Monday, February 2, 2009

Philosophy at its best

It seems to me that the book lays out a task for philosophy as a whole and says that this is what philosophy ought to be doing. Through out the second half of the book we see the gap between continental philosophy and analytic philosophy grow. This gap is characterized by the gap between knowledge and wisdom, of which each side has claimed one. The continental track has taken on wisdom as their study, arguing that science is not the best or main way in which we can understand the world. Instead we must look to experience and the forming of a metaphysics which hearkens back to Aristotle. On the counter Analytic philosophy was pursuing science as the only way to gain knowledge and in the verbal battle between Heidegger and Carnap both argued the other was completely off base. Now philosophy must begin to look at the gap which has been created and work to minimize it. The how is what philosophy at its best is. Critchley states on page 125, and I have been convinced, that philosophers need to begin to think for themselves and work forward without the restrictions that a title has put upon them. Philosophers must put forth new theories that are well thought out and argued. Philosophy must stop being an indevour just for the philosopher to sharpen her common sense but instead be clear theories that push philosophy and perhaps other fields out of stagnation and keep alive the possibility of new emancipation.

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