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Philosophy 102: Introduction to Philosophical
Inquiry
The Nature of Philosophical Problems
Abstract: A working definition of philosophy
is proposed, and philosophical problems are characterized.
- Some general comments about the nature of philosophy can be summarized from
the previous outline.
- Etymologically, "philosophy" can be broken into the following roots
and examples.
- philo—fond of, affinity for; e.g.,
the name "Philip" means "lover of horses."
- sophia—wisdom; e.g., the name
"Sophie" means "wisdom."
- Hazarding a beginning definition and some general characteristics
of philosophy might be of help.
- Philosophy is the systematic inquiry into the principles and
presuppositions of any endeavor.
- Some restaurants have printed on the back of the
customer's bill their philosophy of restaurant management.
- Recently, philosophy of sport and medical ethics have generated
much interest.
- In general, philosophy questions often are a series of "why-questions,"
whereas science is often said to ask "how-questions."
- E.g., asking "Why did you come to class today?" is the beginning
of a series of why-questions which ultimately lead to the answer of
the principles or presuppositions by which you lead your life.
- Avrum Stroll and Richard H. Popkin, in their highly readable book, Introduction
to Philosophy, isolate seven characteristics of a philosophical problem. These
characteristics serve as a good introduction to the kinds of problems
which can arise in philosophy.
| Characteristics |
Topical
Examples |
| 1. a
reflection about and the things nothing in it |
If I take a book
off my hand, what's left on my hand? Nothing? What is that? Does everything exist
"in"
nothing? |
| 2. a conceptual
rather than a practical activity |
According to
gravitation theory, as the ballerina on a NY stage moves, my
balance is affected. |
| 3. the use of
reason and argumentation to establish a point |
Does a tree
falling in a forest with no one around to hear make a sound? |
| 4. explanation of
the puzzling features of things |
Does a mirror
reverse up and down ? Does it reverse left and right? |
| 5. digging beyond
the obvious |
What is a fact? Is
this book a fact? Is it a big or little fact? Is it a brown fact? |
| 6. the search for
principles which underlie phenomena |
Is a geranium one
or many flowers? |
| 7. theory building
from these principles |
Is nature discrete
or continuous? E.g., Zeno's paradoxes of motion. |
- In practice, philosophy is an attitude, an approach, or even a calling
to answer or to ask or to comment upon certain peculiar kinds of questions.
- Attitude—a curiosity about questions such as the following.
- Under the assumption that time is a dimension just like any other, the case
of the surprise examination can arise: Suppose students obtain the promise from their teacher that a surprise quiz to
be given next week will not be given, if the students know, in advance, the day
the exam will be given. If the teacher agrees, then the students can argue as
follows: Assuming the class meets only on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, the
students know the surprise exam cannot be given on Friday because everyone would
know Thursday night that this day is the only period left in which to give the
exam. One would think that the teacher could give the exam Wednesday, but since
Friday has been eliminated as a possibility, on Tuesday night, the students
would know that the only period left in the week would be Wednesday; hence the
exam could not be given Wednesday. Monday, then, is the only possible period
left to offer the exam, but, of course, the teacher could not give the exam
Monday because the students would expect the exam that day. Consequently, the
teacher cannot give a surprise examination.
- In his Nobel Prize speech, Richard Feynman explained that from the perspective
of quantum electrodynamics, if an electron is seen as going forward in time, a positron
is the same particle moving backwards in time. Is time-reversal really possible?
- Is a positron possible? Consider the paradoxical result. Suppose a "positron gun" would fire a particle going
backward in time—it could "trigger" an off-switch to turn off the gun before
it could be fired.
- Approach—to devise a methodology to answer such puzzles. Very often, all
that is needed is the old maxim, "When there is a difficulty, make a distinction."
- E.g., for the problem of the sound of a tree falling in a forest with
no one around to hear, all we need do is to distinguish two
different senses of "sound."
- If by "sound" is meant a "phenomenological perception by a subject," then no sound
("hearing") would occur. If by "sound" is meant
"a longitudinal wave in
matter," then a sound did occur.
- Calling— if a person has had experiences of curiosity, discovery, and
invention at an early age, these experiences could leave an imprint on mind and character to
last a lifetime.
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