Instructor: Todd Ganson

 Φιλοσοφία (philo-sophia)

 Originally philosophy was a very broad notion, applying to all science or knowledge.

 Φιλοσοφία (philo-sophia)  Originally philosophy was a very broad notion, applying to all science or knowledge.  Separate, autonomous sciences emerge when something approximating a consensus forms, when empirically testable hypotheses are formulated and various results are agreed upon.

 Illustration: Psychology doesn’t emerge as a science separate from philosophy until the 19 th century with the discovery of certain laws of psychophysics.

 Upshot: Philosophy is a sort of reservoir of problems that matter to us but we have yet to arrive at the sort of consensus on these issues typical in the sciences.

 In many cases the problems of philosophy cannot be straightforwardly addressed by tried- and-true empirical methods (observation & experimentation).  Lack of consensus extends to methodology. However, most philosophers have extensive training in logic.

Metaphysics/Epistemology Value Theory Logic

 Philosophy is a problems-based discipline. Philosophers are in the business of articulating and solving problems/puzzles.  This is hardly distinctive of philosophy. Nor is the level of difficulty of the problems: no doubt there are extremely difficult problems in all worthwhile disciplines.

We can begin to get a sense of what’s distinctive about philosophy by looking at some of the broad kinds of questions that engage philosophers.

Philosophers raise many different sorts of questions. Often they fall into one of the following categories.  Normative questions: Questions concerning norms/rules of thought and action, questions about oughts.  Constitutive questions: Questions about the natures of things, what they are.  Foundational questions: Questions about fundamental concepts of the sciences.

Socrates is important in the history of philosophy in part because he emphasized the centrality of normative and constitutive questions. He insisted that the most pressing question of all is a normative one:  How should one live one’s life? He also insisted that one could not make progress on normative questions like whether we ought to lead a virtuous life until we addressed constitutive questions like:  What is virtue?

 How should we behave? What are the correct norms of action?

 What should we believe? What are the correct norms of belief?

 How should we behave? What are the correct norms of action?  What should we believe? What are the correct norms of belief?  What are the correct rules of inference or reasoning?

 What are freedom and responsibility and how are they possible?

 What makes a human life a happy/flourishing one?

 What are freedom and responsibility and how are they possible?  What makes a human life a happy/flourishing one?  What is sensory experience?* *This last question is also an example of a foundational question, a question about a fundamental concept of psychology.

 In response to the difficult problems of philosophy, philosophers propose theories.  For example, there is dispute among philosophers about the nature of color, what color is.  The competing philosophical accounts of the nature of color are competing theories. (Note that theories are distinguished from observations/data/experiments. The latter are what we rely on in assessing theories. They can serve as evidence in favor of or against theories.)

 Not only do philosophers propose theories; they also spend a lot of time evaluating theories.

 Progress in philosophy comes not only in the form of new theories; it also comes with new insights into the strengths and weaknesses of existing theories.

 Not only do philosophers propose theories; they also spend a lot of time evaluating theories.  Progress in philosophy comes not only in the form of new theories; it also comes with new insights into the strengths and weaknesses of existing theories.  Much of our time will be spent evaluating influential philosophical theories.

Here is a skill-set that doing philosophy helps to promote:  Creative problem solving

Here is a skill-set that doing philosophy helps to promote:  Creative problem solving  Careful reasoning

Here is a skill-set that doing philosophy helps to promote:  Creative problem solving  Careful reasoning  Writing persuasive argumentative essays

Here is a skill-set that doing philosophy helps to promote:  Creative problem solving  Careful reasoning  Writing persuasive argumentative essays  Clarifying complicated matters

Here is a skill-set that doing philosophy helps to promote:  Creative problem solving  Careful reasoning  Writing persuasive argumentative essays  Clarifying complicated matters  Close and careful reading of difficult texts

 Much philosophical work these days is deeply continuous with other disciplines. For example, from its beginnings philosophy has had a significant role in cognitive science.

 Much philosophical work these days is deeply continuous with other disciplines. For example, from its beginnings philosophy has had a significant role in cognitive science.  Some philosophical problems, on the other hand, are distinctively philosophical, and have been part of philosophy at least since the early Modern period (17 th & 18 th centuries).

This course is focused on these “big questions,” though the authors we read are more recent.

 In the first part of the course we’ll be jumping head first into some big problems, considering challenges to our commonsense views about morality and meaning in life.

 Skeptics, nihilists, and relativists all raise doubts about our commonsense views on these matters.

 In the first part of the course we’ll be jumping head first into some big problems, considering challenges to our commonsense views about morality and meaning in life.  Skeptics, nihilists, and relativists all raise doubts about our commonsense views on these matters.  Most philosophers agree that skepticism, nihilism, and relativism are too extreme. At the same time, their alternative views are shaped by reflection on the challenges posed by the extremists.