Instructor: Todd Ganson
PROBLEMS OF PHILOSOPHY
WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY?

Φιλοσοφία (philo-sophia)
WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY?
Φιλοσοφία (philo-sophia)
 Originally philosophy was a very broad notion,
applying to all science or knowledge.

WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY?
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.

WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY? (CONT.)

Illustration: Psychology doesn’t emerge as a
science separate from philosophy until the 19th
century with the discovery of certain laws of
psychophysics.
WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY? (CONT.)
Illustration: Psychology doesn’t emerge as a
science separate from philosophy until the 19th
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.

METHODOLOGY
In many cases the problems of philosophy
cannot be straightforwardly addressed by triedand-true empirical methods (observation &
experimentation).
 Lack of consensus extends to methodology.
However, most philosophers have extensive
training in logic.

TRADITIONAL DIVISIONS IN PHILOSOPHY
Metaphysics/Epistemology
Value Theory
Logic
PROBLEMS OF PHILOSOPHY
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.

PROBLEMS OF PHILOSOPHY
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.
NORMS, NATURES, & FUNDAMENTAL NOTIONS
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 ON NORMS AND NATURES
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?
NORMATIVE QUESTIONS ILLUSTRATED

How should we behave? What are the correct
norms of action?
NORMATIVE QUESTIONS ILLUSTRATED
How should we behave? What are the correct
norms of action?
 What should we believe? What are the correct
norms of belief?

NORMATIVE QUESTIONS ILLUSTRATED
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?

CONSTITUTIVE QUESTIONS TO BE CONSIDERED

What are freedom and responsibility and how
are they possible?
CONSTITUTIVE QUESTIONS TO BE CONSIDERED
What are freedom and responsibility and how
are they possible?
 What makes a human life a happy/flourishing
one?

CONSTITUTIVE QUESTIONS TO BE CONSIDERED
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.

PHILOSOPHICAL THEORIES
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.)

CRITICAL EVALUATION

Not only do philosophers propose theories; they
also spend a lot of time evaluating theories.
CRITICAL EVALUATION
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.

CRITICAL EVALUATION
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.

THE DEMANDS OF PHILOSOPHY
Here is a skill-set that doing philosophy helps to
promote:
 Creative problem solving
THE DEMANDS OF PHILOSOPHY
Here is a skill-set that doing philosophy helps to
promote:
 Creative problem solving
 Careful reasoning
THE DEMANDS OF PHILOSOPHY
Here is a skill-set that doing philosophy helps to
promote:
 Creative problem solving
 Careful reasoning
 Writing persuasive argumentative essays
THE DEMANDS OF PHILOSOPHY
Here is a skill-set that doing philosophy helps to
promote:
 Creative problem solving
 Careful reasoning
 Writing persuasive argumentative essays
 Clarifying complicated matters
THE DEMANDS OF PHILOSOPHY
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
MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE

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.
MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE
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 (17th & 18th centuries).

MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE
This course is focused on these “big questions,”
though the authors we read are more recent.
WHERE TO BEGIN

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.
WHERE TO BEGIN
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.

WHERE TO BEGIN
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.
