I’ll say it again: there is no point in criticising philosophy unless you have (1) a better way of (2) answering the same questions.
Criticism could come in the form of showing that the questions shouldn’t be asked for one reason or another. Or criticism could come in the form of showing that the questions cannot be answered with the available tools. For example, if I ran into a bunch of people trying to trisect an arbitrary angle using compass and straight-edge, I might show them that their tools are inadequate for the task. In principle, I could do that without having any replacement procedure. And yet, it seems that I have helped them out.
Such criticism would have at least the following point. If people are engaged in a practice that cannot accomplish what they aim to accomplish, then they are wasting resources. Getting them to redirect their energies to other projects—perhaps getting them to search for other ways to satisfy their original aims (ways that might possibly work) -- would put their resources to work.
Criticism could come in the form of showing that the questions shouldn’t be asked for one reason or another
Agreed, in principle. Hoewever, I am waiting for someone to do that in a way that
applies to the stated 90%+ of philosophy.
is objective and scientific, not just an expression of personal preference
avoids the self-undermining problems of LP
. If people are engaged in a practice that cannot accomplish what they aim to accomplish, t
If. Note that there is already a great deal of criticism of particualr schools of philsosphy, and of philosophy in general, within philosophy. Note also that LW is not only lakcing the Something Better, it is also lacing a critique that fulfils the three criteria above.
Criticism could come in the form of showing that the questions shouldn’t be asked for one reason or another. Or criticism could come in the form of showing that the questions cannot be answered with the available tools. For example, if I ran into a bunch of people trying to trisect an arbitrary angle using compass and straight-edge, I might show them that their tools are inadequate for the task. In principle, I could do that without having any replacement procedure. And yet, it seems that I have helped them out.
Such criticism would have at least the following point. If people are engaged in a practice that cannot accomplish what they aim to accomplish, then they are wasting resources. Getting them to redirect their energies to other projects—perhaps getting them to search for other ways to satisfy their original aims (ways that might possibly work) -- would put their resources to work.
Agreed, in principle. Hoewever, I am waiting for someone to do that in a way that
applies to the stated 90%+ of philosophy.
is objective and scientific, not just an expression of personal preference
avoids the self-undermining problems of LP
If. Note that there is already a great deal of criticism of particualr schools of philsosphy, and of philosophy in general, within philosophy. Note also that LW is not only lakcing the Something Better, it is also lacing a critique that fulfils the three criteria above.