Introduction – Peter Hardy {Article 1.1}

A Brief Guide For the Hesitant

1. What Is ‘Critical Thought’?

Being critical is about asking questions, and not merely the questioning, but the thinking-through of questions. This brings us to philosophy. The first half of this brief guide consists of a polemic for the view that we should be concerned with philosophy, that it is extremely relevant today. In doing so I can also introduce myself –Peter Hardy– the first editor of this magazine. But before we can dismiss the pejorative label that ‘philosophy’ has so unfortunately become for many people, we must begin by clarifying what really means.

Philosophy is an ancient Greek term, literally meaning the love of wisdom. As an academic subject it is, in the words of the contemporary writer A. C. Grayling, “a set of pursuits which, in various ways… investigates truth, meaning, knowledge, reason, existence and value.”¹ Wisdom here is the capacity to understand difficult concepts and to answer difficult questions about them; often provoking further questions before we gain any answers! But this is a crude analysis, because philosophy is much more than a narrow subject matter, it is an activity, essentially a form of ‘conceptual engineering’², a rigorous discipline that applies theory to a topic (especially where empirical research -that informed by observation- is no longer useful).

The rigour in this process is owing to the employment of the conventions of philosophical logic –which is similar in form to the method of mathematics– and of inductive reasoning –the scientific method– which it incorporates also. Although the primacy of the scientific method was asserted by philosophers since the 17th century and has been the norm since at least the 18th, the misleading image of the philosopher as ‘an idle dreamer concerned only with the imaginary’ somehow lingers on.

Many people think that philosophy is about ‘the big questions’, such as the meaning of life, and that the only answers we can come up with are inadequate ones such as ‘42’. But there is much more to philosophy than that, indeed it extends to anything that we care to think hard enough and critically enough about. Indeed, in the final section I list no less than 42 examples of philosophical questions. Furthermore, answering such questions is demonstrably not a mere matter of opinion: some opinions are more reasonable than others, and as in science, disagreement does not make a single truth impossible.

Perhaps the misconceptions are sustained by worries over the philosophical capacity to think about science and about things that physics cannot explore such as concepts and subjective feelings. But the philosopher cannot simply produce bold unsubstantiated opinions about these matters, but must respect the rigorous method mentioned above. The difficulty involved in this process shows that the philosopher is certainly not a ‘dreamer’, he is required to employ a highly complex and technical terminology to make progress. Accordingly, another common-place criticism of the philosopher -that he is dry and pedantic- is more justified: but these are necessary vices, because the greatest amount of clarity and precision is required in his task.

So although the method is very different, this fundamental project of philosophy is just the same of that of science, to gain an accurate understanding of reality. Yet it is no surprise that it was not until the 18th century that science was seen to break away from the subject hitherto known as ‘natural philosophy,’ and not until the late 19th century –once laboratories had been widely established– that the sciences became as popular as philosophy in the universities (indeed philosophy had hitherto been the subject of higher learning, with more specialist subjects such as law, the military, and theology having their own, less academic establishments). Philosophy is, in addition, an important part of many other disciplines, particularly politics, sociology and psychology.

It is well established that in the last two centuries philosophical activity has also been seen as both a process for providing solutions to misunderstandings in such conceptual engineering, and also as a medium through which we can subject our world to criticism with a view to improving it. So while the great philosophical systems of the past have been primarily concerned with constructing grand theories for explaining everything, more recent philosophy has been more focused on deconstructing the theories or ways of thinking we may have got wrong. And while science is a more obvious means for improving the world, it does not admit of value-judgements and therefore cannot provide us with prescriptions, so philosophy is alone in as an academic activity in having the privilege and the burden of telling us what we should do.

2. Why ‘Philosophy’? ³

If philosophical reflection were only to appeal to its own value for justification then it would be on the same standing as the arts and other humanities. And no one asks why we bother with music or what the point is in studying history- all these subjects are valuable for their own sakes. Philosophy, in addition, can keep our brains well-exercised and also provide a more mentally stimulating form of relaxation for non-philosophers taking a break from more ‘practical’ pursuits.

The key importance of such theorising, however, is the function it holds when continuous with practice (including empirical investigation). How we think about something affects how we do it, just as how we do it affects how we think about it. Our values determine what we are prepared to do or not prepared to do, as do our superstitions, which the philosopher is keen to explain away. A Japanese proverb says: “vision without action is a daydream, but action without vision is a nightmare.” But this is clearly not only the case with the beliefs and actions of individuals, but also with (and more importantly) society on a much wider level, because it affects how we are to treat others and how we organise society and its institutions. It is not only political and religious disputes that are salient here; for instance, how we feel about the nature of knowledge and of reality can affect how scientific enquiry is carried out. To give a particular example, what would happen if everyone though that medical treatments, being imperfect, were futile and not worth bothering with?

Overall, the most important reason to encourage philosophy is to maintain and champion the values which it embodies at its core: reason, progress, freedom, impartiality and the value of human life. For, as the Spanish painter Francisco Goya titled one of his best known works: “The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters.” If it were not for philosophical reflection we would no doubt turn a blind eye to such monsters as fascism, sexism, homophobia, and a more generalised but highly pernicious worship of ignorance.

 

3. Why Should We Study Philosophy?

Socrates of Athens, probably the most famous of all philosophers, said “the unexamined life is not worth living,” and this could not be any more relevant today than it was for him over 2,300 years ago. What could be more confusing and seemingly meaningless than the mass media, hyper-consumerist, and corporate business dominated postmodern world which we inhabit? Why need we think anything at all when we can better spend our time using the latest products we are meant to buy,  absorbing the news, and gradually approaching death? Because we want to know if there is anything better, anything more meaningful, that in complying we wouldn’t be doing the wrong thing.

If you were to need any more persuasion to study philosophy, particularly in a formal academic setting, you should be aware that it is a highly valued discipline to be qualified in –especially high among the humanities– and one with a large amount of transferable skills. These skills pertain mostly to the critical thinking, handling of large amounts of information from the voluminous (and often challengingly anachronistic) reading, and to the articulation of this information and critical thought via a highly developed analytical use of language.

It might well be objected that it is useless subject to study because it is not vocational, in the sense that there is no particular job (besides being a philosophical writer or teacher) that the information learnt is used for. But this is no serious problem, because the information is valuable in itself (and to an extent it is tied to the associated skills). Many subjects studied today are similar in this respect (such as maths or psychology), and each has its own place in our intellectual culture, but philosophy is particularly valued within this group as a well established and challenging foundation for a working life (as well as non-working!). This can be seen with it appealing so directly to our human interests –is readily engagable with– and indeed it is so highly prized as an art, that it receives a considerable amount of funding (more so than many of the other humanities). Philosophy graduates also enjoy high levels of employment in such sectors as the civil service, business management, journalism and public relations; basically anything that does not presuppose a fairly large amount of technical training, but requires strong critical and communicative skills.

 

4. What Topics Does Philosophy Cover?

The chief branches of Philosophy are:

Logic– the theory of reasoning, where we look at questions like:

• How are our thoughts arranged and why?
• What makes an argument good or bad?
• What does it mean to say something is ‘true’?
• How are numbers defined and how is maths possible?

Epistemology– the theory of knowledge, with which we ask such questions as:

• How can we be sure we know anything at all?
• What is knowledge?
• How is our knowledge structured?
• How do we gain knowledge via sense perception; do all of us each perceive the world differently?

Metaphysics– the study of reality and metaphysical objects (those beyond the physical e.g. ideas) and of the relations between them, in which we look at questions like:

• How is a ‘metaphysics’ possible (given that it is not empirical)?
• What is the fundamental nature of reality?
• What is ‘being’ and what does it mean for something to have ‘being’?
• How did the universe come into existence?
• What are substances?
• How does causation occur?
• How should we really understand ‘time’ and how does it affect us?

Ethics– the theory of morality, where we look at such issues as:

• How should I live?
• How do I decide what to do?
• What makes something ‘good’ and/or ‘right’?
• What do we mean by moral terms such as: rights, duties, values and virtues?
• Is it ever right to hurt or to kill someone?
• Are all animals of equal worth?
• Why should we respect the environment?

There is of course much overlap between these branches. In addition to the above there are also (the more obviously defined) religious and political philosophies as well as philosophies of language, mind, action, science, identity, experience, existence, law, history, art, and -of course- philosophy. With these we might look at all sorts of interesting questions such as:

• What makes a law ‘just’; can things such as poverty or war ever be justified?
• Is it ever justifiable for someone to have power over another?
• How should the government be run, and society be organised?
• To what extent do we have a duty to respect the diversity of other cultures, faiths and ethnicities?
• How do words mean anything?
• Can we ever properly express our inner feelings?
• What does it mean to say of others that they have minds like my own; can I do this?
• Who am I, what is my mind, and am I separate from my body?
• What is the nature of death; in what ways could it be possible for us to survive death?
• Is there anything transcendent from our reality; what does ‘God’ mean, and how does it affect us?
• What does it mean to say of something that it exists?
• Why do I exist here and now in the state that I am in?
• What is the meaning of my life; does anything I do really matter?
• Am I free or are all my actions determined by causes beyond my control?
• How is it that I am able to experience the world?
• What meaning do my experiences have to me?
• How is it that my life and my identity is a construct of such ‘inner experiences’?
• What is the fundamental nature of past realities; can historical entities affect us from across space-time?
• What does it mean to say that something is ‘beautiful’, is this ever anything more than opinion?
• What is ‘philosophy’ and what is it good for?

 

As you will notice, in the above we have already tackled the last of these questions, and then presuming you have thought this article through –even if you haven’t thought about any of the other questions above– you have already done some philosophy. The theory is that you should now be more inclined to think harder about the things that matter in your daily life and change your behaviour accordingly. I hope you will agree that I have not simply attempted to persuade you of the value of philosophy, but have presented you with facts from which you can make up your own mind on the matter. I make no claim to originality in this article, section 2 in particular extensively borrows from Simon Blackburn’s Think. Perhaps the best substantive introduction to philosophy is the classic 1991 novel Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder. There are also many accessible classics such as Descartes’ Meditations.

 

References:

¹ Grayling, Anthony C., (2002), The Reason of Things, London, Weidenfield and Nicolson, p. 228

² Blackburn, Simon, (1999), Think, Oxford, Oxford University Press, p. 2

³ Blackburn, Simon, (1999), Think, Oxford, Oxford University Press, pp. 6-11