No, though I understand my comment could be read in that way. I have thought and read a lot about these questions (and written some things) and sometimes get a bit frustrated with them. I have started to become more pessimistic about the possibilities of convincing mainstream philosophers who like to work on these questions (“scholasticism with a dull knife”, as a brilliant colleague of mine scribbled on his noteblock during a talk on the Gettier problem).
Perhaps we should instead focus on showing what alternative things philosophers could do. Also we should make alliances with other subjects. People outside the discipline are much more likely to want to fund work on business ethics or medical ethics than yet another go at some concept or metaphysical question.
Without borrowing wholesale Kuhn’s picture of science, I think some ideas Kuhn introduced are important to keep in mind when considering the trajectory of philosophy. Research programs are adopted, consciously or not, by a certain part of the philosophical community: certain tenets are taken for granted, certain notions are regarded as the proper ones to use as tools, and certain puzzles are regarded as the ones to focus attention on. The research program isn’t abandoned simply on the ground that seemingly compelling arguments against its fundamental assumptions are presented. Rather, it is abandoned when research conducted within its confines is no longer seen as fruitful, and when a new alternative, with some promise of success, is available.
If we can’t disprove the Gettier stuff, perhaps we can hope that people will get bored of it (if we provide them with a less boring alternative).
If we can’t disprove the Gettier stuff, perhaps we can hope that people will get bored of it (if we provide them with a less boring alternative).
When you can’t disprove something the straightforward way is to accept it. In this case you can switch to a more construtivist notion of knowledge. To quote Heinz von Förster: “Truth is the invention of a liar.”
Perhaps we should instead focus on showing what alternative things philosophers could do. Also we should make alliances with other subjects. People outside the discipline are much more likely to want to fund work on business ethics or medical ethics than yet another go at some concept or metaphysical question.
The problem isn’t that you can’t do anything useful with ontology but that a lot of analytic philosophers are confused about the subject and produce papers that provide no value.
Barry Smith does deal with the question of knowledge and get’s funded because he actually does something useful. Applied ontology is useful for bioinformatics and other fields likely also would profit from it.
It possible that in one or two decades bioinformatic inspired mapping of mental states is good enough that the psychology folks with their DSM simply loses it’s authority.
Do you think the question whether or not core foundations of analytical philosophy are correct is unimportant?
No, though I understand my comment could be read in that way. I have thought and read a lot about these questions (and written some things) and sometimes get a bit frustrated with them. I have started to become more pessimistic about the possibilities of convincing mainstream philosophers who like to work on these questions (“scholasticism with a dull knife”, as a brilliant colleague of mine scribbled on his noteblock during a talk on the Gettier problem).
Perhaps we should instead focus on showing what alternative things philosophers could do. Also we should make alliances with other subjects. People outside the discipline are much more likely to want to fund work on business ethics or medical ethics than yet another go at some concept or metaphysical question.
I think this view of Matti Eklund’s has a lot to be said for it:
If we can’t disprove the Gettier stuff, perhaps we can hope that people will get bored of it (if we provide them with a less boring alternative).
When you can’t disprove something the straightforward way is to accept it. In this case you can switch to a more construtivist notion of knowledge. To quote Heinz von Förster: “Truth is the invention of a liar.”
The problem isn’t that you can’t do anything useful with ontology but that a lot of analytic philosophers are confused about the subject and produce papers that provide no value.
Barry Smith does deal with the question of knowledge and get’s funded because he actually does something useful. Applied ontology is useful for bioinformatics and other fields likely also would profit from it.
It possible that in one or two decades bioinformatic inspired mapping of mental states is good enough that the psychology folks with their DSM simply loses it’s authority.