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.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...061601766.html

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.

[hoope]

Philosophers have molded these assumptions into theories that now form the very essence of our life.

Philosophers theories are not forming the essence of life.. its based on GUESSING... well i kinda enjoy reading in philosophy but then i ask my self why drive myself crazy in theories that weird people put that might be or might not be true...

It is a philosopher’s job to tell people how they should lead their lives

It's not anybody's job to tell us how to lead our lives .. it us who can change our lives & guide it to what we think is right...

As much as i enjoyed reading your post .. as much as i disagree with it
Philosophy is a good science but i simply like the logic .

[The Comedian]

Interesting post -- and I generally agree with what you say here. I once had a professor who, when asked this question: "What does philosophy do?" -- he said, "It offers us little ways to make our lives better." I've always like that small, simple answer.

[billl]

“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 ...

I've met and studied with philosophers who never made any suggestions about how other people should live their lives (at least not while I was around). Of course, that might be one of the attitudes they were trying to pass on. And--and perhaps this falls under the umbrella of Linda Hirshman's statement--I'm sure that they expected that some of the ideas and conclusions that they were presenting to readers and students might have a certain effect on how those people approached lives.

Anyhow, I think Linda Hirshman's statement is OK, as long as she accepts that people are going to ignore her advice with some frequency/infrequency, and she can still respect those who have other views (or, at least, a lot of those who do). I assume that she is just saying that she takes her particular angle seriously, maybe.

[blazeofglory]

This is really a very interesting question.

Philosophy is an eye-opener.I do not philosophy is an answer, but it engages people in questioning and philosophy is a series of question.'

J Krishnamurti has once famously said that the answer lies in the question.

Philosophy from that standpoint is full of questions and therein lies all the answers.

[coberst]

This is really a very interesting question.

Philosophy is an eye-opener.I do not philosophy is an answer, but it engages people in questioning and philosophy is a series of question.'

J Krishnamurti has once famously said that the answer lies in the question.

Philosophy from that standpoint is full of questions and therein lies all the answers.

Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.
--Voltaire (1694-1778)

[blazeofglory]

I do not think today I find any meaning in life without philosophy. I am reading the Mahabharata, a great epic; the book glorifies the past of India. India, in fact not just India the Indian subcontinent that includes Nepal, Bangladesh, Srilanka, Pakistan too was a continent of great civilization and culture, and today more than ever it bears lots of relevance to us to know the past of the subcontinent.

I am reading the Mahabharata avidly; in fact this book is a great fountainhead of inspiration today and people reading the Mahabharata will not complete without becoming transformed and I simply got amazed at what have read in this book.

This epic is a great philosophical work with matchless beauty compact with some lessons.

I have gone thru the Mahabharata and all the chapters of the book give us something grave in fact.

[NickAdams]

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 their 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.

Conscious repression is such a contemporary thought and I doubt it is the cause behind religion. Religion may, or may not, have evolved from mysticism (it seems plausible). It was the softest of sciences, mysticism, searching for reason, causes, patterns and attaching human action as the basis for nature's damage.

It seems odd that anybody attached to some form of political belief doesn't believe that philosophers should tell one how to live: politics was a philosophy before it became a science. Religion, philosophy and science are processes for reaching truth: religion through faith,
philosophy through observation and science through data.

[billl]

It seems odd that anybody attached to some form of political belief doesn't believe that philosophers should tell one how to live: politics was a philosophy before it became a science. Religion, philosophy and science are processes for reaching truth: religion through faith,
philosophy through observation and science through data.

That's a good point, but I really think that philosophers as well as politicians are best when they are offering ideas about how to live, etc.--rather than doing what the phrase "telling people how to live" suggests when I hear it. I think people should be able to choose among different ideas, come up with their own, and form their own conclusions. I think a good philosopher would have much to say about things, without necessarily knowing how "the best way to live" might pan out from another's perspective. Same with politics. No one knows enough to know that they are really right about things from every possible perspective at every possible time.

If someone has some philosophy for how to live life that someone else can't shoot holes in, I'd like to hear it. So far, I've only heard a lot of very good ones--useful and beautiful ideas, but none of them perfect and/or complete.

[coberst]

bill

Perfect or complete does not exist.

[billl]

bill

Perfect or complete does not exist.

I of course agree, and that idea is at the heart of my (brief and easy to read) post.

[NickAdams]

That's a good point, but I really think that philosophers as well as politicians are best when they are offering ideas about how to live, etc.--rather than doing what the phrase "telling people how to live" suggests when I hear it. I think people should be able to choose among different ideas, come up with their own, and form their own conclusions. I think a good philosopher would have much to say about things, without necessarily knowing how "the best way to live" might pan out from another's perspective. Same with politics. No one knows enough to know that they are really right about things from every possible perspective at every possible time.

If someone has some philosophy for how to live life that someone else can't shoot holes in, I'd like to hear it. So far, I've only heard a lot of very good ones--useful and beautiful ideas, but none of them perfect and/or complete.

Yes, your wording works better. Times change and new factors enter the equation. We should revaluate our beliefs constantly, at least I do. I find politics to be extremely complicated, especially with the world connected.

[blazeofglory]

What philosophy does in point of fact is it awakens us to some of the truths about life. We are very little knowledgeable about our universe and man’ position here. We do not know whether we existed before this life and we will have an afterlife.

Man today has more focused on accumulation and possession. His possessive nature and a big void within him drive him to do things amoral. There are indeed great values in life and slowly we are becoming unmindful of all those timeless values. Of course there were things that were unimportant in the past, full of dogmas and misleading notions, myths, but all are not like them.

Philosophy once again gets us aware of all those pearls of ancient wisdom. I have started reading the Mahabharata and in it I find a great ocean of good judgment. Of course there are certain of rituals and systems that fitted the ancient time and obsolete and superseded today. Yet there are mines of ideas, very great ideas that enrich us with great foresights, and of course they can answer some of the great questions

[sauron89]

I believe that philosophy allows an individual to look at the world with an open eye and to find intrinsic reasons for our actions.
I am against the concept that a philosopher should tell us how to live our life, because I think there are too many schools of thought in which we may follow. A better role of a philosopher would be to suggest a way to view/analyze our lives and to make decisions as a result.

[JommiL]

Well, my opinion about philosophy - how i see it and how i want to take it;

If you are a writer, it should be useful in normal life. It can be very deep, and explain those smaller and larger questions of life. Saul Bellow said in Humboldt´s gift that "Man´s caliber will be defined by his way to see." Etc. I don ´t remember correctly, but idea was like this.
It is obvious, that philosophical literature is usually totally different that "normal" literature. Good example is this: In Camus novels his characters are quite thin, but main point is not the characters, it is the idea. If writer wants to create very deep and philosophical novel, with great, windblowing feelings in it, it makes easily messy result.
To me it seems that philosophy has always - or very often - in conflict with faith - especially religious one. It is understandable, but tells something about human nature.
I like Rousseau, Hegel, Herakleitos and Platon.

I´m VERY philosophical writer, but often im conflict with philosophy myself. Why´s that? Because in the end plisophly is getting too heavy, it smashes world into so small pieces, that it is not so - how i say? Handy anymore? Our capacity - no matter how intelligent we are - of mind is limited, and if there´s too much "small" information, result ain´t so clear anymore. Albert Einstein said once that it is VERY important to know, what kind of information is needed and what is rubbish. I agree.

And because this is my first message, i´ll give you little example, why i keep philosophy sometimes little bit... funny?

Do you know, what is Russell´s beard paradox? It is well known one. It seems to be impossible to solve, but there´s one way to do it.

Paradox is going like this:
"There was once a barber. Some say that he lived in Seville. Wherever he lived, all of the men in this town either shaved themselves or were shaved by the barber. And the barber only shaved the men who did not shave themselves."

Ok: If he does NOT shave his beard, he must shave it.
But: If he shaves it, he does not shave it.
Think about the last. It is a lie. There´s no possibility to shave it, and think that it is unshaved. What is done, is done. Main thing is this: You cannot break the rules of nature. This is one of them. Also there´s another paradox, called paradox of flying arrow. But also there; You can´t stop the time anyhow. What i try to say, is that in certain point philosophy is getting almost ridiculous - with all my respect - because it tries to fight against laws of nature. Einstein also said that they cant be beaten. This is the final reason, why - to me - philosophy should be useful and quite understandable. It can be very deep, yes, but still.

This also explains, why i dont like philosophers like Hume. After 18 years of thinking, i been seen, that it just impossible to get out from need of faith. Faith is needed - and strongly. It is impossible to live purely with 100% sense.

Well, now i´m getting boring, so...