In response to your question Becky...
Well, I feel that in some ways David Hyams answered this well over dinner when you posed the same concern, "are we philosophers?"
David responded by asking, "Do you love wisdom?" Implying, of course, that if our answer is yes, then we are philosophers.
In some ways I agree with this assessment. For, although prima facie it certainly seems too broad (that is, you'd think everyone and their mom would qualify as a philosopher under this criteria), I think in reality it isn't that bad of a system. As I am sure you will agree, sadly, very few in our culture today actually do love the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom. I'm not trying to be pretentious here; we really are in the minority by the simple fact that we pursue knowledge. The simple fact that we read difficult books, that we engage our minds to demanding concepts, that we stretch our intellects to intricate arguments for the ultimate reality of things, that we THINK, honestly, and yes quite sorrowfully, does set us apart.
But I think your concern Becky is over the issue are WE, a bunch of grad students studying a little philosophy really qualified to call ourselves Philosophers. I suspect your apprehension with this is because we call people like Socrates and Moreland and Kant and Groothuis and Nietzsche and Plantinga and Locke philosophers and then if we try to call ourselves by the same moniker it seems like a bit of a joke. Well, I see where you are coming from, but at the same time I would think that almost everyone of these people I listed, just as an example, would be fine with calling us “fellow” philosophers (except for Nietzche of course, who would take one look at Mitch and declare that Superman was amongst us). No, they wouldn’t call us philosophers in the sense that we are not “peers” with them; we don’t have our PhD’s and we don’t have the respect in the philosophy world that they command (nor should we). But I think they would call us philosophers in the sense that we are just as they all once were. Think about it: at one time Socrates was just some young pup thinking about these things like we were. They all started just as we are starting. And we all know where we are going.
I guess my answer, Becky, is Yes, I think we are philosophers. If that’s too ostentatious and conceited sounding…. So be it.
Well, I feel that in some ways David Hyams answered this well over dinner when you posed the same concern, "are we philosophers?"
David responded by asking, "Do you love wisdom?" Implying, of course, that if our answer is yes, then we are philosophers.
In some ways I agree with this assessment. For, although prima facie it certainly seems too broad (that is, you'd think everyone and their mom would qualify as a philosopher under this criteria), I think in reality it isn't that bad of a system. As I am sure you will agree, sadly, very few in our culture today actually do love the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom. I'm not trying to be pretentious here; we really are in the minority by the simple fact that we pursue knowledge. The simple fact that we read difficult books, that we engage our minds to demanding concepts, that we stretch our intellects to intricate arguments for the ultimate reality of things, that we THINK, honestly, and yes quite sorrowfully, does set us apart.
But I think your concern Becky is over the issue are WE, a bunch of grad students studying a little philosophy really qualified to call ourselves Philosophers. I suspect your apprehension with this is because we call people like Socrates and Moreland and Kant and Groothuis and Nietzsche and Plantinga and Locke philosophers and then if we try to call ourselves by the same moniker it seems like a bit of a joke. Well, I see where you are coming from, but at the same time I would think that almost everyone of these people I listed, just as an example, would be fine with calling us “fellow” philosophers (except for Nietzche of course, who would take one look at Mitch and declare that Superman was amongst us). No, they wouldn’t call us philosophers in the sense that we are not “peers” with them; we don’t have our PhD’s and we don’t have the respect in the philosophy world that they command (nor should we). But I think they would call us philosophers in the sense that we are just as they all once were. Think about it: at one time Socrates was just some young pup thinking about these things like we were. They all started just as we are starting. And we all know where we are going.
I guess my answer, Becky, is Yes, I think we are philosophers. If that’s too ostentatious and conceited sounding…. So be it.
posted by BJS at
9:50:00 AM
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