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What is Philosophy?
Minds and Machines
3 Definitions of ‘Philosophy’
• ‘Philosophy’ is used in a variety of ways.
Indeed, dictionaries give multiple entries for
‘philosophy’. Roughly, these entries can be
divided into 3 groups:
– 1. ‘Philosophy’ as an academic discipline
– 2. ‘Philosophy’ as a set of beliefs or worldview
– 3. ‘Philosophy’ as a study or inquiry
The Stereotype of Philosophy
• Definition 1 merely states that philosophy is
something that is done at a university, and does
not say what philosophy actually is. This,
however, easily leads to the common stereotype of
philosophy involving two distinct elements:
– 1. Mental Masturbation: Philosophy is done at a
university, and at a university only. Indeed, philosophy
is seen by many as a kind of intellectual exercise in
futility: absent-minded, bearded, white guys discussing
abstract topics having no practical use whatsoever.
– 2. Intellectual Bullying: Philosophers always seem to
know better, and constantly plague us with questions.
Philosophy as a Set of Beliefs
• Definition 2 defines ‘philosophy’ as a worldview
or set of beliefs. Notice that we can say ‘a
philosophy’ in this case. Indeed, there can be
multiple philosophies in this sense of the word:
‘My philosophy in this regard is …’, ‘Plato’s
philosophy’, ‘Eastern Philosophy’, etc.
• Philosophies provide answers to difficult
questions, and thus often serve as a kind of guide
or compass to conduct life and navigate the world.
• All ‘isms’ (and all religions) fall under this
definition of philosophy: Buddhism, Capitalism,
Mysticism, Existentialism, Dualism, etc.
Philosophy as Rational Inquiry
• Definition 3 expresses philosophy as we are
going to understand it in this class.
Philosophy in this sense is (like definition 1,
but unlike definition 2) an activity: it is
something you do. In particular, doing
philosophy is using our rationality in trying
to figure out the answers to difficult
questions (related to any subject matter).
The Generation and Evaluation
of Ideas and Beliefs
• Doing philosophy roughly consists of two
parts:
– 1. The generation of possible ideas, concepts,
views, beliefs, or answers with respect to some
issue or question.
– 2. The evaluation of those generated beliefs in
order to figure out which make sense and which
don’t, which is true and which is false, which is
good and which is bad, or which we should
accept and which we should reject.
Creativity and Reason
• The two steps show that the philosopher should be
able to create as well as destroy ideas or beliefs.
The philosopher thus must be both imaginative as
well as reserved, liberal as well as conservative,
‘artsy’ as well as ‘nerdy’ (indeed, there are links
from philosophy to literature as well as science),
creative as well as rational. In sum, the
philosopher should be open-minded but (as
someone once nicely put it), not so open-minded
that his or her brain is going to fall out!
A Common Myth about OpenMindedness
• Some people believe that they are open-minded
because they believe in things that are not
commonly accepted. However, this has nothing to
do with open-mindedness, as being open-minded
has nothing to do with what you believe (see next
slide)!
• Even worse, if you believe things to be true
exactly because they are not commonly accepted,
you are in fact quite narrow-minded, since
apparently you are unwilling to consider the
commonly accepted answer as a possible answer.
Open-Mindedness: An Attitude
• OK, so what makes one open-minded?
Open-mindedness has to do with your
attitude towards beliefs:
– You are able to consider alternative beliefs.
– You have no initial preference of one belief
over the other.
– You accept the possibility that existing beliefs
are false.
– In sum: You are critical towards existing
beliefs.
A Common Myth about Being
Critical
• Many people incorrectly equate being critical with
being dismissive, cynical, or negative:
– First of all, when you are critical of a certain belief, you
merely consider the possibility that a certain belief is
false; you do not automatically reject that belief.
– Second, even if you do reject a certain belief, then that
is not automatically a bad thing; if you had good
reasons to reject that belief, then that belief was
probably false, and eliminating false beliefs may well
be considered a good thing!
Being Critical: What it is
• Being critical about a certain belief means to think
about that belief, and to decide whether to accept
it, reject it, or suspend judgment on that belief.
• Thus, you consider alternative beliefs, and you
make arguments for or against any of those beliefs
to figure out whether the original belief was
indeed the best belief or not.
• In other words, being critical involves the same
two components as philosophy: the generation as
well as evaluation of alternative beliefs.
• Indeed, philosophy can be understood as critical
thinking with regard to difficult issues.
Why it is hard to be critical I
• Habit
– It’s hard to change our thinking patterns
• Difficulty
– It can be hard to generate or evaluate alternative beliefs.
Sometimes we can’t comprehend suggested ones
• Laziness
– We don’t want to spend the time and effort
• Futility
– Being critical does not guarantee any kind of
improvement in our beliefs.
Why it is hard to be critical II
• Fear and Desire
– We fear or desire the consequences of the truth
of a belief
– We desire acceptance and fear rejection by
people around us
– We hate to lose the ‘investment’ we have put in
our beliefs
– We like certainty and hate uncertainty
– We love to be right and hate to be wrong
Wishful Thinking
• We often like certain beliefs to be true. For
example, it would be nice if there is a God,
if there is life after death, etc. Wishful
thinking frequently makes us believe
exactly that what we want to be true, and at
the same time makes us uncritical of those
beliefs as well.
Herd Instinct, Partisan Mindset,
and Leadership
• Humans are very social animals, and we have a lot to gain
or lose depending on our social status. Thus, we tend to do
three things:
– 1. Herd Instinct: We are quick to accept the beliefs of those around
us (family, friends, culture, etc.): we would hate to come off as
being critical of those beliefs, as they may result in being rejected
from our support group.
– 2. Partisan Mindset: We reject the beliefs of other groups, since
they are, as a group, in competition with our group. Thus, we adopt
a ‘Us vs Them’ Mindset: ‘We are right, and they are wrong!’.
– 3. Leadership: Within the group that we’re in, it is best to be ‘on
top’. To be a leader, however, you must take control, and act as if
you know what you are doing. As such, believing something
(whether it is true or bad), and holding on to that belief, is better
than trying to figure out what’s best. Indeed, admitting that you
don’t know what’s best is often considered a sign of weakness.
Beliefs and Actions
• Whenever, we make a decision, we rely on our
beliefs: Beliefs are what we act upon. This makes
us uncritical of our beliefs in 2 ways:
– 1. We hate to find out that in the past we have acted on
bad beliefs, since as such we may have to admit that we
have done harm.
– 2. We hate to change our daily routines as the result of
changing our beliefs (laziness), especially if they seem
to work fine (futility).
Certainty and Uncertainty
• We like to have a sense of certainty, even if that is
a false one, for having a definite belief means:
– 1. that we don’t have to spend time and effort to really
think about what we’re doing: we can just do it.
– 2. that we can take control, which is good for our social
status within the group that we live in.
• Especially when it comes to the ‘big’ questions in
life (‘What should I do with my life?’, ‘What
happens when I die?’ etc.), we grasp for whatever
answer is able to relieve us from the
uncomfortable feeling of not knowing the answer.
Being Right and Being Wrong
• We love to be right, and hate to be wrong! Our
beliefs are a big part of who we are: how we see,
define, and identify ourselves. Thus, we hate to be
critical of our beliefs, as that would amount to
being critical of ourselves!
• Also, there is again a lot of social status to be lost
if we would admit that we were wrong about
something: Leaders are strong-headed (even if that
means pig-headed!).
Critical Thinking and Evolution
• As you can see, there are many obstacles to
critical thinking, and some of those have a
straightforward evolutionary explanation:
– habit and a sense of certainty allows us to act quickly
(the ‘Perfect Deliberator’ will simply not survive in a
hostile world)
– there is strength in numbers (herd instinct), there is
competition between groups (partisan mindset) and
within a group, it is good to be ‘on top’ (status)
– the benefit of wishful thinking is not so clear: maybe it
relieves stress
Why Critical Thinking isn’t much
liked
• Many of the reasons for why it is hard to be
critical explain also why we associate
critical thinking with negativity. We simply
hate to be critical of our own beliefs, and
we also hate others to be critical of the
beliefs we have.
Revisiting the Stereotype of
Philosophy
• It should now be clear why many people have
such a negative stereotype of philosophy:
– Philosophers are critical thinkers, and we don’t like
critical thinkers. In fact, by being critical, philosophers
always seem to know better (‘intellectual bullying’).
– Since the questions that philosophers ask are big,
progress will be slow, and seemingly non-existent.
Thus, philosophy seems like a waste of time (‘mental
masturbation’).
The Value of Philosophy
• What, then, is the value of philosophy? Here are some
answers:
– First, philosophy may provide answers to difficult questions, even
if this takes a lot of time. In fact, science is one example where
philosophy became very successful (‘natural philosophy’).
– Second, even if philosophy does not provide one with any clear
answers, it may still be able to say that certain answers are better
than others.
– And third, even if philosophy seems to be going absolutely
nowhere, just the act of doing philosophy can still be very useful:
• Doing philosophy will improve your critical thinking skills, and those
can be successfully applied to almost any aspect of life.
• Philosophy will open your mind, and get us out of our rut. It is, as
Bertrand Russell called it, ‘liberating doubt’.
• Philosophy forces one to be precise, clear, and rigorous. These are all
useful qualities to have as well.