Towards A Description of Philosophy

C. A. Tomy
July, 2014
Describing Philosophical Activity
Why No Attempt at Dening Philosophy
Though it is very dicult to specify the nature of
philosophy or articulate what makes a given problem
philosophical, philosophers by and large agree whether a
given problem is a philosophical problem or not.
Philosophy has various features. However, a philosopher
may not agree whether a given feature actually belongs to
philosophy.
It is impossible to have a denition of philosophy,
covering all features that various philosophers say belong
to philosophy.
Such an all encompassing denition would be in all
probability highly incoherent.
Towards a Description of Philosophy
However,it is imperative to have some idea about the
nature of philosophy before we proceed to get into the
study of philosophy.
Instead of attempting a denition of philosophy, we shall
attempt at some sort of description of a few of the
features of philosophical thinking.
These perhaps are not the only features, nor do all
philosophers agree with regard to these features.
Because the features we list below may themselves be
debated over and subjected to philosophical scrutiny.
However, the description, would provides us with a
working understanding of the nature of philosophical
thinking.
Philosophy as a Critical Enterprise.
One of the chief activity of philosophy is criticism.
It critically examines various belief systems, ways of life,
views and perspectives and tries to gure out whether
they are tenable or not.
This feature of philosophy was well articulated long back
by Socrates when he said
An unexamined life is not worth living.
Critical Analysis of Concepts, Methodology, etc.
It also critically scrutinizes the concepts used in and
methodology employed by the various particular
disciplines and try to assess the cognitive import of the
claims made by these disciplines.
Like the re of the Goldsmith that examines whether a
given piece of mental is gold or not, it tests the tenability
of the ideas and concepts employed by various other
disciplines.
Philosophys critical activity is not conned to just a set
of beliefs or concepts. Anything and everything comes
under its critical activity. Philosophy is never content with
what is given or the status quo.
Philosophy as an Analysis
What is analysis?
The process whereby a complex phenomenon is broken
down into its its component parts.
In the process of analysis we come to know what the
basic components of the system under analysis are and
how its various elements or components are organized to
form a complex whole.
Complex concepts, beliefs, statements etc in any eld like
science, religion, and ethics can be subjected to analysis.
There is a prominent school of philosophy which thinks
that philosophy is primarily analysis of language which
reveals the the basic structure of language leaving no
room for ambiguities of any sorts.
Philosophy as an Analysis
What is analysis?
The process whereby a complex phenomenon is broken
down into its its component parts.
In the process of analysis we come to know what the
basic components of the system under analysis are and
how its various elements or components are organized to
form a complex whole.
Complex concepts, beliefs, statements etc in any eld like
science, religion, and ethics can be subjected to analysis.
There is a prominent school of philosophy which thinks
that philosophy is primarily analysis of language which
reveals the the basic structure of language leaving no
room for ambiguities of any sorts.
Philosophy as an Analysis
What is analysis?
The process whereby a complex phenomenon is broken
down into its its component parts.
In the process of analysis we come to know what the
basic components of the system under analysis are and
how its various elements or components are organized to
form a complex whole.
Complex concepts, beliefs, statements etc in any eld like
science, religion, and ethics can be subjected to analysis.
There is a prominent school of philosophy which thinks
that philosophy is primarily analysis of language which
reveals the the basic structure of language leaving no
room for ambiguities of any sorts.
Philosophy as Study of Meaning
As a part of Philosophys analytical inquiry, it also seeks
to understand the meaning of various beliefs and concepts
and words that we use.
It also ties to enquire into the nature of concept of
meaning, or the meaning of meaning
It ties to specify under what condition, concept or a word
or a statement or proposition is meaningful
As Search for presuppositions
Philosophy may not be particularly interested in any
specic system of knowledge but knowledge system as a
whole.
It tries to discover the presuppositions of various inquiries,
if not knowledge system as a whole. By a presupposition
I mean various beliefs on the basis of which we act or
form other beliefs.
One may not be aware of these presuppositions and most
of the time they are tacitly assumed.
A Mundane Example of Presuppositions
When I walk across the football ground, or through the
corridors of the various buildings on the campus, I tacitly
assume that I do not plunge into the ground whereas
when I go to the swimming pool, I do not dare to walk
over the water because of the belief that if I step over
water, I will go down. This tacit assumption I do not
entertain consciously. However, some of my acts of the
daily life and my omission of certain other acts are based
on them. I may suddenly become aware of them, for
example, if some were to ask me why I avoided walking
over the water in the swimming pool. At point of time
asking this odd the question, I may become ware of the
assumption that I unconsciously entertained from my early
childhood and may spell out as answer to the enquirer.
Presuppositions of Knowledge System as a Whole
The kind of presuppositions that we look for in philosophy
may not be of the kind we discussed in this example. The
presuppositions we search for are those of our knowledge
systems as a whole and the presuppositions of each of the
particular inquiries we make.
Suppose that one of the propositions that we entertain as
part of our knowledge system is: All crows are black
Then the proposition, There are countries in the world
where crows are not black cannot be part of our
knowledge system as the latter proposition is not
consistent with former. It shows that one of the
presuppositions of our knowledge system is that it must
be consistent.
Any system of belief that violates this norm is summarily
rejected.
Philosophy as Presupposition-less Enquiry
Each of the particular inquiries that we make has its own
presuppositions which is not questioned in the concerned
discipline.
Philosophy, perhaps, is the only inquiry, that could be
characterized as presuppositionless as putative
presuppositions can be questioned and subjected to
critical scrutiny.
Search for Meaning in Life
Our discussion so far might show that philosophy is
interested only in questions of knowledge. But this is not
true.
Philosophy lays a lot of importance practical life
particularly how we must lead our life so that it is
meaningful or worth-living.
It asks what is the highest good or goal of life, the
summum bonum which imparts meaning to ones life.
But here again philosophers are not unanimous about
what is the highest good of human life.
To lead a life worth living some would prescribe seeking
pleasures, others say that fullling responsibility towards
oneself as well as others, and for others it is pursuit of
knowledge and so on.
Philosophy as a Synthesis
Various Disciplines as Product of Analytic Inquiry
There are various kinds of knowledge derived from
dierent particular inquiries. There is knowledge about
the physical universe. The various aspects of the physical
universe is studied by dierent natural sciences such as
physics, chemistry, biology etc.
Then there is knowledge about social phenomenon which
is studied by the social sciences. it tries to come up with
a consistent view about life and the universe.
Finally, there is knowledge about the self and its creative
products studied under humanities.
Three Kinds of Reality?!
We may for conveniences sake speak of three kinds of
reality:
the material or physical reality,
the social reality which consists of human behavior in
relation to other members of the society,
and nally, there is the reality of self.
We may say that
natural sciences study the physical reality
social sciences, the social reality
and humanities, the reality of the self and its acts.
Towards a Darsan or Weltanschauung
Philosophy is not content with mere analysis and critical
scrutiny. Philosophy is an act of synthesis as well.
One of the important functions of philosophy is to
integrate these various kinds of knowledge into a single,
unied and consistent vision of the world and life. - what
Indian philosophers call Darshan.
The comprehensive vision of reality and life that we come
up with will have certain implications for various inquiries
in dierent elds of knowledge and how humans should
conduct their life.
Thus the vision that philosophy develops is a general and
consistent view about the reality and life.
It must, however be noted that that there are various
alternative ways of building a unied vision depending
upon where we lay emphasis on or what aspects of the
the system of knowledge is considered primary.
Physicalism
A vision of the world centered around the physical world
is called physicalism or materialism.
In this vision, there is one independent status for what we
call a self or a mind.
What we call self, mind, do not have an existence of their
own for they are reducible to the physical or material
reality and if at least to certain functions of the physical
through a systematic and rigorous method of science.
Idealism
A vision of the real centered on the reality of self is called
idealism.
According to this view, what really exist is the self and its
manifestations.
The material/physical world is just an appearance which
in the ultimate analysis can be reduced to self.
Depending on notion of the self, that on whether self is
transcendental or empirical, there are varieties of idealism.
Dualism
The philosophical vision that accommodates both self and
the physical world and gives equal importance to both is
called dualism.
On this view, the self and the matter exist on their own
and one cannot be reduced to the other.
This view would grant that there are two fundamental
elds of inquiry or that there are two basic sciences,
psychology dealing with nature and operations of the self
and physics dealing with nature and working of material
world.
One importance consequence of this view is that these
two disciplines have totally dierent methods conducting
scientic inquiry.
Philosophy as a Reexive Inquiry
Another important characteristic of philosophy is that it is
a reexive inquiry. That is to say, it can be concerned
about itself, it can look for the presupposition, if any, of
philosophical inquiry itself.
It analyzes and critically examines various philosophical
concepts. It also critically examines the method if any
that it employs in its inquiry. (Philosophical inquiry in
general may not have any particular methodology of its
own which could be called the method of philosophy)
Thus when I say philosophy is a reexive inquiry , what I
mean is that it is a second order discipline and that there
is no third order inquiry. To say that philosophy is a
reexive inquiry is to apply a closure.
I shall make the point clearer with two analogies.
The Analogy of the study of Mind
Philosophical activity, in an important sense, is analogous
to the way the mind functions.
The mind is the human cognitive instrument through with
we study the real and comes up with a systematic
account of various aspects of nature.
To study the mind, however, we do not have an
instrument other than mind itself. That is, mind is the
ultimate instrument /organ with which study the nature
as well as itself. (One mind studying another mind?).
Analogy of Judicial System
The way of philosophy functions is analogous to the way
judiciary works in a democratic system.
A case that is judged by the supreme court cannot be
reviewed by the lower courts. If it has to be review it
must be reviewed by another bench of the same court.
Similarly, as far as philosophical issues are concerned
philosophy may be said to be the ultimate of court of
appeal. To resolve the philosophical debates, we do not
have another judge than philosophy itself.
Philosophy as a Second Order Discipline.
The features of philosophical thinking, which I described
above, all emanate from the view that philosophy is a
second order discipline.
What does it mean to say that a discipline is a second
order one?
This requires us to specify the distinction between rst
order and second order inquiries.
First Order Inquiries
Briey speaking , a rst order discipline is one that is
directly concerned with the world or has its own denite
subject matter.
Physics, chemistry, biology, psychology, economics,
sociology etc are examples of rst order disciplines.
Each of them is concerned with some particular aspects
of the world or life and from that point of view each has a
specic subject matter of its own.
Each of them claims to have a set of truths.
The Second Order Inquiry
A second order discipline, on the other hand, can not be
said to have a subject matter and a method of its own
the way the rst order disciplines have.
To put it dierently, whereas rst order discipline has its
own facts and data, the second order discipline does not
have its won facts and data.
It is never interested in the facts as they are studied by
the rst order discipline.
Its primary concern is with the rst order disciplines
themselves. That is to say, its preoccupation is primarily
with the concepts they provide and methods they follow
in conducting their inquiry.
In short, a rst order discipline is directly deals with the
world whereas second order discipline reects over the
disciplines that directly studies the various aspects of
reality.
Why Philosophy is a Second Order Discipline
As a second order discipline Philosophy feeds itself to a
great extent on the foundations of other disciplines, and
is therefore parasitic upon them.
Philosophy depends on other discipline for its very
existence. The genuine philosophical problems, it is held,
arises out side the arena of philosophy.
A philosophical problem may arise because of the
problems that they face in their moral life or diculties
that they encounter in explaining and empirical
phenomena within the frame work of a given theory.
Some of the prominent philosophical questions arise
mainly because of philosophers engagement with other
disciplines.
Can Ethics be a Second Order Inquiry?
One may ask:
In what aspect, philosophy as a search for meaning in life
can be considered as a second order discipline.?
We can think of at least two reasons as to why search for
meaning in life can be considered as second order inquiry.
The First Reason
Philosophers reach their views as to what should be the
goal of life through a thorough examination of the way
people lead their life.
They subject human life as it is lived to a thorough
examination.
They search for the basic principles upon which various
groups of people live their life.
They critically examine these principles and if possible
give alternatives.
All these suggest that search for meaning in life too is one of
the activities of a second order discipline.
The Second Reason
When a moral or political system is presented to them,
they subject it to critical scrutiny to gure out what is
the rational foundation or the justications for accepting
the system and and assess their tenability.