Thomas Hill is a Kantian scholar and philosopher who has published many papers on concepts like respect for persons and human dignity. In one such piece, Hill diverges from his main discussion to provide some good insight as to what we can really hope for out of philosophical reflection. The passage was pretty striking for me, as it addresses concerns I have had myself about the purpose of pursuing philosophy:
The practical problems raised here are major, complex problems in the real world, and so, one may wonder, what has philosophy to do with them? Obviously, mere thinking will not make the problems disappear. Nor does one presume, when offering philosophical reflections, that everyone will be convinced. The major questions that moral philosophy addresses are, in the end, normative ones that each of us must answer for ourselves. They ask, Where should a reasonable person stand on various issues and why? One obvious reason that moral philosophy cannot eliminate concrete problems, such as bigotry and intolerance, is that it can never make itself heard beyond a limited audience; but even when serious people listen, it has no magical power to coerce assent. At best, by doing moral philosophy one can offer others only the product of one's efforts to think through normative problems honestly and clearly, together with a commitment to live by the results. For oneself, engaging in moral philosophy can help to structure a life of integrity, by identifying what one can conscientiously live for, the normative ground where one finds one must finally stand after scrutinizing one's initial beliefs for hypocrisy, self deception, parochialism and prejudice. By philosophizing with others, one can hope for greater agreement, within limits; but, beyond that, when agreement proves impossible, one can only hope for respectful disagreement.
The limited kind of understanding and agreement which Hill refers to here is something familiar to anyone who has engaged in philosophical reflection. While he is referring to moral philosophy specifically, the attitude pervades all its fields. One of the most influential philosophers of the 20th century analytic tradition, Bertrand Russell, wrote prolifically about mathematics, philosophy of mathematics, metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of religion, philosophy of science and social and moral philosophy. Thus his perspective is one which could be safely said to be informed on what philosophy can offer. In a chapter of his landmark "History of Western Philosophy", he offers the following:
Uncertainty, in the presence of vivid hopes and fears, is painful, but must be endured if we wish to live without the support of comforting fairy tales. It is not good either to forget the questions that philosophy asks, or to persuade ourselves that we have found indubitable answers to them. To teach how to live without certainty, and yet without being paralyzed by hesitation, is perhaps the chief thing that philosophy, in our age, can still do for those who study it.
These quotes both indicate modest expectations for our hopes about discovering truth and reaching agreement about it. This hopelessness leads many to frustration and disillusionment with the project; often opting to retreat into a kind of cynical skepticism. To the skeptic - I have no response to offer except to say that we have good reasons to believe many of the things we do, and good reasons for doubting them. We should not be dogmatic either in clinging to the truth of our beliefs or in abandoning their justification. As Russell says, we have to learn to live without certainty while simultaneously maintaining beliefs about the world. I'll have more to say about this in the future but I thought this might be a good brief introduction to the problems of skepticism and doubt.
Further Reading:
Thomas Hill - Respect For Humanity
Bertrand Russell - The History Of Western Philosophy
No comments:
Post a Comment