What is philosophy?
February 21, 2008Like everyone who does what I do for a living, I occasionally get asked what philosophy is, or what I do as a philosopher. Today, Brian Leiter links to a nice little collection of famous philosophers’ quotes on “What is philosophy?” here; he also quotes two of the best, in my view:
Philosophy is thinking in slow motion. It breaks down, describes and assesses moves we ordinarily make at great speed - to do with our natural motivations and beliefs. It then becomes evident that alternatives are possible [John Campbell]I see philosophy not as groundwork for science, but as continuous with science. I see philosophy and science as in the same boat - a boat which we can rebuild only at sea while staying afloat in it. There is no external vantage point, no first philosophy. All scientific findings, all scientific conjectures that are at present plausible, are therefore in my view as welcome for use in philosophy as elsewhere [W.V.O. Quine]
