Thinking about philosophy... «Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction»
innashpitzberg10 октября 2012Thinking about philosophy is hard work – you may have noticed, though if you've got this far at least it hasn't put you off. Writing the stuff is even harder. (Take it from me.) So why have people done either? Well, for one or more of a whole catalogue of reasons. In the hope of learning to control nature, or of learning to control themselves, to get to heaven, to avoid going to hell; to enable us to bear life as it is, to make life bearable by changing it; to shore up institutions political, moral, or intellectual, or to tear them down; to promote the writer's interests, to promote other people's interests (yes, that happens too), even to promote everybody's interests; because they can't stand certain other philosophers; because their job demands it. Perhaps just occasionally out of pure curiosity. There is a widespread idea that philosophers are unworldly people, remote from reality. If that refers to their lifestyle, it may frequently have been true, though not always. If it refers to their work, then (I am speaking now of philosophy that endures) it is usually false – at least in the sense that they are almost always addressing some real concern and claiming to offer some real improvement.
9 понравилось17