“Without inspiration the best powers of the mind
remain dormant, there is a fuel
in us which
needs to be ignited with sparks.”
Johann Gottfried von Herder (1744-1803).
What is Philosophy?
Philosophy is different from many other Arts subjects in that to study
it you need to do it. To be an art historian, you needn't paint; to study
poetry, you needn't be a poet; you can study music without playing an
instrument. Yet to study philosophy you have to engage in philosophical argument (reasons or evidence leading to a
conclusion). Not that you have to operate at the level of the great thinkers of
the past; but when you study philosophy, you will be doing the same sort of
thing as them. You can play football without reaching the level of Pelé, and
you can get a great deal of intellectual satisfaction from philosophizing
without the originality or brilliance of Wittgenstein. But in both cases you
will have to develop some of the skills used by the great practitioners. That's
one of the reasons why philosophy can be such a rewarding subject to study.
The word 'philosophy' is derived from the Greek for 'love of wisdom'.
But that isn't particularly helpful in understanding how the word is used now.
Philosophy is a subject at the core of most humanities courses. It focuses on
abstract questions such as 'Does God exist?', 'Is the world really as it
appears to us?', 'How should we live?', 'What is Art?', 'Do we have genuine
freedom of choice?', 'What is the mind?', and so on.
These very abstract questions can arise out of our everyday experience.
Some people caricature philosophy as a subject with no relevance to life, a
subject to be studied from an armchair for purely intellectual satisfaction,
the academic equivalent of solving crossword puzzles. But this is a serious
misrepresentation of large parts of the subject. For instance, the heated
debate about whether boxing should be banned can only be answered by addressing
important abstract questions. What are the acceptable limits of individual
freedom in a civilized country? What are the justifications for paternalism,
for forcing people to behave in a particular way for their own good? In other
words, this debate is not simply about gut reactions to the sport, but depends
on fundamental philosophical assumptions (a claim for which no argument is
given; one which is accepted for the purposes of the argument).
The analysis of reasons and arguments is a particular province of
philosophy. In fact, inasmuch as philosophy has a distinctive method, it is
this: the construction, criticism and analysis of arguments. Philosophical
skills are applicable in any area where arguments are important, not just in
the realms of abstract speculation. They are particularly useful when you are
writing essays, since you are usually expected to make a case for your
conclusions rather than simply assert them. For this reason, a basic grounding
in philosophy is extremely valuable, whatever academic subject you intend to
pursue.
The extract above is from Block 1 of A103: An Introduction to the Humanities (by: Nigel Warburton).
The first law of philosophy: “For every philosopher, there is an
equal and opposite philosopher”
Some Philosophical Problems:
It is notoriously difficult to give a good general definition of
philosophy. But here are a few examples of problems you might find philosophers
discussing. If you find any of the following questions interesting or thought
provoking, the chances are you will get a lot out of the subject.
Christians believe that God is all powerful and all loving. But these
attributes are difficult to reconcile with the existence of evil in the world,
as Epicurus, an ancient Greek philosopher pointed out:
Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is impotent. Is he
able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing?
Whence then is evil?
From Plato, Phaedo (c.380 BC):
"The soul is in the very likeness of the divine, and immortal, and
intellectual, and uniform, and indissoluble, and unchangeable; and ... the body
is in the very likeness of the human, and mortal, and unintellectual, and
multiform, and changeable.”
After death, the soul "departs to the invisible world - to the divine and immortal and rational: thither arriving, she is secure of bliss and is released from the error and folly of men, their fears and wild passions and all other human ills, and for ever dwells ... in company of the gods.”
After death, the soul "departs to the invisible world - to the divine and immortal and rational: thither arriving, she is secure of bliss and is released from the error and folly of men, their fears and wild passions and all other human ills, and for ever dwells ... in company of the gods.”
From Aristotle, De
Anima (c.325 BC):
“The soul ... cannot be separated from the body.”
“The soul is ‘what it is to be’, or the principle ... of a certain kind of natural body having within itself a source of movement and rest.”
“We should not ask whether the soul and body are one, any more than whether the wax and the impression are one, or in general whether the matter of each thing, and that of which it is the matter are one.”
“The soul is ‘what it is to be’, or the principle ... of a certain kind of natural body having within itself a source of movement and rest.”
“We should not ask whether the soul and body are one, any more than whether the wax and the impression are one, or in general whether the matter of each thing, and that of which it is the matter are one.”
From Rene Descartes, Meditations (1641):
“My essence consists solely in the fact that I am a thinking thing. It is true that I may have ... a body that is very closely joined to me. But nonetheless, on the one hand I have a clear and distinct idea of myself, in so far as I am simply a thinking, non-extended thing; and on the other I have a distinct idea of body, in so far as this is simply an extended, non-thinking thing. And accordingly, it is certain that I am really distinct from my body, and can exist without it.”
From Benedict de Spinoza, Ethics (1665):
“Mind and body are one and the same thing, which is conceived now under
the attribute of thought, now under that of extension. ... And consequently the
order of the actions and passions of our body is the same as the order of the
actions and passions of the mind.”
“Your body cannot act immediately on your mind. Hence although your
finger was pricked by a thorn, and although your brain was stimulated by its
action, neither finger nor brain was able to act on your soul and make it feel
pain.”
“You are unable, by yourself, to move your arm, change your place,
situation or posture, treat other people well or badly, or produce the smallest
change in the universe.”
From David Hume, A
Treatise Concerning Human Nature (1739):
A Useful Reading Plan:
Stage I:
Start with Stephen Law, Philosophy
Files (Orion Books, 2000).
Then read Nigel Warburton, Philosophy:
The Basics (Routledge,
1999). Simon Blackburn’s Think (Oxford University Press, 1999)
reinforces Warburton’s The
Basics. For those interested in reading selective short philosophical
extracts, should start choosing articles from Warburton, Philosophy: Basic Readings (Routledge, 1999). A dictionary of
philosophy is handy at this stage. Warburton’s Thinking from A to Z,
(Routledge, 1996) is a hand, succinct and useful one for this
stage.
Stage II:
Start with Roger Scruton’s A
Short History of Modern Philosophy (London
& New York: Ark Paperbacks, 1996). To familiarize yourself with
academic reading and writing in philosophy read Warburton, Philosophy: The Essential Study
Guide (London & New
York: Routledge, 2008). Now is time to read Warburton’s Philosophy: The Classics (Routledge, 1998). If by now you have
not finished reading Warburton’s Basic
Readings, read the whole book now. The
following three books should ideally be read together, all by Bryan Magee.
Start with his The
Story of Philosophy (A Dorling Kindersley Book, 1998) as the main text
and read selectively from the other two: The Great Philosophers: An
Introduction to western Philosophy (OUP, 2000) and Talking Philosophy: Dialogues
with 15 Leading Philosophers (OUP, 2001).
Stage III:
To ensure you are well familiar with the history of philosophy before you
start specializing in a particular area, read Bertrand Russell’s History of Western Philosophy (Routledge, 1991) as a way of
recapping what you have so far learnt.
If you have access to a high speed internet connection, Philosophy Talk, a series of
radio shows presented by two philosophy professors at Stanford University in
California, can be listened to at www.stanford.edu/philosophytalk/.
Each show examines a different philosophical thesis in a provoking and
irreverent way. You will need RealPlayer to listen to the shows, but this can
be downloaded for free using a link on the site if it is not already on your
computer. A pair of headphones or external speakers will make listening more
rewarding.
You might also like to look at The
Philosophers Magazine - a
publication, which aims to make top-class philosophy available to a wide
readership. Each issues contains a collection of articles on a popular
philosophical theme, together with philosophy-related news, reviews, features
and interviews with famous philosophers. It is published quarterly. For
details, see the magazine website at www.philosophersnet.com/.
WWW References:
One very useful
and reliable online source is the Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy available at http://plato.stanford.edu/. One of the most useful websites
for those interested in Philosophy is at http://www.epistemelinks.com. This consists
of a wide range of philosophy sites sorted by category. Though limited in its
scope, you could access some useful information on Theory of Knowledge from http://www.ditext.com/clay/know.html.
David Chalmers’ website is another useful source to explore particularly in
relation to Consciousness and Philosophy of Mind: www.u.arizona.edu/~chalmers.
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