Literally (in ancient Greek) philosophy means ‘love of wisdom’. That suggests that philosophy is about how to live, and indeed that was so with the ancient Greeks, but later branches of philosophy turned to abstractions and formal analysis of concepts that drifted away from life. There was opposition to that, and recently there has been a revival of the philosophy of life, and that is where my blog belongs. I will not ignore the more formal analytical philosophy but will use it where useful, but without getting too technical. I appreciate clarity and I think that philosophers should be as clear as it is possible. But it is not always possible. Ambiguity is not only unavoidable but also salutary. Without ambiguity no change of meaning could take place, no shift or novelty of concepts, and that is what interests me most of all.
This blog is aimed at a reasonably intellectual but wide audience. I will connect philosophical issues with phenomena in life and society. In the view of some philosophers it is not the task of philosophy to solve problems or even answer questions, and is only a matter of rephrasing questions. And indeed, a number of questions return again and again without receiving a final, conclusive answer. Yet in my view one should try to connect philosophy with experience. For example, when discussing the relation between self and other, between individual and collective conduct, I will look at the banking crisis. When discussing justice I will look at debates on immigration. When discussing the possibility of altruism next to egoism I will consider its viability in the economy, in markets.
In the view of some philosophers philosophy and science are of different orders and should be kept apart. I disagree. As science moves along, it tends to take over issues from philosophy, but old philosophical questions remain and many of them have not been resolved. Philosophy starts where science ends, trying to tackle questions that science cannot answer yet and perhaps never will. Foundations of science are often philosophical, and scientists do well to consider them. Philosophers should build on science where they can, and when what they say is in contradiction with science they should reconsider. In issues of knowledge, for example, and the question whether free will exists, one can make use of recent insights from brain science and social psychology. Philosophy and science are still of different orders but that does not mean that there are no connections.
This blog is aimed at a reasonably intellectual but wide audience. I will connect philosophical issues with phenomena in life and society. In the view of some philosophers it is not the task of philosophy to solve problems or even answer questions, and is only a matter of rephrasing questions. And indeed, a number of questions return again and again without receiving a final, conclusive answer. Yet in my view one should try to connect philosophy with experience. For example, when discussing the relation between self and other, between individual and collective conduct, I will look at the banking crisis. When discussing justice I will look at debates on immigration. When discussing the possibility of altruism next to egoism I will consider its viability in the economy, in markets.
In the view of some philosophers philosophy and science are of different orders and should be kept apart. I disagree. As science moves along, it tends to take over issues from philosophy, but old philosophical questions remain and many of them have not been resolved. Philosophy starts where science ends, trying to tackle questions that science cannot answer yet and perhaps never will. Foundations of science are often philosophical, and scientists do well to consider them. Philosophers should build on science where they can, and when what they say is in contradiction with science they should reconsider. In issues of knowledge, for example, and the question whether free will exists, one can make use of recent insights from brain science and social psychology. Philosophy and science are still of different orders but that does not mean that there are no connections.
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