Russell on the value of philosophy

Paper Assignment #5

Russell on the Value of Philosophy

This assignment is due: Thursday 6/11/20 @10am. 3 - 4 pages.

Reading: https://web.ics.purdue.edu/~drkelly/

RussellValuePhilosophy1912.pdf

This assignment will be on Bertrand Russell on the value of philosophy.

Russell, in his “on the Value of Philosophy”, argues that even if philosophy

does not offer definitive answers to the questions it asks, it is still valuable

and worth studying. According to Russell, even if philosophy does not yield

definite answers, we should still study it.

You task here is to raise an objection to this. If an academic discipline does

not yield definitive answers, perhaps it is not worth studying.

The sciences offer definitive answers. So, they are worth studying.

Physicists aim to provide definite answers to the questions in their discipline.

Geologists aim to provide definitive answers to the questions in their

discipline.

Biologists, chemists, astronomers, botanists, paleontologists,

mathematicians all aim to provide definitive answers to the questions in their

discipline or their respective fields.

Thus, these disciplines are worth studying. By studying these disciplines, we

learn definitive answers in physics, biology, chemistry, astronomy, etc.

Russell concedes that philosophers do not provide definitive questions to the

questions they ask. Here are some questions in philosophy:

Does God exist?

What is the nature of the mind?

What is thinking?

What makes certain actions morally right and other actions morally wrong?

Do we have a soul?

Is knowledge possible?

What is knowledge?

These are philosophical questions. And, we still do not have definitive

answers to these.

Yet, Russell insists philosophy is still worth studying.

Your paper will have 4 parts:

Introduction

Exposition

Criticism

Conclusion

Introduction:

Introduce the topic. The topic is on Russell and the value of philosophy.

Unlike the various disciplines in science and mathematics, Russell admits

that philosophy does not offer definitive answer to the questions it asks.

Yet, he argues that philosophy is still valuable and worth studying. You will

raise an objection to his argument.

Exposition:

The various disciplines in science and mathematics provides definite answer

to the questions it asks. Explain this fully. Provide examples.

Russell admits that philosophy does not provide definite answers to the

questions it asks. What his explanation for this. Yet, he insists philosophy is

still valuable and worth studying.

What is argument for this? What’s his argument that philosophy is still value

and worth studying?

Be sure to read carefully. Fully explain Russell’s thinking here.

Criticism:

Raise an objection to Russell’s argument. Provide an argument that

philosophy not being able to provide definitive answers to the questions it

asks makes it less valuable and perhaps not worth all the time and effort

people put into studying it.

You will not argue that philosophy is worthless. It has some value. But, it is

not worth the amount of effort and energy needed to properly study it. If

we are going to invest that effort and energy into a discipline, it better yield

definitive answers. It better yield hard results.

Conclusion:

Tell me what you learned from writing this paper or what the reader is

supposed to have learned from reading your paper.