[Date Prev][Date Next]
[Chronological]
[Thread]
[Home]
Re: What does a philosopher do?
To reply to this message or start a new topic please email: BUPS-DIS@bups.org
On 8/25/05, Robert Charleston <rc3673@student.open.ac.uk> wrote:
> So I'm left with the horrible alternative that being a philosopher is
> about doing what other people do, but having a sign on the door that says
> 'Philosopher at work. Beware: dishevelled hair and exposed premises'.
>
> What do you think? Are there other alternatives - am I looking in the
> wrong place? Or is there just nothing that there is to be a philosopher?
You're right that philosophers "do what other people do some of the
time." Philosophers analyze the nature of the world at levels deeper
than most, and with methods more reliably truth-indicative than most.
*Mathematicians* also "do what other people do some of the time." This
does not entail there is nothing but disheveled hair and a penchant
for obscure symbols to being a mathematician.
Similarly, such a conclusion does not apply to being a philosopher.
"I know I am studying philosophy, but always feel horrendously
embarrassed when someone introduces themselves to me 'a philosopher',
rather than someone interested in philosophy [...] I
think it's got something to do with the concerns below and the idea of
'self-certifying' yourself as being something like Socrates or
Locke..."
Are you equally disturbed by those who describe themselves as
physicists, because they are "self-certifying" as being something like
Newton or Einstein? Or biologists for self-certifying as something
like Mayr, Darwin, or Mendel?
I expect you do not, and I suggest that your curious reaction to
philosophers who recognize themselves as philosophers is just as
unworthy of aversion as self-described physicists and biologists.
Best,
--
Jeff Medina
http://www.painfullyclear.com/
Community Director
Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence
http://www.singinst.org/
Relationships & Community Fellow
Institute for Ethics & Emerging Technologies
http://www.ieet.org/
School of Philosophy, Birkbeck, University of London
http://www.bbk.ac.uk/phil/
Browse or search the BUPS-DIS archives, or unsubscribe from the mailing list at: http://www.bups.org/mailinglist.htm