[lit-ideas] Why philosophy?
- From: "John McCreery" <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: Lit-Ideas <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 4 Apr 2008 21:30:17 +0900
Why is it that I chose to major in philosophy, way back when? Why is it that
I hang out here, making a nuisance of myself picking away at philosophers'
arguments?
Professor Paul suggests that philosophy is an activity. Walter O. describes
that activity as
*
**a transcendental form of inquiry into the apriori conditions necessary for
the
possibility and limits of specific discourses and competencies.*
I see grounds for agreement here. To me philosophy is the kind of thinking I
do with the angle of the lens through which my mind's eye peers set to the
widest possible angle. Philosophy is rooted in perennial questions: Who or
what am I? What am I doing here? What should I be doing here? How can I
know? The history of philosophy records a long conversation in which very
smart and determined people struggle with these questions, proposing answers
broad enough to encompass both themselves and the world in which they find
themselves. Since philosophers are only human, their answers are always
partial. Whatever the answers are, they are to other philosophers, either
incomplete or mistaken. Problems are always left unsolved. Thus the
conversation continues.
Why study philosophy? No other conversation provides the breadth of
perspective that this one does. Other disciplines zoom in on their special
subjects. This one steps back and asks, how do these details fit into the
bigger picture, the one we try to comprehend as we struggle to answer those
perennial questions mentioned above?
Philosophy, I would argue, has never been more important than now, this
Internet age when trying to keep up with what is going on is like trying to
remain standing in the jet from a fire hose. Where else can we learn to
recognize and make our own the great, perennial ideas that shape all sorts
of conversations, whatever the specific topic at hand?
As a pragmatist and professional sophist, I can't live without it.
John
--
John McCreery
The Word Works, Ltd., Yokohama, JAPAN
Tel. +81-45-314-9324
http://www.wordworks.jp/
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