What does philosophy do?

[coberst]

What does philosophy do?

I claim that the task of philosophy is to look inward to find the basis for the presuppositions that form the foundation for all human created theories. I claim that in our first effort to look inward primitive humans saw thier mortality; they hated what they saw and immediately sought a means to successfully repress that thought. That solution turns out to be what we today call religion.

Long ago a professor of philosophy said to me, after my asking him what philosophy is all about, "philosophy is a radically critical self-consciousness". It took me 30 years to comprehend what he said.

"But I'm a philosopher, and it's a philosopher's job to tell people how they should lead their lives." Thus wrote Linda Hirshman in an article in the Washington Post. Linda R. Hirshman, is a retired professor of philosophy and women's studies at Brandeis University.
Unleashing the Wrath of Stay-at-Home Moms - washingtonpost.com

If I had read in the morning paper some doctor saying "it is the doctor’s job to tell people how they should lead their lives." I would not have blinked. I have no problem with a doctor making such a statement but a philosopher making such a statement certainly will cause a pause.

A retired professor of philosophy from Brandeis University cares weight with me and when such a person says something startling I must give it some heed; I must pause to reflect and study the meaning of that statement.

Reflection on this statement reveals to me that human life is really a philosophical endeavor. We do not realize it but every thought we have, every decision we make, and every action we take are based upon some philosophical assumptions. Philosophers have molded these assumptions into theories that now form the very essence of our life.

We ‘know’ what is real, what is knowledge, what is moral action, how the mind works, etc. because these philosophical theories permeate every aspect of our life. Metaphysics is a philosophy word that really means ‘what is real, what is time, what is essence, what is causation, etc’.

I guess I will give the professor an "A" here. It is a philosopher’s job to tell people how they should lead their lives.

 

[UndercoverElephant]

It is a philosopher's job to help people to decide for themselves how to live their lives, not to tell them.

 

[Muad Dib]

If I had read in the morning paper some doctor saying "it is the doctor’s job to tell people how they should lead their lives."

If I read that in the morning paper, I would ask how dare he possibly think he can tell me how to lead my life, same goes for philosophers, priests and politicians, actually that holds true for every other human being.

 

[Gracchus]

"phi·los·o·phy (f

-l

s

-f

)
n. pl. phi·los·o·phies
1. Love and pursuit of wisdom by intellectual means and moral self-discipline.
2. Investigation of the nature, causes, or principles of reality, knowledge, or values, based on logical reasoning rather than empirical methods.
3. A system of thought based on or involving such inquiry: the philosophy of Hume.
4. The critical analysis of fundamental assumptions or beliefs.
5. The disciplines presented in university curriculums of science and the liberal arts, except medicine, law, and theology.
6. The discipline comprising logic, ethics, aesthetics, metaphysics, and epistemology.
7. A set of ideas or beliefs relating to a particular field or activity; an underlying theory: an original philosophy of advertising.
8. A system of values by which one lives: has an unusual philosophy of life.


[Middle English philosophie, from Old French, from Latin philosophia, from Greek philosophi

, from philosophos, lover of wisdom, philosopher; see philosopher.]"

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.


Philosophy doesn't do anything. Some people do philosophy.

 

[Eudaimonist]

A bad philosopher tells others how to live their lives.

A good philosopher raises awareness of philosophical issues and encourages others to be self-examining and intelligently self-directed.


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[coberst]

A bad philosopher tells others how to live their lives.

A good philosopher raises awareness of philosophical issues and encourages others to be self-examining and intelligently self-directed.


eudaimonia,

Mark

We said!!

 

[lovinjesus808]

Philosophy is the application of methods of rational inquiry too any subject in existence: morality, human origins, entertainment, vampires, any subject, even itself (the philosophy of philosophy). Philosophers merely facilitate this process. Going beyond this to say that good philosophers raise issues and bad ones tell you what to do is, I think, incorrect. A good philosophers reasons well while a bad philosopher reasons poorly.

 

[InkBlott]

Whoops. Double post.

 

[InkBlott]

What does philosophy do?

I claim that the task of philosophy is to look inward to find the basis for the presuppositions that form the foundation for all human created theories. I claim that in our first effort to look inward primitive humans saw thier mortality; they hated what they saw and immediately sought a means to successfully repress that thought. That solution turns out to be what we today call religion.

In Karen Armstrong's A Short History of Myth, she suggests that religion began when primitive hunters saw emotions in the eyes of their prey, recognized them as being like their own, and began attempting to assuage the inward conflict this caused by means of the ceremonial pacifying of the spirits of the beasts.

Long ago a professor of philosophy said to me, after my asking him what philosophy is all about, "philosophy is a radically critical self-consciousness". It took me 30 years to comprehend what he said.

I like your professor's statement. I know a philosophy student and can say of him that he is becoming radically self-conscious. The process touches all of his life, and though it sometimes seems to cause him pain it is for the most part a beautiful thing to behold.

"But I'm a philosopher, and it's a philosopher's job to tell people how they should lead their lives." Thus wrote Linda Hirshman in an article in the Washington Post. Linda R. Hirshman, is a retired professor of philosophy and women's studies at Brandeis University.
Unleashing the Wrath of Stay-at-Home Moms - washingtonpost.com

If I had read in the morning paper some doctor saying "it is the doctor’s job to tell people how they should lead their lives." I would not have blinked. I have no problem with a doctor making such a statement but a philosopher making such a statement certainly will cause a pause.

A retired professor of philosophy from Brandeis University cares weight with me and when such a person says something startling I must give it some heed; I must pause to reflect and study the meaning of that statement.

Reflection on this statement reveals to me that human life is really a philosophical endeavor. We do not realize it but every thought we have, every decision we make, and every action we take are based upon some philosophical assumptions. Philosophers have molded these assumptions into theories that now form the very essence of our life.

We ‘know’ what is real, what is knowledge, what is moral action, how the mind works, etc. because these philosophical theories permeate every aspect of our life. Metaphysics is a philosophy word that really means ‘what is real, what is time, what is essence, what is causation, etc’.

I guess I will give the professor an "A" here. It is a philosopher’s job to tell people how they should lead their lives.

If she loves philosophy for philosophy's sake and not because its mastery seems to endow her with power over others, I would expect her to be working herself out of that particular job with every fiber of her being!

Do not teach me how to live my life. Teach me how to determine how to live my life. The latter is philosophy for the love of philosophy.

Hmmmm. I think Eudaimonist has already said this with fewer words.

 

[coberst]

In Karen Armstrong's A Short History of Myth, she suggests that religion began when primitive hunters saw emotions in the eyes of their prey, recognized them as being like their own, and began attempting to assuage the inward conflict this caused by means of the ceremonial pacifying of the spirits of the beasts.

Those individuals who comprehend such things, in this case I am speaking of art historians in general and Alois Riegl in particular, inform me that the worldview of primitive wo/man at the very beginnings of human history was founded upon an infinite polytheism. That is to say that “everything in nature that moved, grew, and died without agency—or even against the will—of man seemed superior to him for its autonomy of existence and will. Everything in nature was therefore a god.”

At some crucial moment in human progress wo/man developed a more secure conception of her relationship with the world. When s/he began to confine their mutual perception to individual phenomena of nature that appeared to be the strongest and most frightening they became more assured of their power to prevail in many contests. “With that shift, we find ourselves standing in the very first period of history: the first opportunity has opened up to activate desired improvements of nature.”

This began a natural progression for humanity. As s/he recognized the ability to overcome the most ferocious and deadly of all animals wo/man came to recognize a degree of superiority over nature. “At the same time, he still had to acknowledge behind every natural phenomenon the presence of a driving, animating force far removed from human perception or control…A distinction yet unknown to primitive peoples, who ascribed an autonomous will to everything in nature.”

Wo/man recognized a dichotomy between that which they had some significant control to that which they could only reason to be underlying the appearance reached through human visual faculties. Humans recognized here the natural that could be readily perceived, but also recognized that there was much more that humans could only imagine but not perceive or control. S/he could only imagine these reasoned realities and naturally imagined them to be endowed with sensible human form; the only form imaginable at this time in human development.

“Only human form could appear worthy of a force superior to human beings. Thus was born anthropomorphic polytheism, which the Greeks would bring to its fullest perfection.” Henceforth we humans could envision those forces superior to our own must be envisioned as in human form but unencumbered by our shortcomings in matters of beauty and mortality.

Quotes from Historical Grammar of the Visual Arts by Alois Riegl