Category: Metaphilosophy
-
Continuing the Discussion of Time, Tense, and Existence
This just in from London. I've intercalated my responses. Here is another take. We agree on our disagreement about the following consequence (A) X is no longer temporally present, therefore X has ceased to exist. You think it is not valid, i.e. you think the antecedent could be true with the consequent false. I think…
-
Problemverlust
The following remark in Wittgenstein's Zettel seems to fit certain ostriches of my acquaintance. 456. Some philosophers (or whatever you like to call them) suffer from what may be called "loss of problems." (Problemverlust) Then everything seems quite simple to them, no deep problems seem to exist any more, the world become broad and flat…
-
Wasted on the Young
A crude adage has it that virgins are wasted on the young. The same could be said of philosophy.
-
Metaphysical Explanation Again
One question I am discussing with Micheal Lacey is whether any sense can be attached to the notion of metaphysical explanation. I answer in the affirmative. Perhaps he can tell me whether he agrees with the following, and if not, then why not. Tom is a tomato of my acquaintance. The predicate 'red' is true…
-
Is There Such a Thing as Metaphysical Explanation?
M. L. writes, I've been enjoying your critique of [Peter] van Inwagen. [The reader is presumably referring to my "Van Inwagen on Fiction, Existence, Properties, Particulars, and Method" in Studia Neoaristotelica: A Journal of Analytical Scholasticism, 2015, vol. 12, no. 2, 99-125] I was initially astonished at his claim that metaphysics/ontology doesn't explain, but…
-
Could it be Reasonable to Affirm the Infirmity of Reason?
Any reasons one adduces in support of the thesis of the infirmity of reason will share in the weakness of the faculty whose weakness is being affirmed. Is this a problem for the proponent of the thesis? Does he contradict himself? Not obviously: he might simply accept the conclusion that the reasoning in support of…
-
The Augustinian Meta-Predicament
The Augustinian predicament is that, if you don't ask me what time is; I know. But if you ask me, I don't know. The meta-predicament is that, if you don't press me too hard, I know what the main issues in dispute are, and what the main theories of time state; but if you press…
-
The Spirit of Philosophy
By my lights, the spirit of genuine philosophy is anti-dogmatic. A real philosopher does not bluster. He does not claim to know what he does not know, and in some cases, cannot know. A real philosopher does not confuse subjective conviction with objective certainty. He has time and he takes time. He can tolerate suspense…
-
No Total Clarity in Philosophy
To demand total clarity in philosophy is like demanding that one's visual field be all focus and no fringe. It is a demand that cannot be satisfied. But the situation in philosophy is worse than the metaphor suggests. The visual fringe can be brought into focus if one is willing to allow the focus to…
-
The Philosopher as Luftmensch
Steven Pinker, The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature (Penguin, 2002), p. 11: Philosophy today gets no respect. Many scientists use the term as a synonym for effete speculation. When my colleague Ned Block told his father that he would major in the subject, his father's reply was "Luft!" — Yiddish for "air." And then there's…
-
Words and Distinctions
The wise do not quibble over words, but they do insist on distinctions. One of the latter is that between distinctions and the words in which they are couched.
-
Above Utility?
That's what philosophy is according to Jacques Maritain. (On the Use of Philosophy, Princeton UP, 1961, p. 6) But then how can it be handmaiden to theology, ancilla theologiae?
-
The Problem of Beginning
A rich and profitable essay by Peter Suber.
-
The Ashtray Has Landed: Errol Morris versus Thomas Kuhn
Talk of philosophy being a blood sport is usually and rightly metaphorical. But on occasion, actual weapons are brandished even if not deployed. You will recall Wittgenstein's poker. But perhaps you haven't yet heard of Thomas Kuhn's ashtray. Curiously, pokers and ashtrays have something to do with fire and smoke, devilish elements. A philosopher's devil,…
-
Time Apportionment as between Athens and Benares
If a philosopher who meditates spends five hours per day on philosophy, how many hours should he spend on meditation? One correspondent of mine, a retired philosophy professor and Buddhist, told me that if x hours are spent on philosophy, then x hours should be spent on meditation. So five hours of philosophy ought to…