{"id":8573,"date":"2013-08-05T12:41:47","date_gmt":"2013-08-05T12:41:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2013\/08\/05\/a-place-for-polemics-in-political-philosophy\/"},"modified":"2013-08-05T12:41:47","modified_gmt":"2013-08-05T12:41:47","slug":"a-place-for-polemics-in-political-philosophy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2013\/08\/05\/a-place-for-polemics-in-political-philosophy\/","title":{"rendered":"A Place for Polemics in Political Philosophy?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The proprietor of After Aristotle<\/em> agrees with me<\/a> that polemics has no place in philosophy.  But he has a question for me:  "Do his [my] statements about philosophy apply also to political philosophy?"<\/span><\/p>\n

My answer is that if polemics has no legitimate place in philosophy, then it follows that it has no legitimate place in political philosophy.  I am assuming, of course, that political philosophy is a species of philosophy in general, an assumption that strikes me as plainly true.<\/span><\/p>\n

To appreciate my answer bear in mind my distinction between philosophy-as-inquiry and philosophy-as-worldview. When I write 'philosophy,' without qualification, I almost always intend the former.  My thesis, then, is that polemics has no place in  philosophy-as-inquiry or in any of its branches, however things may stand with regard to the many philosophical worldviews.<\/span><\/p>\n

The problems of political philosophy are much more likely to ignite human passions than, say, abstruse questions in metaphysics.  The misnamed 'problem of universals,' for example, is not likely to be 'taken to the streets.'  But polemics is just as out of place in political philosophy as it is in metaphysics.<\/span><\/p>\n

Addendum<\/strong> (6 August):  It may be that the proprietor of After Aristotle<\/em> had a different question in mind: "You maintain that polemics has no place in philosophy, but you polemicize regularly in political philosophy. But surely what goes for philosophy goes for political philosophy! Are you not being inconsistent?" If that is the question, then my answer is that politics is not the same as political philosophy; that I do not polemicize in political philosophy; and that polemics is not out of place in politics.    I wish it were not true, but politics is war conducted by other means.  That is clearly how our opponents on the Left view it, and so that is how we must view it if we are to oppose them effectively. <\/span><\/p>\n

As a cultural warrior, I do battle with my enemies.  As a philosopher, I seek truth with my friends.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

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The proprietor of After Aristotle agrees with me that polemics has no place in philosophy.  But he has a question for me:  "Do his [my] statements about philosophy apply also to political philosophy?" My answer is that if polemics has no legitimate place in philosophy, then it follows that it has no legitimate place in … Continue reading “A Place for Polemics in Political Philosophy?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-metaphilosophy","category-social-and-political-philosophy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8573\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}