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Philosophy Today

Philosophy Today. Philosophy 1 Spring, 2002 G. J. Mattey. The Great Divide. Most contemporary philosophers follow one of two approaches “Continental” philosophy “Analytic” philosophy Continental philosophy is more influential on the European continent

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Philosophy Today

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  1. Philosophy Today Philosophy 1 Spring, 2002 G. J. Mattey

  2. The Great Divide • Most contemporary philosophers follow one of two approaches • “Continental” philosophy • “Analytic” philosophy • Continental philosophy is more influential on the European continent • Analytic philosophy is predominant in the major research universities in the English-speaking world

  3. Analytic Philosophy • Analytic philosophy developed from attempts in the early 20th century to make our concepts precise • The model of this procedure was science • Rudolf Carnap (1891-1970) was a leading positivist, who held that what is not analytic or scientifically verifiable is meaningless • Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) eventually held that analyses do not yield precise results and held that philosophy is merely therapeutic

  4. Analytic Philosophy Today • Emphasis in contemporary analytic philosophy is on language and meaning, and meaning is understood as a relation between language and objective reality • Thus, understanding the structure of language is what reveals the structure of reality • We now have powerful symbolic tools to aid us • Saul Kripke (1940- ) led a revival of metaphysics by making hyper-scientific concepts precise

  5. Continental Philosophy • Immanuel Kant’s “Copernican revolution” made the human point of view primary • This revolution was carried on German philosophers in the 19th century, culminating in Nietzsche • In the early 20th century, Edmund Husserl invented “phenomenology” • This was developed by Martin Heidegger and Sartre into “existentialism”

  6. Continental Philosophy Today • Work in phenomenology and existentialism continues to be done • The main thrust in continental philosophy today follows Nietzsche • Michel Foucault (1926-1984) understood knowledge as practice, and practice as based on relations of power • Jacques Derrida (1930- ) promotes “deconstruction” and opposes “logocentrism”

  7. Academic Culture Clash • Analytic philosophers accuse continental philosophers of sloppy, or even meaningless, thinking • Continental philosophers accuse analytic philosophers of petty narrowness and detachment from real human concerns

  8. Roots of the Clash • The clash between contemporary continental and analytic philosophers is foreshadowed in the clash between the Sophists and Socrates • The Sophists emphasized the use of language as a tool to further human interest, but not as revealing an objective reality • Socrates demanded an account of the real form which provides the meaning of the use of concepts

  9. Formal Philosophy • Symbolic logic allows the formulation of philosophical statements and arguments in a rigorous, unambiguous format • Leibniz was the first philosopher to try this • Russell’s 1905 “On Denoting” showed its great potential • Probability calculus is a formalization of principles of inductive reasoning • Decision theory is based on probability calculus

  10. What Analytic Philosophers Do • Conceptual analysis is done in the style of the Euthyphro • E.g., knowledge is justified true belief that is not accidental • Philosophical theories are constructed in the style of Utilitarianism or Grounding of the Metaphysics of Morals • Much activity is directed at the question of the possibility of analysis and theorizing

  11. Reflective Equilibrium • Mill posed the problem of the analysis of ethical judgments • We need to know what right and wrong are before we can judge an act right or wrong • But scientific method requires that we know particulars first • Nelson Goodman proposed a solution • Begin with our beliefs about particulars • Determine how well they conform to general beliefs • Reflectively adjust the two kinds of beliefs until they reach a state of equilibrium

  12. Issues in Metaphysics • Most current issues in analytic metaphysics are the same as the classical issues • Are universals and numbers real, or are concrete particulars the only reality? • Is causality only constant conjunction or a real relation? • Can things be other than what they actually are, or are they determined to be what they are?

  13. Supervenience • Many philosophers are attracted to the view that the human mind is a material entity • But there are problems in explaining mental activity as identical to brain states, etc. • A proposed solution is that mental activity supervenes on physical states of the body • Two brain states of the same type cannot differ with respect to the associated mental activity

  14. Issues in Epistemology • How should knowledge be analyzed? • Should we approach knowledge inside-out (Descartes, Hume, Russell) or outside-in, so that human knowledge is a natural development to be studied scientifically? • How do we make sense of the persuasive power of philosophical skepticism?

  15. Contextualism • We seem to assume that we have knowledge ordinarily but take back that assumption when thinking of skeptical arguments • This can be explained by claiming that we have knowledge in the ordinary context but lose it in the skeptical context • This is similar to Hume’s view that we have belief in the ordinary context and lose our confidence when thinking of skeptical arguments

  16. Issues in Ethics • Ethical investigations tend to be centered on one of three levels • Meta-ethics concerns questions about the nature of moral values and how they can be known • Ethical theories include utilitarianism, Kantianism, and Aristotelian-style virtue ethics • Moral problems (e.g. abortion) are discussed in their own right or in relation to theories

  17. The Difference Principle • John Rawls has proposed a conception of justice as fairness • In the case of distributive justice, justice is fair distribution of the goods of society • But what is fair? • We should conceive of ourselves as in a position of ignorance regarding our position in society • In such a position, it would be reasonable for each of us to require that if a distribution is unequal, it must help the least advantaged

  18. Progress? • Has analytic philosophy made any progress? • Philosophical problems, analyses and theories are subject to much more sophisticated and detailed treatment • They tend, however, to be examined piecemeal, and not as part of a broader theoretical context • Philosophers seem as far from agreement on more basic issues as they ever have been, even with all the new tools at their disposal

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