PHI:2010 CONCLUSION

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Chapter 12: Conclusion

Philosophy and Cultural Differences

Different individuals have different perspectives. Existing within a definite time-space location, they share in the basic wealth of a given culture. They participate in the process of civilization. They have been in part determined in what they will think and do by what is at their disposal to work with and what has gone before to make them what they are. Individuals add to their inheritance their own uniqueness which is centered in their volitional acts.

Philosophers are no different from others in regard to their cultural perspectives. Philosophers differ in their conclusions. They build upon what has come before. They react to it and criticize it. They draw from the total wealth of their given civilization and all others they have knowledge of. Philosophers differ in what they end up with, however, they share in a common pursuit and they do so by their attempt to pursue inquiry in a definite manner, i.e. a critical and comprehensive approach.

Philosophy and other forms of Thought

Different individuals have different perspectives. Existing within a definite time-space location, they share in the basic wealth of a given culture. They participate in the process of civilization. They have been in part determined in what they will think and do by what is at their disposal to work with and what has gone before to make them what they are. Individuals add to their inheritance their own uniqueness which is centered in their volitional acts.

Philosophers are no different from others in regard to their cultural perspectives. Philosophers differ in their conclusions. They build upon what has come before. They react to it and criticize it. They draw from the total wealth of their given civilization and all others they have knowledge of. Philosophers differ in what they end up with, however, they share in a common pursuit and they do so by their attempt to pursue inquiry in a definite manner, i.e. a critical and comprehensive approach.

Philosophy and other forms of Thought

While the Philosophical mode of thought exists along side of those of Religion, Science and Art it is distinct from them and influences each of them and in part responds to developments within each of these fields or dimensions of human experience. While Religion offers a comprehensive view of all aspects of human life , it is a view which is uncritically formulated and does not itself encourage or tolerate criticism of the fundamental tenets of faith or the principle applications of those basic beliefs to the affairs of everyday life. Science, on the other hand, is quite critical in the evaluation of hypotheses and theories but it lacks the comprehensive nature of philosophic thought. The various branches of scientific inquiry have not as yet demonstrated that they are capable of being welded into a single comprehensive view of all reality built upon a single coherent set of basic principles or laws. Art remains as a discipline capable of demonstrating, representing and encouraging values but it is not a discipline of thought at all least of all one that is characterized by the critical and comprehensive features of philosophical thought.

I hope that you have been able to detect these features of philosophic thought although there are obstacles that most of you have encountered such as

1. the brevity of the treatment given each philosopher examined during this semester,
2. the rather small number of passages and works read and
3. the inexperience of class members with reading and analyzing philosophical treatises.

Even so each student should have come to appreciate that Philosophy as an activity and a tradition of thought involves a good deal more than the common usage of the term in popular discourse would intimate.

Today the term "Philosophy" is often misused. So often in fact that the term itself has been corrupted. Most think of Philosophy as a "way of life", "view of the world", "theory about life", etc... The public has little conscious appreciation for the philosophic tradition.

The future for Philosophy as an intellectual activity has come to be in doubt due to present social conditions: the anti-intellectual and anti-rational tendencies that characterize the current cultural scene and most of the influential and determining social and political movements within it.

There are over 20,000 philosophers in the world. There are more than 6,000 philosophers in the United States. They are philosophers according to their academic training and degree and their professional affiliations, e.g. membership in the American Philosophical Association. There are Philosophers who participate in different traditions.

1. Analytical Philosophy which was quite popular at the middle of the twentieth century offered an approach to problems through linguistic analysis, in which all problems are seen as problems of language: questions of semantics . This approach alone, while promising much and necessary for inquiry, has not answered many of our most important problems.
2. Social Philosophy in the tradition of Socrates, Plato, and Dewey still has many participants. There are many definite characteristics of this tradition in the works of Marxists, Existentialists, and Pragmatists.
3. Applied Philosophy in the forms of Applied Ethics, Philosophy and Public Affairs and Political Philosophy has a growing number of participants as societies around the globe call upon those skilled in analytical and critical thinking to sort through the confusion wrought by the breathtaking speed of technological developments and the failure of contemporary thought to keep pace with them applying the values held by each society. Finally, there is still if even in only the smallest of numbers
4. speculative Philosophy such as evidenced in this country by Peirce, Whitehead, Hartshorne, and Weiss. Philosophy in the grand style of Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Kant and Hegel. Philosophy evolving an entire worldview and all-encompassing conceptual framework: Philosophy in its most comprehensive form of thought.

Critical and comprehensive thinking continues to be carried on today but toward what end?

Our contemporary world is what it is partly as a result of past philosophical inquiry. Consider the impact and importance of Greek thought for mathematics, modern science and technology.

Much of our world has come to be the way it is as a result of the world-views developed by philosophers and criticized and reformulated by philosophers and most of these thinkers were Hellenized-Christians.

Part of our contemporary dilemma is the inappropriateness of such traditional, even classical, world-views in the light of recent scientific advances in knowledge. In our present state not only the moral ends and hierarchy of values that accompanied such world-views have become dislodged but also the very notion of what thought can do for a society or a civilization. Philosophers have surely contributed to the current situation being what it is and they shall contribute to whatever direction thought is to take in the immediate future as humans continue to grapple with the perennial issues and the most basic questions humans must answer. These issues and questions have been, are now, and, for some time to come, will continue to be associated with Philosophy.

Philosophers spend a good deal of time in reflection upon these basic issues. They produce ideas, at times strange ideas. Over time however, the ideas of Philosophers have changed the course of human events all over the planet. Sometimes their ideas move quickly into the mainstream of human culture and produce consequences in art, politics, religion and the political, social and private lives of human beings. Sometimes their ideas move more slowly and only after centuries do they emerge through the thought and work of others to produce profound consequences. Whether it is Plato and his distrust of the senses and the importance of quantitative measurement or Peirce and his pragmatic approach to meaning and truth their ideas emerge in the foundations of Mathematics and Science and in the post modern movements, respectively. Their ideas have changed the world. Whether it is Socrates refusal to leave prison and to stay and die for principles or Karl Marx and his notions of the classless society, Philosophers have altered the course of human history.

Some say" Philosophy bakes no bread." meaning that Philosophy has no practical relevance or value to the actual affairs of this world. It could be said in response to this critique that were it not for Philosophy little bread would be baked, for bakers need reasons, motives, purposes in their lives. If survival is the only end or purpose then little is accounted for in the history of the human species. We as human beings seem compelled to ask the question "survival for what?" If there are other ends it is in philosophic inquiry that they are distinctly discerned criticized and related to human affairs. Purposes, values may be presented in numerous ways (religion, and art are the best known) but they are understood philosophically. Philosophy seeks after clear enunciation of purpose and values and precise formulation without which human beings encounter a void, feel lost-without purpose or meaning, without a sense of place, without a relation to the rest of the universe.

So, Philosophy is an activity of thought, which may become a way of life. It is primarily a pursuit after wisdom. It is a critical and comprehensive inquiry into the ways in which what we know can be used to obtain what we value. Philosophy is one of the most, if not THE most, distinctive of all human activities, as such Philosophy has been and may continue to be of importance in the lives of humans, around the world.

Introduction to Philosophy by Philip A. Pecorino is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

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