.

His parting words on the show? "The thing we waste most of is our lives"

He was brilliant and for the record, completely unpretentious. I think there might be some cracks showing in my completely closed mind. An expanse is nigh.

I have since listened twice to this segment on the iPlayer. If you're interested, click here.

I've also since looked him up online and this is his website.

Enjoy, fellow philistines.