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“The Nature of Philosophy” from Problems of Philosophy: A Book of Readings by John A. Mourant and
E. Hans Freund. [This is the introductory part of the book.]
From its beginning, philosophy has meant many things to many people. It has
represented a diversity of viewpoints, a conflict of systems, and seemingly an ever-
changing set of ideas regarding man and his relation to the universe. Yet within all the
differences and changes are certain common ideas about the contents, meanings, and
methods of philosophy. Philosophers may disagree about what constitutes the true
philosophy, but they would no doubt agree with Royce that the truths about man’s relations
to the universe are manifold and that it is the function of the philosopher to discover such
truths.
contemplate the eternal truths, but he must also apply the insights so gained to the activities
of men. Plato is the great contemplative, but he is also the dialectician, the destructive
analyst who forces the individuals to question their ideas and their ways of life.
Summing up, we may say that the meaning of philosophy is best revealed in its
speculative and critical functions. Since in its speculative concern it takes the broadest
possible perspective, we must not look for too specific a content. Philosophy is not about
atoms and electrons, plants and animals, the history of states and structures of
governments. Yet all these are the concern of philosophy insofar as they have bearing upon
man and his purposes. Similarly, philosophy is not merely a criticism of this or that specific
subject, but assumes to itself the right to judge of any subject and to evaluate all things that
come within human knowledge. It may conduct an inquiry, as Socrates did, into the
meaning of “piety; or it may analyze minutely the distinctions of the words “seems,”
“looks,” “appears,” to solve a problem of perception. As speculation, it may arrive at the
insight that the world is both divine and good, as analysis and criticism it may limit itself to
a prolonged consideration of the meaning of the word “good.”
Both criticism and speculation, then, have an integral place in philosophy. Without
criticism, philosophy would be sheer poetry; without speculation, it would be mere logic-
hopping. As Aristotle declared, the philosopher above all others is possessed of that “desire
to know.” But with the philosopher this is no mere idle curiosity; it is a reflective curiosity,
and out of this reflective curiosity comes the knowledge and the point of view that we term
philosophy. The greatness of philosophy, the reason for so many men’s having embraced it
with virtually religious fervor and made it a way of life, lies in this twofold strength that it
possesses – the balanced point of view that reflects both speculation and criticism. The
need of balance is important, for an excess of speculation may bring discredit upon
philosophy; uncritical insights have little value or too frequently become sophisticated
obscurantism. On the other hand, an excess of analysis narrows philosophy’s enterprise and
subordinates it to a minor role, making it perhaps a mere handmaid of logic, science or
theology.
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These divisions are not meant to be all-inclusive, and the ordering is more or less arbitrary. Logic has not
been included, for it has traditionally been regarded as an instrument (organon) or a means to the
acquisition of true knowledge. As a science of valid reasoning, its principles apply to all forms of
knowledge and not merely to philosophy. Where logic merges with philosophy it becomes metaphysics.
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Metaphysics. Meaning literally “after physics,” this was a title given, in a later
collection, to a work of Aristotle that appeared after his Physics and that had been left
untitled. Since the time of the early Greeks, philosophers have generally agreed that
metaphysics is concerned with the nature of reality, of what it means to be. Some have
maintained that reality or being is basically material, others that it is mental or spiritual,
and still others that it is life, will, God , energy, force, etc. A materialist, for example, will
contend that everything is basically material and that life, mind, energy, etc are merely
different manifestations of matter. The principal distinction in the analysis of being is that
between appearance (how something actually looks or appears to us) and reality (that
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which something actually is “deep down under” all its external appearances). The inquiry
into the nature of reality also leads the metaphysician to other distinctions about the real.
He may assert that all things are determined in their causes or, alternatively, that some
beings (men) are free in their actions. Again, it may be argued that the universe is in reality
a great machine, mechanically ordered to all that occurs. Or that the universe is purposive
in its ultimate nature and order by reason of some divine intelligible cause. The former
view is termed mechanistic, the latter the teleological. To all such queries and many others
the metaphysician brings his insights and his critical skills.
Social and Political Philosophy. In this area the philosopher’s concern is not with
the particular issues or problems of the social order, such as the structure of a government,
foreign policies, civil legislation, etc., but rather with the more general problems and
principles that affect the entire political society of men. The interest of the philosopher,
then, lies in questions of the origin of the social order; the meaning and the ethical bases of
law; the origin, uses and limitations of political power; the rights and duties of individuals
in a political society; and the determination of that form of society best adapted to secure
the highest end of all individuals. Many of these problems and issues may also be
considered in the broader perspective of history itself, and this yields a philosophy of
history – the analysis and interpretation of history and the endeavor to discover if there are
any laws of historical development.
Philosophy of Science. In recent years the progress and prestige of the sciences has
turned the direction of philosophical interest increasingly to the sciences. Out of this
interest has emerged what is now termed the philosophy of science. Such a discipline is
primarily concerned with the nature of scientific knowledge and with the methodology of
the sciences. It is interested in analysis of the basic theoretical concepts of the sciences; it
studies the meaning of induction, the nature of hypotheses, and the laws of nature. It is
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concerned with the meaning of scientific explanation and probability statements; it seeks to
understand how scientific theories may be verified or confirmed.
Thus far we have outlined very briefly the principal characteristics of the several
areas of philosophy. The selections we have chosen will supplement this outline with more
detailed studies of the different areas. The selections have been chosen to represent both
the problems of philosophy and their historical orientations.
The selection that immediately follows stands somewhat apart from the others in
the book. It has been selected as an exemplification of the philosophical method – of
dialectic, or the “doing” of philosophy. The term dialectic first appears in Plato’s Socratic
dialogue the Meno, and the term means essentially a conversation or discourse with the
purpose of discovering the truth. Plato expresses his conception of dialectic in the form of
the dialogue, but dialectic need not take this form. Dialectic is essentially an inquiry in the
form of a discourse into some problem. It is neither terminal nor is it dogmatic. Dialectic
clarifies, distinguishes and defines, but it also opens up new vistas for philosophical
inquiries. It is an interminable search after the truth -- interminable because human
problems and human experience are never closed to questioning.