[Wittrs] Who's a Philosopher and What is Philosophy Anyway?

Wittr2Feed <wittrs2feed@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> · Sun, 15 Apr 2012 21:10:37 -0400

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From: SWM <Philscimind@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, Apr 15, 2012 at 8:57 PM
Subject: [Serious Phil] Who's a Philosopher and What is Philosophy Anyway?
To: philscimind@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Walter has raised the issue of whether Sean is a philosopher of professional
status or is he perhaps something else? Perhaps it would be instructive to
stop a moment and ask ourselves what philosophy is or, at least, what we
think it is? Here are some definitions I found on the Internet just now,
including something on Wittgenstein's view of philosophy from wikipedia
(Wittgenstein being Sean's favorite philosopher, I would suggest he has a
special claim on our attention here):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those
connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and
language.[1][2] Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing
such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its
reliance on rational argument.[3] The word "philosophy" comes from the Greek
öéëïóïößá (philosophia), which literally means "love of wisdom".[4][5][6]

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/philosophy

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.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/philosophy
phi•los•o•phy

http://dictionary.reference.com/audio.html/lunaWAV/P03/P0364200";

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, especially with a view to improving or reconstituting
them: the philosophy of science.

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

http://www.trinity.edu/cbrown/intro/philosophy-what.html

Here is one reason why it is difficult to offer a short, pithy description
of what philosophy is. In ancient Greece, the term "philosophy" was used
extremely broadly. Consider, for instance, the writings of Aristotle (384 -
322 B.C.). These include not only all the topics we now think of as
philosophical (for example logic, metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, social
and political philosophy, and aesthetics) but also a great many subjects
that we would not now regard as part of philosophy (notably biology and
physics). One, perhaps biased, way to look at the history of philosophy is
to see it as a history in which one scientific discipline after another
branches off from philosophy: physics in the seventeenth century, biology in
the nineteenth, psychology around the beginning of the twentieth,
linguistics in the mid-twentieth century, and so on. Philosophy as we now
understand it is roughly what is left of the collection of things Aristotle
was interested in after the various sciences branch off!

III. One attempt at a definition

Philosophy is:

(a) the attempt to acquire knowledge

(b) by rational means

(c) about topics that do not seem amenable to empirical investigation.

Condition (a) distinguishes philosophy from creative disciplines such as
literature or music. Condition (b) distinguishes philosophy from mysticism
and some varieties of religion. Condition (c) distinguishes philosophy from
the empirical sciences.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophical_Investigations

Wittgenstein begins [Philosophical Investigations] with a quotation from St.
Augustine, whom he cites as a proponent of the generalized and limited
conception [of language] that he then summarizes:
The individual words in language name objects—sentences are combinations of
such names. In this picture of language we find the roots of the following
idea: Every word has a meaning. This meaning is correlated with the word. It
is the object for which the word stands.

He then sets out throughout the rest of the book to demonstrate the
limitations of this conception, including, he argues, many traditional
philosophical puzzles and confusions that arise as a result of this limited
picture. Within the Anglo-American tradition, the book is considered by many
as being one of the most important philosophical works of the 20th century,
and it continues to influence contemporary philosophers, especially those
studying mind and language.

Wittgenstein wrote:

"Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means
of language", which could mean either one of the following:

• philosophers use language to combat bewitchments, or

• philosophers battle bewitchments caused by language itself.

This ambiguity can only be resolved in context, showing that language cannot
be broken down into self-contained units of meaning.

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[Wittrs] Who's a Philosopher and What is Philosophy Anyway?

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