(PA) A conceptual analysis is correct only if it is trivial.
Philosophers from Socrates onward have [provided] conceptual analyses of knowledge, freedom, truth, goodness, and more. The paradox of analysis suggests that these philosophers… are shallow and stupid: shallow because they stalk triviality, stupid because it so often eludes them.
Mills goes on to defend philosophers, with two sections entitled ‘Embracing Triviality, Part I’ and ‘Embracing Triviality, Part II.’
This paragraph, from Eugene Mills’ ‘Are Analytic Philosophers Shallow and Stupid?’, made me laugh out loud:
Mills goes on to defend philosophers, with two sections entitled ‘Embracing Triviality, Part I’ and ‘Embracing Triviality, Part II.’