What is Philosophy?

3 Definitions of ‘Philosophy’
• ‘Philosophy’ is used in a variety of ways.
Indeed, dictionaries give multiple entries for
‘philosophy’. Roughly, these entries can be
divided into 3 groups:
– 1. ‘Philosophy’ as an academic discipline
– 2. ‘Philosophy’ as a set of beliefs or worldview
– 3. ‘Philosophy’ as a study or inquiry
 The Stereotype of Philosophy
• Definition 1 merely states that philosophy is something that
is done at a university, and does not say what philosophy
actually is. This, however, easily leads to the common
stereotype of philosophy involving two distinct elements:
– 1. Mental Masturbation: Philosophy is done at a university, and at
a university only. Indeed, philosophy is seen by many as a kind of
intellectual exercise in futility: absent-minded, bearded, white guys
discussing abstract topics having no practical use whatsoever.
– 2. Intellectual Bullying: Philosophers always seem to know better,
and constantly plague us with questions.
 Philosophy as a Set of Beliefs
• Definition 2 defines ‘philosophy’ as a worldview or set of
beliefs. Notice that we can say ‘a philosophy’ in this case.
Indeed, there can be multiple philosophies in this sense of the
word: ‘My philosophy in this regard is …’, ‘Plato’s philosophy’,
‘Eastern Philosophy’, etc.
• Philosophies provide answers to difficult questions, and thus
often serve as a kind of guide or compass to conduct life and
navigate the world.
• All ‘isms’ (and all religions) fall under this definition of
philosophy: Buddhism, Capitalism, Mysticism, Existentialism,
Dualism, etc.
 Philosophy as Rational Inquiry
• Definition 3 expresses philosophy as we are going to
understand it in this class. Philosophy in this sense is
(like definition 1, but unlike definition 2) an activity:
it is something you do. In particular, doing
philosophy is using our rationality in trying to figure
out the answers to difficult questions (related to any
subject matter).
 The Generation and Evaluation
of Ideas and Beliefs
• Doing philosophy roughly consists of two parts:
– 1. The generation of possible ideas, concepts, views,
beliefs, or answers with respect to some issue or
question.
– 2. The evaluation of those generated beliefs in order to
figure out which make sense and which don’t, which is
true and which is false, which is good and which is bad,
or which we should accept and which we should reject.
 Creativity and Reason
• The two steps show that the philosopher should be able to
create as well as destroy ideas or beliefs. The philosopher
thus must be both imaginative as well as reserved, liberal as
well as conservative, ‘artsy’ as well as ‘nerdy’ (indeed,
there are links from philosophy to literature as well as
science), creative as well as rational. In sum, the
philosopher should be open-minded but (as someone once
nicely put it), not so open-minded that his or her brain is
going to fall out!
 Open-Mindedness: An Attitude
• OK, so what makes one open-minded? Open-mindedness has to
do with your attitude towards beliefs:
– You are able to consider alternative beliefs.
– You have no initial preference of one belief over the other.
– You accept the possibility that existing beliefs are false.
– In sum: You are critical towards existing beliefs.
 A Common Myth about Being
Critical
• Many people incorrectly equate being critical with being
dismissive, cynical, or negative:
– First of all, when you are critical of a certain belief, you merely
consider the possibility that a certain belief is false; you do not
automatically reject that belief.
– Second, even if you do reject a certain belief, then that is not
automatically a bad thing; if you had good reasons to reject that
belief, then that belief was probably false, and eliminating false
beliefs may well be considered a good thing!
 Being Critical: What it is
• Being critical about a certain belief means to think about that
belief, and to decide whether to accept it, reject it, or suspend
judgment on that belief.
• Thus, you consider alternative beliefs, and you make arguments
for or against any of those beliefs to figure out whether the
original belief was indeed the best belief or not.
• In other words, being critical involves the same two components
as philosophy: the generation as well as evaluation of alternative
beliefs.
• Indeed, philosophy can be understood as critical thinking with
regard to difficult issues.
 Why it is hard to be critical I
• Habit
– It’s hard to change our thinking patterns
• Difficulty
– It can be hard to generate or evaluate alternative beliefs.
Sometimes we can’t comprehend suggested ones
• Laziness
– We don’t want to spend the time and effort
• Futility
– Being critical does not guarantee any kind of improvement in our
beliefs.
 Why it is hard to be critical II
• Fear and Desire
– We fear or desire the consequences of the truth of a belief
– We desire acceptance and fear rejection by people around
us
– We hate to lose the ‘investment’ we have put in our
beliefs
– We like certainty and hate uncertainty
– We love to be right and hate to be wrong
 The Value of Philosophy
• What, then, is the value of philosophy? Here are some answers:
– First, philosophy may provide answers to difficult questions, even if this takes a
lot of time. In fact, science is one example where philosophy became very
successful (‘natural philosophy’).
– Second, even if philosophy does not provide one with any clear answers, it may
still be able to say that certain answers are better than others.
– And third, even if philosophy seems to be going absolutely nowhere, just the act
of doing philosophy can still be very useful:
• Doing philosophy will improve your critical thinking skills, and those can be
successfully applied to almost any aspect of life.
• Philosophy will open your mind, and get us out of our rut. It is, as Bertrand Russell
called it, ‘liberating doubt’.
• Philosophy forces one to be precise, clear, and rigorous. These are all useful qualities
to have as well.