What does philosophy do? Options

[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/conte...6061601766.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.

[Lindsay]

What does philosophy do? ...

It is said that all science begins as a philosophy and ends as an art. When it helps us develop the art of living it become our philosophy of religion--how we handle life.

[oanadoledo]

What are the nature and limits of knowledge? What is more fundamental to human existence, knowing (epistemology) or being (ontology)? How do we come to know what we know? What are the limits and scope of knowledge? How can we know that there are other minds (if we can)? How can we know that there is an external world (if we can)? How can we prove our answers? What is a true statement?

[GodConsciousness]

What are the nature and limits of knowledge? What is more fundamental to human existence, knowing (epistemology) or being (ontology)? How do we come to know what we know? What are the limits and scope of knowledge? How can we know that there are other minds (if we can)? How can we know that there is an external world (if we can)? How can we prove our answers? What is a true statement?

starting to sound like one of my philosophy classes here.

in the historical sense (at least), philosophy was considered 'the great mother of all sciences' attempting to reconcile and fit together all that we know into some kind of coherent whole. i still believe this is philosophy's ultimate aim- to figure out how all the disparate domains of knowing and understanding can go together into a logically consistent unity of human comprehension in regards to the universe and our place within it.

what is particularly perplexing about our present moment is the fact that we have so much going on in so many different fields that it has become increasingly more difficult to connect the dots from one field to another. from physics to neuroscience to computer science to our knowledge about space and beyond- we are seeing rapid development in all these fields. One of the great strengths of BM, however, is that we have people on these boards reflecting on developments in such diverse fields and at least attempting to make some sense of them in the grander scheme of things.

[hrld]

What are the nature and limits of knowledge? What is more fundamental to human existence, knowing (epistemology) or being (ontology)? How do we come to know what we know? What are the limits and scope of knowledge? How can we know that there are other minds (if we can)? How can we know that there is an external world (if we can)? How can we prove our answers? What is a true statement?

starting to sound like one of my philosophy classes here.

in the historical sense (at least), philosophy was considered 'the great mother of all sciences' attempting to reconcile and fit together all that we know into some kind of coherent whole. i still believe this is philosophy's ultimate aim- to figure out how all the disparate domains of knowing and understanding can go together into a logically consistent unity of human comprehension in regards to the universe and our place within it.

what is particularly perplexing about our present moment is the fact that we have so much going on in so many different fields that it has become increasingly more difficult to connect the dots from one field to another. from physics to neuroscience to computer science to our knowledge about space and beyond- we are seeing rapid development in all these fields. One of the great strengths of BM, however, is that we have people on these boards reflecting on developments in such diverse fields and at least attempting to make some sense of them in the grander scheme of things.