About philosophy

392 Pages·14.098 MB·English

by  Wolff, Robert Paul

A
b
o
u
t

P
h
i
l
o
s
o
p
h
y

W
o
l
f
f

E
l
e
v
e
n
t
h

E
d
i
t
i
o
n
About Philosophy
ISBN 978-1-29202-276-5
Robert Paul Wolff
Eleventh Edition
9 781292 022765
About Philosophy
Robert Paul Wolff
Eleventh Edition
ISBN 10: 1-292-02276-0
ISBN 13: 978-1-292-02276-5
Pearson Education Limited
Edinburgh Gate
Harlow
Essex CM20 2JE
England and Associated Companies throughout the world
Visit us on the World Wide Web at: www.pearsoned.co.uk
© Pearson Education Limited 2014
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without either the
prior written permission of the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying in the United Kingdom
issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS.
All trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners. The use of any trademark
in this text does not vest in the author or publisher any trademark ownership rights in such
trademarks, nor does the use of such trademarks imply any affi liation with or endorsement of this
book by such owners.
ISBN 10: 1-292-02276-0
ISBN 13: 978-1-292-02276-5
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Printed in the United States of America
11223333348253816778113115179337
P E A R S O N C U S T O M L I B R AR Y
Table of Contents
1. What is Philosophy?
Robert Paul Wolff 1
2. Theory of Knowledge
Robert Paul Wolff 43
3. Metaphysics and Philosophy of Mind
Robert Paul Wolff 87
4. Philosophy of Science
Robert Paul Wolff 121
5. Ethical Theory
Robert Paul Wolff 153
6. Social and Political Philosophy
Robert Paul Wolff 231
7. Philosophy of Art
Robert Paul Wolff 281
8. Philosophy of Religion
Robert Paul Wolff 315
9. Appendix: How to Write a Philosophy Paper
Robert Paul Wolff 361
10. Timeline
Robert Paul Wolff 377
11. Glossary
Robert Paul Wolff 379
Index 383
I
II
What Is Philosophy?
From Chapter 1 of About Philosophy, Eleventh Edition. Robert Paul Wolff. Copyright © 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. All
rights reserved.
What Is Philosophy?
Socrates (469?–399 B.C.) was ment as an alternative to death,
tried by the Athenians on and the Athenian jury of 501
charges of “impiety” and “cor- citizens would almost certainly
rupting the young of Athens,” have accepted such a compro-
but it seems clear that his real mise. But Socrates was con-
offense was opposition to, or vinced that he had done Athens
even lack of suffi cient support no harm by his philosophical
for, the leaders of the newly re- questioning. Indeed, he insisted
stored democratic regime. that he had, by his activities,
Socrates had associated been a benefactor of his native
with the aristocratic families SOCRATES city, and so, as an alternative to
who overthrew the fi rst democ- the death penalty demanded by
Source: Courtesy of the Library of Congress
racy, and his disciple Plato was a the prosecution, he proposed
member of one of the powerful families who ruled Ath- that Athens pension him off as a respected citizen.
ens for a while before the restoration. Since an amnesty The Athenian rulers, trapped by Socrates’ uncom-
had been declared, it was legally impossible for the rul- promising integrity, were forced to carry out the sen-
ers to prosecute Socrates for political offenses, so they tence of death, though they would probably have been
trumped up the religious accusations and enlisted a all too happy to allow their prisoner to escape before
religious fanatic, Meletus, to bring charges against the the execution. One month after the trial, following a
seventy-year-old philosopher. long night of philosophical discussion with his friends,
Socrates could have fl ed from Athens before the trial, Socrates drank the poison hemlock prepared for him by
during which a conviction could carry the death sentence. his jailers and died.
Even after his conviction, he could have proposed banish- Read the Profile on myphilosophylab.com
2
CCHHAAPPTTEERR OOUUTTLLIINNEE
What Do Philosophers Do? The Study of Human Nature
What Do Philosophers Do? The Study of the Universe
What Do Philosophers Do? Human Nature and the Universe
The Limitations of the Western Philosophical Tradition
Contemporary Application: Martin Heidegger and Naziism
Listen to the Chapter Audio on myphilosophylab.com
Seamus was about to go on his fi rst date, so he asked his brother, the ladies’ man,
for advice. “Give me some tips on how to talk to them.”
“Here’s the secret,” said his brother. “Irish girls like to talk about three
things: food, family, and philosophy. If you ask a girl what she likes to eat, it
shows you’re interested in her. If you ask her about her family, it shows your
intentions are honorable. If you discuss philosophy, it shows you have respect for
her intelligence.”
“Gee, thanks,” said Seamus. “Food, family, philosophy. I can handle that.”
That night as he met the young lady, Seamus blurted out, “Do you like
cabbage?”
“Uh, no,” said the puzzled girl.
“Do you have a brother?” asked Seamus.
“No.”
“Well, if you had a brother, would he like cabbage?”
That’s philosophy.
WHAT DO PHILOSOPHERS DO? THE STUDY
OF HUMAN NATURE
When I was a student, one of my professors told us about the conversations he
would strike up in the club car on the train from Boston to New York. A group of
men would gather around the bar, and each in turn would introduce himself, say-
ing a few words about the line of work he was in. One would announce himself as
a lawyer, a second as a traveling salesman, a third as an engineer. When it was my
professor’s turn, he would say, “I am a philosopher.” That, he told us, would always
bring the conversation to a dead halt. No one knew quite what to say to a man who
described himself as a philosopher. The others were too polite to ask, “What does
a philosopher do?” But the announcement always cast a pall over the gathering.
Eventually, he took to saying, “I am a teacher.” That went over all right, and as long
as no one asked what he taught, they could get on to more congenial topics, such as
the prospects for the Red Sox or the weather.
3
What Is Philosophy?
What do philosophers do? Oddly enough, that is a question philosophers have
Philosophy L iterally, love been asking for as long as there has been a discipline called p hilosophy . Indeed,
of wisdom; philosophy is the “What do philosophers do?” is probably the most common philosophical question!
systematic, critical examination But all of this sounds like double talk, which is just what makes people nervous
of the way in which we judge,
about philosophy in the fi rst place. You all know what a doctor does; you know
evaluate, and act, with the aim
what physicists, historians, composers, and sanitation engineers do. Most of you
of making ourselves wiser, more
self-refl ective, and therefore probably even have some sort of idea about what microbiologists do. But philoso-
better men and women. phers are something else again. Philosophers ask questions—odd questions, such as,
“What right does the government—any government—have to tell me what to do?”
The best way to fi nd out what philosophers do is to take a look at one of them,
and on anyone’s list the natural fi rst choice must be the most famous philosopher
of all times, Socrates. Socrates was born in 469 b.c. to a stonemason and a mid-
wife in the Greek city-state of Athens. As far as we know, he spent his entire life in
and about Athens, serving his time in the army at one point, taking his turn in the
government at another. He was a rather homely man in a society that prized manly
beauty, and though he was hardly poor, he seems to have managed on much less
money than his friends and disciples had. Athens itself was a city of 130,000, busy
and prosperous by the standards of the time but small enough so that everyone who
was anyone knew everyone else. In his youth, Socrates studied the scientifi c theories
a number of original thinkers had developed in the preceding several centuries, but
he soon became convinced that the most important and puzzling subject was the
human condition itself. He developed the practice of going into the public squares
and meeting places of Athens to cajole, goad, or draw his fellow townsmen into
discussions about how men ought to live their lives. (In the Athens of Socrates’ day,
it was taken for granted that women would play no role in these discussions, or
indeed in any other public business.) Socrates was quick-witted, clever, and tena-
cious. He had a knack for asking hard or embarrassing questions that forced others
to think a good deal more than they really wanted to. Because some of the people
he quizzed were important politicians and famous teachers, it was fun to watch him
trip them up—as long as you weren’t one of those made to look foolish. So a num-
ber of wealthy young men gathered around Socrates as a band of disciples and as a
sort of permanent audience. Sometimes he talked with them, quizzing them in the
same way and forcing them to examine their own lives; sometimes they watched as
he took on a local bigwig or visiting personage.
If this practice of asking questions were all there was to Socrates’ life, we would
never have heard of him 2,400 years later, and we certainly wouldn’t think of him
as a great philosopher. But three things transformed Socrates from a local curios-
ity and general pain in the neck into the patron saint of philosophy and one of the
great fi gures of Western civilization.
The fi rst thing was an accident. Among those who followed Socrates was a bril-
liantly gifted, wealthy young man named Plato. Plato was only twenty-eight years
old when his teacher died, but he was deeply, permanently affected by his relation-
ship with the aging Socrates, and many years later he began to write Dialogues,
playlets in which the style and personality of Socrates were captured, transformed,
and elevated into works of great art. Most of what we believe about Socrates comes
to us from these Dialogues, including, most importantly, our conception of Socrates’
techniques of questioning. Scholars still debate how much in the Dialogues is Plato’s
artistic invention and how much is accurate historical portrayal, but there can be no
question that the essential style belonged to Socrates himself.
The second thing that happened was not really an accident, though it may seem so
at fi rst glance. The rulers of Athens decided that Socrates was more than an annoyance;
4
What Is Philosophy?
The school, or Academy, of Athens, founded c. 387 B.C. by Plato as a center of philosophical,
mathematical, and scientifi c research. The Academy continued to operate uninterrupted for
900 years, until it was closed by the Roman Emperor Justinian in 529 A.D. There is an Academy
in Athens today that claims to be the descendant of Plato’s school.
Source: North Wind Picture Archives
he was becoming a threat to their political security. So they trumped up some charges
against him and put him on trial. Socrates could have plea-bargained, in effect, and
gotten off with a punishment of exile, which would have put him safely out of Athens
without making him a martyr. However, he chose instead to defend himself and his life
without excuses or apologies. He had done nothing wrong, he insisted, and now that he
was seventy, Athens should be thinking of giving him a pension rather than threatening
to put him to death. In the end, Socrates forced the government’s hand, and a sentence
of death was handed down. Even then, he probably could have escaped from jail with
the help of his friends, but he stayed and took the poison his jailers gave him. And so he
became the fi rst martyr of philosophy. It is easy to second-guess the Athenian rulers and
conclude that they could have spared themselves a lot of trouble by handling the case a
bit more skillfully. But Socrates’ persistent questioning of established doctrines and re-
ceived opinions really was a threat, not only to the government, but also to the lifestyle
of the families who ruled Athens. In a way, the accident is not that Socrates was put to
death at the age of seventy, but rather that he had been permitted to go on for so long
before those in power landed on him.
The third and most important reason for Socrates’ immortality is no accident
at all, but the very essence of his life and calling. Witty though he was, irrever-
ent though he could be, annoying though he certainly became, Socrates was deadly
serious about his questioning. His death only confi rmed what his life had already
proved—that for him, the relentless examination of every human action and belief
was more important than survival itself. As Socrates said at his trial, “The unexam-
ined life is not worth living,” and by drinking the poison, he showed that he would
5